The fishnet lead of the old attic window ensnared the scrub and pines of the forest beyond the front garden, lumpen with snow. But winter’s twilit chill didn’t reach Sam. In fact, winter never reached beyond the bushes, it seemed. The gardenias were in bloom. Ten bushes that should be dead in this climate, glowed […]
A Love Letter 2217 AD
My particulate scrubbers have filtered lethal impurities for centuries amongst a flickering neon skyline, ever-evolving like a graphic equaliser. As you’ve grown, so have I. So, as you decommission me, treat me with the care I have treated you – I am you in a sense – and know that in three years when I’m […]
Northbound/Southbound
7.56 AM, Ted shouldn’t be going back to work so soon after Adele’s death. A cyclopean headlight swung round the bend. No one on the platform looked up. ‘There’s only ever one person on it,’ she’d said, pointing at the red tube. Inside sat a distressed man. ‘7.56, every morning…Never stops.’ That was yesterday. Grief […]
A Horseless Carriage
Harriet rolled her eyes at her brother’s petulant bleating. She supposed this was about her beating him at real tennis after church. A man of nineteen years should know better! ‘Saints preserve us, Freddie!’ Mother called from the kitchen as she prepared water crust pastry. ‘Whatever this “flying cigar” was, I’m sure there’s an explantation…Did […]
Zeus Paces
Who is Prometheus? A fire stealer, a crafty Titan, an all-creature creator. Nevertheless, in the end, he is just someone tied to the clift of Tartarus, with no chance of escape, enduring the pain not even an immortal would be able to handle. In the end, this man is just like any other creature he […]
Dead on Seven
Dead on seven o’clock, the curtains to the theatre rise. The orchestra’s bows await their cue in pregnant stillness. Marek Parell awaits his own, fixed under a simple spotlight. He’s not moved an inch, yet already grateful applause rolls over the footlights like loving surf. His first solo performance, and all he can think about […]
When the Shadows Turned to Wolves
Yicheng Teng The sun was still bright above the sky, and there was light piercing through the tall trees in the forest, but it was getting darker and darker. She was walking through the path in the forest, wearing an all red hood with a pointy, long hat behind her head. It cast a shadow […]
The Newspaper
Lillian Xie She always checked the newspaper when she got up, wondering what was going on in the world. She was a lady who always wore a pair of glasses with big flowers, as if living in the 18th century, unwilling to surrender to technology. Living alone, the newspaper was the only entertainment she had […]
“I’ll Get You This Time”
Jimmy Wu Moonlight sprinkles on the ground. The cold wind howls through the street, extinguishing the fire in the pumpkins. People have decorated their houses with spider webs, zombies and ghosts. It is Halloween. After a busy day in the office, Justin returns to his apartment with little energy saved for the Halloween night with […]
The Street Performer
Jenny Pan A street performer is stationed in the courtyard of the town centre. I watch this man walk down the uneven stone roads every morning before sunrise. He carries a black worn-out suitcase with a few colourful strands of ribbon hanging messily from the sides. His face would be stern and grim, apparent with […]
Haringey Unchained 