Now that I am nearing my end, I suppose it is finally time to tell the truth of what really happened. I was born in 1960. My childhood was happy until 1965, the year my mother died giving birth to the sister I never got to meet. My father never recovered. He surrendered to the bottle, lost his job, and eventually turned his grief into violence. By the age of five, I learned the geography of fear. If I wasn’t through the front door by 3:40 p.m., exactly ten minutes after the

The heat was intense. “How the hell did I get myself into this mess?” Jan thought. The alarms were blasting out of every speaker in the building, and the black, caustic cloud was creeping under the door. In the next room, a window shattered, and a gust of air was sucked in, fueling the flames even more. It sent a fireball out into the night sky. Jan started to cough, lungs burning, eyes watering. “Think, think, what do I do?” She spoke. She grabbed some towels, kicked over

This week's prompt, -An Astronaut – Mars The starship touched down for exactly thirty minutes. A frantic pitstop to harvest data from the local weather station at Tempe Terra, which is found between the topographically high Tharsis Region and the Acidalia Planitia region in the Martian northern hemisphere. The Intel they had received was that a Luna storm was heading their way. On Mars, these storms weren't just wind; they were towering walls of static-charged hematite dust

This week's prompts were difficult. . Year 2256 – A first date – and the LGBTQ community. In the year 2245, Manchester had become a domed citadel. The Primus was a person who went by the name ‘OZ’ He concluded that relationships were a relic of a primitive past. To him, the traditional concepts of dating and courtship were not just old-fashioned; they were obsolete, inefficient, and prone to catastrophic emotional failure. In this new era of social engineering, the

This week's prompt was- Two people meeting on a bus who have more in common than they think. Jane glanced at the man standing behind her at the bus stop, a sudden, jarring sense of déjà vu washing over her. Flickers of another life sparked in her mind: knights in gleaming plate armour, a jester’s frantic tumbling, and the distant melody of lutes and pipes from an age long buried. When the bus finally pulled up, she gave her head a sharp shake to clear the ghosts away. Sh

Today's prompt was - Heartbeat, and another Planet. "Clear!" Dr Dave stepped back, paddles still in hand. The room held its breath as the three observers froze. "Pulse! We’ve got a sinus rhythm!" someone yelled over the chaos. "Peter? Peter, can you hear me?" The doctor gave his cheek a sharp slap. "Wake up, mate. We must move!" Peter groaned, shaking his head to clear the fog. "Where am I?" Before anyone could answer, the room jolted violently, raining dust and

Beth was in a rush, stopping her car and shouting, “Come on, Tilly, I've not got all day” In the back, Tilly pulled a face, “Can I not stop here?” “Don’t be silly,” she snapped, slamming her door and opening the back door in one quick movement. “Just get out.” The last bit came across a little too harsh, and a few customers in the car park looked over and scoffed . “Why have you brought that thing?” Beth pointed to Tilly’s toy rabbit; it was a gift from her grandmother

This week's prompt: - Write about your Job from a different Perspective. ---------------------------------- My name is Tomas, and I am a drug dealer. There, I’ve admitted it. I’m not the person you see on street corners selling small bags for a few bucks. Instead, I operate a well-established network, selling to hundreds each week. Right now, I'm sitting in a police cell, awaiting charges. While I have a moment, I will tell you how I got caught. It wasn’t a tip-o

In March 2025, Helen took a trip to Machu Picchu and the Galápagos Islands. When we arrived at the meeting point beside a coffee shop at Lima Airport, our guide for the next two weeks called out all our names. “Astrid,” he shouted. We all looked at each other. Some shrugged their shoulders, others said “No.” While sitting on the tour bus heading to our first hotel, he asked again, “Astrid, has anyone seen Astrid?” Once more, the answer was “No.” I decided to write my versio

Leo patiently waited for his father to complete securing the premises; his father had served as the caretaker at St James’s School for over a decade. They moved in six months after his mother died in a car accident, in which Leo survived with horrific head injuries. With years of therapy and Physio, Leo was..., well, not one hundred per cent. Now the nineteen-year-old university student, Leo, was in his second year of a cybersecurity program. After the accident, Leo contra

