“Do you love him?”  “Yeah.”  “Do you love him like you loved me?”  “I never loved you.”  The room had lost most of the details now. What she knew were photos and memories of a life once lived, had become flat colours, his face, a blur of pinks and shapes.  “And you’re going to give this … Continue reading Camille (The Pretty Boat) →

He didn’t want to be the sickly kid. It was the term he knew they used when he wasn’t around, when he couldn’t quite make it into school. He didn’t want their jeers; he didn’t want their deepest sympathies. He watched some of the kids walking by the first-floor window, loud in the cold sunlight, … Continue reading Timothy (The Pretty Boat) →

The boys descended upon the plane, the outskirts of scrubland that surrounded the village and covered the planet. Seven of them, the seven sons, but not Tim; Tim wasn’t a proper boy. They had packed their bags; some setting pillows up under duvets and climbing out of windows, others sneaking food from their own stashes … Continue reading The Boys – The Pretty Boat →

The Mayor was pacing his office. Each step measured to fit the space, three and half widths, and each creak fitting into a practiced pattern. Outside, the staff sitting at their desks knew the sounds as Curning Steps. The rhythm of his thinking put out in almost four/four timing. They found that their keystrokes and sometimes the … Continue reading Mr T. Curning – The Pretty Boat →

The ship floated at a distance from the settlement. A slight smudge of grey in the darkness that surrounded the small lump of planet. It was Sarah that had seen it first, Sarah and her sharp eyes. She had never properly learnt to calculate ship distances, but compared it to the brightness of the stars when … Continue reading Sarah – The Pretty Boat →