G is for… Ghost Ship

I awaken to the sounds of creaking and dripping and the groaning of tired wood. It’s so dark tonight I can barely see past the end of my nose. Not that it matters. I know exactly where I am. I don’t need to see the ocean beneath me to feel the waves. Along with the sun and the breeze, they’re my only constant.

Something I’m not certain of is where in the ocean I am. Thick banks of fog and cloud obscure the stars so I can’t get my bearings by looking up. And my other means of discovering my position doesn’t seem to be available to me. The men I travel with chop and change with each voyage, but their clamour is always the same. Chests of gold, the chests of women, and the distance between them and their desires. Continue reading “G is for… Ghost Ship” →

Friendly Fingers

I don’t think my heart has ever beat as fast as it is right now. It’s throbbing so hard it hurts. Tuesday will be my thirtieth birthday and, while I’ve pulled some strokes in my time, I’ve never done anything like this before. It could all blow up in my face, and in the worst of ways. I could lose a friend, end up with at least one black eye and some broken bones.

But, despite the risks, I’m doing it anyway. I can’t not, it’s irresistible. Continue reading “Friendly Fingers” →

Bound & Gagged

Mascara stung my eyes. Salty, chemical spiked tears tripped over my tongue. I curled my knees to my chest, hearing tape creak as it rubbed against itself and found more places to stick together, ensuring that with each and every wriggle, escape became less likely. All I could do now was make myself small as I could in the hopes that, when we finally stopped, they’d forget I was here. Continue reading “Bound & Gagged” →

Jack & Jill… and Jon

What a hard, shitty day it had been. I’d worked my fingers to the bone for a boss who doesn’t appreciate me, just to come home and find a handful of unpaid bills on the dining table. Jill was angry, too. She’d been arguing with the head of year at our kid’s school, so her mood was as pissy as mine.

We weren’t talking to each other, and I didn’t feel like starting a conversation. The kids were in bed, the dishes were in the dish washer and this was the first quiet I’d had all day. It wasn’t peaceful, though. It was strained. We both needed a release, a way to relax.

Luckily, there was one waiting for us upstairs. Continue reading “Jack & Jill… and Jon” →

Halloween Town Tales No 2 – The Mortician’s Daughter

THE MORTICIAN'S DAUGHTER

The Mortician’s Daughter

Halloween 2016

It was only half three in the afternoon but the preparations for Chillington Cemetery’s annual Halloween Haunt were already well underway, and though I tried to look completely uninterested as I crossed the road at the south east side by the willows, I was secretly excited. I had no intentions of going, but I loved to walk past the gates and see everything coming together.

Continue reading “Halloween Town Tales No 2 – The Mortician’s Daughter” →