Chapter 10 Night settled over the Village. The streetlights buzzed, throwing long amber shadows across the pavement. James, Leo, Nina and Agent Winter were sitting having coffee when Leo paused, head tilting slightly. “You hear that?” James said. Engines. More than one. A blacked‑out people carrier stopped outside the caretaker's cottage, followed by two scooters. They were announcing themselves. Leo muttered, “Marsh.” Doors opened in a smooth, Marsh stepped out first, f

500 Words - My entry for the World Book Day Competition. We had been at the cottage for barely an hour when the sky turned the colour of wet slate. The forecast promised a deluge that would hold until morning, I hauled in the last of the suitcases, groceries, and beer. “Afternoon!” a voice boomed through the steady hum of the rain. I turned to see the farmer. “Hi!” I shouted, waving back. “Sorry about the weather,” he said, offering a tight, uneasy smile. “It was gloriou

The clock struck noon as Vernon Kay’s voice faded from the Radio 2 airwaves. For James, it was the signal for the lunch shift, but his mind was anchored in the previous night—his twenty-sixth birthday, spent in the hollow silence of a pub corner, alone. The sharp chirp of the telephone snapped him back to reality. “Edwards Printing, how can I help?” It was the same rehearsed greeting he’d used for the last ten years, ever since he’d walked out of school and straight into

The first two stories in the Norbert's Marvellous Book Emporium series. You can find the full set on - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Norberts-Marvellous-Book-Emporium-Clockwork/dp/B0GG98L1TD/ref=sr_1_1?crid=W9J4O9YFGDD9&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IyGA7KpGRz1fYOrvefCFJg.eqZStku_HPj0HTb5TadWuW-gIJygdjuM9MZ3_1d-2V4&dib_tag=se&keywords=norberts+marvellous+book+emporium&qid=1771713354&sprefix=norberts%2Caps%2C340&sr=8-1# As Enola walked through the doorway, a gentle bell rang overhead. The sc

The prompts were: Regent, Metallic, Rhombus. Lucy departed from the railway station, confident that she had packed everything necessary in and on the trailer hitched to her electric bicycle. She carried water, food, additional water, two spades, a small pick, a metal detector, and, naturally, all her camping gear. According to her information, a rich vein of gold lay just a few feet underground, accessible to someone with the right skills and equipment. The journey to the s

Three Prompts - Tin, burn, moon. The Moon Girl Janet had always dreamed of travelling to the moon. As a child, she would gaze at the silvery disc through his bedroom window, tracing the craters with her finger and imagining herself bouncing across its dusty plains. She crafted rockets from tin cans, cardboard, plastic bottles—anything he could find. Then, she would launch them from the garden with a burst of imagination. Janet’s dream lingered through the years. As an eng

WPC Sally Mac was showing her colleague into the building. "I hear the body was found here," the woman in front said, in a low, raspy voice. The Detective didn't look at the WPC, but at the floor. Then at the windows, all three vacant of glass or curtain and two without frames. Where bramble and honeysuckle had taken root, a broken bulb dangled on a twisted cord from the ceiling. Life had long since left the old, prefabricated building. A small tremor shook through her, vis

The prompt was a Bus ride, and A Stranger -------------- Everyone who rode the number 8 bus in the evenings knew the man with the holdall, though few knew his real name. Arthur. Each weekday, like clockwork, he boarded at Victoria Station at precisely 6:32 p.m., always getting off at the Dog and Duck Pub in Clifton. He was a fixture: same seat, same posture, clutching his holdall tightly, eyes fixed ahead, never acknowledging a soul. But on Monday, June 7th, s

The prompt featured a Banshee during a thirty-minute writing session. ---------------------------- The banshee screamed, and the night fell silent. A chill ran up Bella’s spine as she stood at the edge of the woods, unmoving. The silence was oppressive, not peaceful, and heavy enough to make her skin prickle. The villagers of Dovedale recognised that sound; it meant someone would be taken before dawn. Bella’s lantern flickered, casting uncertain shadows. She felt the s

The Prompt was Robot, Japan, Doctor. The Malfunction of AR-7 AR-7 was an Android, made of smooth, durable metal, with articulated joints for flexibility and movement. His humanoid form has a recognisable head, torso, arms, and legs, with proportions similar to those of a human. He was a typical domestic robot, assisting Hana, a senior Doctor at Tokyo General, with household chores and maintenance, following programmed routines without emotional engagement. In the bustl