Tag: short story

All Stories, General Fiction

Mary, Joseph and the Baby by Diane Dickson

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

 

“Me toes are freezing.”

“Come ‘ere, give ‘em ‘ere an’ I’ll put ‘em under me coat.”

“Oh nice, that’s nice.  Are you cold Joe?”

“Mmm a bit, just a bit, snuggle up and we’ll warm each other won’t we.”

“Lovely.  This place in’t bad is it.  I know it’s a bit wet in the kitchen and it dun’t have electric like the last squat but it’s not bad ‘ere.”

“No, an’ it feels safer I fink.”

“Yeah.  Eh, what’s that noise?”

“Dunno, I’ll go look you stay ‘ere, stop under the blanket and keep warm.”…

Continue reading “Mary, Joseph and the Baby by Diane Dickson” →

All Stories, General Fiction

Agoraphobia by Diane M Dickson

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

I thought I’d take an umbrella. I peered out of the window and drew back the curtain.  It was dark and cloudy.  I didn’t think – snow – but perhaps rain, sleet, maybe.  So, yes I decided, an umbrella. That was back then, when I was brave, when I thought I could do it today. That was when I operated on a “normal” level, sane.

Continue reading “Agoraphobia by Diane M Dickson” →

All Stories, General Fiction

Pynchon McCool: an introduction in twelve chapters by Michael Dhillon

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

Chapter 1
The more cynical residents of Pynchon, PA claimed jam would go out of fashion before the town boasted an inhabitant of note, but the place was very much like thousands of small towns across America. It was a fair to middling blot on the landscape with thirty thousand residents, drive-thru burger joints, and an underachieving baseball team; and its attractions included a permanent fairground of rusting carousels, a correctional facility for troublesome women, and a jam factory.

Continue reading “Pynchon McCool: an introduction in twelve chapters by Michael Dhillon” →

All Stories, General Fiction, Story of the Week

Listening In by Jon Green

literallystories2014

DSC_0592
Ray had been listening in for some time now. It was fair to say that not much happened. He was paid regularly and managed to make ends meet, sure. Most of the time, that was all he cared about. The days were hardly springing by like joyous animals, but neither were they crawling in the vein of pained snails. Rent got paid, the cupboards got refilled and occasionally he treated himself to a trip to the local cinema. Work was work though, and he turned up daily at nine in his suit and tie, draping his jacket on the hook behind the door, sitting at his computer, and donning his pair of headphones. Continue reading “Listening In by Jon Green” →

All Stories, General Fiction

The Elite Agency by Xavier P. Xavier – Adult Content

literallystories2014

DSC_0592
You emerge from the wet room, naked. Walk down a long corridor and into your bedroom where you dress in a lacy white thong, a lightweight short-sleeve translucent blouse in lime green and coral pink.

No bra. No footwear.

Outside the mercury hits twenty-seven degrees Celsius. Inside you have the air-con set at nineteen. Yet despite all your efforts to stay cool, heat rises to your skin, chasing away goose-bumps.

Continue reading “The Elite Agency by Xavier P. Xavier – Adult Content” →

All Stories, General Fiction

The River by Diane M Dickson

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

The clamour of the hand bell echoed through corridors and hallways, it was followed in an instant by the scrape and thud of thirty pairs of assorted boots and shoes on the bare floorboards of the classroom.

Miss Robinson stood and removed her specs.  They fell to the end of their chain and swung gently over her ample bust.  “Thank you Class Four collect your things.  For homework today I want you to write an essay.”  None of the children actually groaned but Jed noticed one or two pairs of eyes rolling heavenwards.  For him though there was a flutter of excitement deep in his stomach, he loved essays.

“Your work is to be entitled “The River” and is to be at least five hundred words. Hand it in tomorrow.  Now bow your heads for the prayer.”  Thirty heads bowed in unison and the mutter of childish voices strove to find a way to whatever God looked down on this benighted part of Yorkshire. Continue reading “The River by Diane M Dickson” →

All Stories, Science Fiction

Do Eros Sevens Dream Of Jupiter And Mars? by Adam West

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

The two hundred and fifty kilometres per hour station-to-station no-turbulence pipe came to a stop. End of the line. Everyone off.

I stepped out the pipe onto a narrow walkway amongst a shoulder-to-shoulder throng six wide whose momentum funnelled me toward a down-ramp and into a square, where a girl with dreadlocks leaning against a 3-D sandwich-board bit through a foil wrapped protein bar – without first removing the foil.

Continue reading “Do Eros Sevens Dream Of Jupiter And Mars? by Adam West” →

All Stories, Horror

The Product by Victor Bort

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

“Can you imagine someone who knows that he may be living his last year?”

The enquirer was sitting in a wheelchair opposite me – a man in his late forties to early fifties, broad-shouldered, dressed informally, black hair with streaks of silver grey, intense brown eyes, clean shaven.

“How old might he be,” he went on, “and what might be the reason for his imminent departure?”

He eyed me questioningly, an enigmatic smile on his pale, handsome face.

“I believe you’re not referring to yourself,” I smiled back.

He grinned broadly and chortled, “Well, a bit of sarcasm won’t spoil the pleasure of our interaction.” He pressed one of the buttons on the arm of his wheelchair and moved closer. “Are you really sure you want this?

Now, he was staring at me intently, unblinkingly. “Let’s put it this way: Are you adamant in your decision?” Continue reading “The Product by Victor Bort” →

All Stories, Crime/Mystery/Thriller

The Old Man by Scott Sharpe

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

 

Rust-orange scales litter the ground beneath the pine – sign of the squirrel’s search for the sweet seeds found tucked beneath the cone’s thorny lobes.  The scales fall like heavy snowflakes, twirling and seesawing to the forest floor.  As I raise my eyes to the bushy-tail sitting astride a pine limb, I’m thankful he’s ignorant of my presence and his certain death.  He’ll feel no pain, for I don’t miss.

Not anymore. Continue reading “The Old Man by Scott Sharpe” →

All Stories, General Fiction

Dover by Michael W Smith

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

 

I was sat at a table in a service station café off the M20, on route to Dover, waiting for Angelika to return with the coffee. The seat beneath me was small, with a round foam cushion and flat metal back. Outside, through the window that stretched the length of the cafe, I could see our campervan parked in the rain. In the dim morning light it appeared grey. We’d been on the road since six, as the sun bled into the sky, and had made good time. We were twenty miles from Dover when the temperature gage hit the red and the warning light came on. Continue reading “Dover by Michael W Smith” →