Tag: writing

All Stories, General Fiction

2:45 am by Todd Levin

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

I stood on the bottom floor waiting for the elevator. There are two elevators and when one reaches the bottom floor, the other makes its way to the middle so that, when it’s called from no matter where, it’s as close to all floors as it can be without keeping the caller waiting. I’ve often thought of the vanity of that, especially here in a building where the people move out as quickly as they move in. I’ve been here for two years and it feels like I’ve been waiting just as long for this damned elevator. I don’t mind because I have nothing to get up there for, up there on the 7th, where like all the other floors, the doors are white, the people don’t talk and the night is longer than the day. It’s midnight and it’s a Tuesday in November so I travel to the 7th alone. I stare at the bulletin board for the building and it’s empty. It has notices and pictures but it’s empty. I haven’t slept properly from nearly three weeks, a successful push of late being four and a quarter hours last Monday, the effects of a bad day, a dirty gin and an over the counter sleeping pill that just made my eyes feel heavy and like they couldn’t open when I finally woke up at 02.45am.

Continue reading “2:45 am by Todd Levin” →

Latest News

Literary Stories Week 13

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

The task of writing Week 13 News fell to someone (me) who has made a habit of late of staring at blank pages. Bereft of inspiration (I tidy up and make tea and send out a load of emails to make myself useful) I’ll leave the wordy stuff to the reader/writers of Literally Stories.

Continue reading “Literary Stories Week 13” →

All Stories, Crime/Mystery/Thriller

Phil’s Last Journey by Diane Dickson

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

When the willow fell it swept to the surface of the engorged torrent in a graceful swoon.  The roots wrenched from the ground flinging mud, pebbles, small boulders and the moss and grass of the bank skywards.  The whipping branches flew across the water to be grabbed and hurled downstream till their anchorage on the great trunk stayed them.  They streamed in the flood, tempestuous ribbons squirming and writhing in the wild water.

Continue reading “Phil’s Last Journey by Diane Dickson” →

All Stories, General Fiction

Sweet Surrender by Diane M Dickson

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

She knew that when it came time to count the money she’d be found out. The afternoon had wound on interminably and the first crime had been followed by the next and the next and the next.  Now she was so heavily committed to the misdeed that there was no way out.

Of course, as with so many of these things, it wasn’t her fault. If you really thought about it the one to blame, the one who should be standing here now on the brink of disaster, his stomach churning and heart flip-flopping was Mr Stevens. Her old boss, Stinky Stevens, he of the underarm white stains and the halitosis from hell. If he hadn’t been such a stupid, incompetent business man then his little caravan re-fitting business wouldn’t have folded. If the firm hadn’t folded then she, Lorraine, would still have a job as book-keeper, a proper job with a wage, a coffee mug and a finishing time.

Continue reading “Sweet Surrender by Diane M Dickson” →

All Stories, General Fiction, Humour

The Greatest Cock that Ever Lived by David Louden

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

I was fifteen, it was April and the summer had started early. My mother gave me ten pounds to run to the parade of shops at the bottom of the Oldpark Road to buy two steaks and some mince to fry into burgers for the dog’s dinner. Dragging myself away from the television I threw on my trainers, laced up, pocketed the banknote and walked down to the bottom of The Bone. I passed many people, they all knew me. I said hello to them all before suddenly someone was calling my name from outside the Suicide Inn.

Continue reading “The Greatest Cock that Ever Lived by David Louden” →

All Stories, General Fiction, Story of the Week

Bobby Aspergers by Todd Levin

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

They were running everywhere, the children. There was this confident little girl running around, Judith, the one who’s name we wish we’d have thought of before Jennifer was born. She ran around within that, wearing this little pink polka dot dress. It was the kind of thing that if Patricia were here she’d talk about how she wishes she’d have been able to give it to Jennifer for Christmas and talk about how it would have suited ‘ours more’. Patricia wasn’t here today, she couldn’t be. The agency was taking off and at least one of us had to be there to man the phones and those phones had been ringing lately. It was finally working. That dream we’d had was getting there and was breaking the wall that had stopped it for the last five years. But she’d have been jealous of that kid of all things.

Continue reading “Bobby Aspergers by Todd Levin” →

All Stories, General Fiction

Bubbles by Diane M Dickson

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

Sylvie looked down at the dishes.  In the slightly greasy water her fingers disappeared under the foam. The light sparkled and popped as tiny globes exploded and infinitesimal rainbows vanished in the blink of an eye.

She had always loved bubbles, the luxurious bath type ones that wrapped you in a quilt of scented foam. The ones children, and sometimes Sylvie herself, made blowing through a plastic ring, and the sort that floated out of wonderful bubble machines. Of all the things she wished she had, and there were many, a bubble machine came pretty high on the list.

Continue reading “Bubbles by Diane M Dickson” →

All Stories, Horror

The Whereabouts of Mrs Trisha by W D Frank – Adult Content

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

I withhold tears as I peer into the furious blue eyes of my runaway lover. His rugged, masculine body is chained to the behemothian memorial stone of a literary legend, yet his murderous vows continue to escape effortlessly. I murmur wryly as I brush my fingers across his exposed nipples and entertain an intense bombardment of blissful necrophilia fantasies.

“What a waste all of this is… I am breaking off another physical relationship and degrading a historical artifact simultaneously. Where did we go wrong, Ed? Why are you acting like such a monumental tosser!?”

Continue reading “The Whereabouts of Mrs Trisha by W D Frank – Adult Content” →

All Stories, Science Fiction

Lissa’s Flight by Diane M Dickson

literallystories2014

DSC_0592Lissa felt old.  Her bones were tired and her soul weary. Mama and Baba had been long gone and she had spent countless years alone in the dark, cramped place where they had all existed.

The three brief occasions when she had gone “up top” were her dearest memories.  In the deep of the night, when the gangs roamed outside the draughty windows and the spotlights from the Enforcer’s wagons slid across the walls, scaring the cockroaches and scorpions, she would close her lids and take her thoughts to the sun-kissed meadow and the startling blue of the sky.

Continue reading “Lissa’s Flight by Diane M Dickson” →

All Stories, Science Fiction

Lissa’s Moment by Diane M Dickson

literallystories2014

DSC_0592

“Lissa, wake up.”

The child opened her eyes, night goggles hid her father’s eyes, mirrored ovals  glowed on his face.  “Come on my love, get up”

“Baba, the siren didn’t sound, we are early.”

“Yes, but it’s time.”

“Michael, she’s frightened, don’t alarm her.”

“Hush woman.”  The tall figure turned to his wife, he reached out, the gesture softening the impact of his words.  “Are you ready?”

“I am.”

“Bring the clothes for Lissa, don’t forget the gloves and the headset.”

Continue reading “Lissa’s Moment by Diane M Dickson” →