Category: Microfiction

For so long she stayed away from photographs, afraid of the ghosts that hid there. The cat with the too-long body whose kidneys gave out. The dog with the underbite, gone too soon beneath a car’s wheels. Her parents who were comfortably old until suddenly they weren’t, leaving her within six months of each other.…

“The summer holidays did start today right?” “Of course they did. Why else do you think I made us pancakes for breakfast?” She reached over and plucked a blueberry off his plate. He grinned and stole a slice of banana off hers. “So why are there adverts for school uniforms on tv already? Why can’t…

She spent her childhood swallowing words. At first they thought she was mute, sending her to speech therapists and doctors, leaving each appointment with a shrugged shoulder prescription of “just give her time.” They knew she was bright, watching her tear through book after book, each too advanced for her age, the tomes heavy in…

“I think I’m losing my mind.” She looked at his face, searching the faded complexion and deep creases to find the man he had once been. She had found his house keys in a shoe, dog treats in the cutlery drawer. Coins in the front garden like he had tried to plant them. She had…

He glanced at her behind their backs. He expected to see fear and confusion, but he was looking for another emotion. There it was. Suspicion. They had been forced to practice for weeks. Dragged from their beds to head into the bunker, leaving behind unnecessary items. It had taken Mae weeks to finally leave without…

“Tell me about your research.” An eyebrow raised. “Are you genuinely interested or just trying to keep me talking?” “I’m genuinely interested.” A boyish head tilt always floored her. “I look into the understanding of death and mortality in animals.” His head abruptly straightened, discomfort unsettling his features. “Why?” “To understand why an orca carried…

Rain on the car roof was his favourite noise in the world. When the house got too loud, voices raised against the dull thuds of items thrown, he took the car keys and snuck out to tuck himself onto the back seat of the Singer Vogue that had been his dad’s prized possession. He always…

He stood at the top of the street and looked at the faded history. Shop names from his childhood had been eroded by indifference, an aura of rust coating the town. He closed his eyes and remembered how he, Rupert and Evie used to cycle down the hill, legs thrown out as wide as their…

Sometimes she dreamed that she was the one doing the chasing. But mostly she dreamed that she was the one being chased. The one constant was that she woke up exhausted, her days filled with exaggerated stretches and impossibly wide yawns. She hid the exhaustion well, but she could feel her days merging into poor…

“Why do you love the dark so much?” She looked up under heavy lids, her lashes crusted with days-old mascara. “How can you not love it? It provides opportunity without judgement. You share the streets with foxes and kindred spirits, and the silence allows your breath to be the loudest thing. When else does that…