Bound

They writhe, chained, below. No sleep, only the respite of discomfort before pain.

Soon they will be back on the oars, hauling themselves across oceans, fighting to live a life in chains rather than die in them. They’re just like us—the tribal tattoos inked on their forearms the only difference.

No, the men I work alongside are the real savages. They savour their positions: crew of a slave ship—what power! I don’t—but I’m grateful to be where I am.

They writhe; my fingers trace idly the scars on my forearms, where once my own tattoos were inked.

[100 words]

Hello/Goodbye

I didn’t recognise the number, but answered the call nevertheless.

“Hello?”

“Hi, who’s this?”

I paused. “It’s Toby,” I replied slowly. “Who were you expecting when you called my phone?” The sarcasm I was trying for didn’t quite work; the girl’s voice was so friendly that I instead ended up sounding helpful.

“No one in particular. How are you, Toby?”

“I’m fine, thank you…but who is this?”

“My name’s Gemma. Toby, you are the last person I will ever talk to. Goodbye.”

The line went dead.

I rushed to retrieve the number and called straight back.

There was no answer.

I Warned You

In London you’re never far from a rat.

Everyone knows that.

You’re also never far from one of my kind.

You know that too, to an extent.

You just don’t know what we are.

We’re waiting, suffering while we wait but that isn’t important.

The end will be so sweet we won’t remember the suffering.

I only call it the end so you’ll understand.

It is the beginning of a new age for us.

Most of my kind don’t care what happens to you.

Having a conscience doesn’t make me unique, but I’ve picked up more human traits than most.

No Return

It’s like you’ve gone and flipped a switch

One minute you’re an angel next thing you’re a *****

One second it’s like old times

Than I’m wondering (damn) did I commit crimes

I didn’t come here to fight

Thought after all this time we’d be right

We’ve talked out what went wrong

Held my hands up now I thought we’d get along

Seems you need me to be the enemy

Trying to reinforce every single fault you see

When we get on we’re that team again

When it goes wrong we can barely be friends

Say you don’t know what you’re doing to me

But you also claim you still see right through me

You’ve ruled us out forever

But I still think that we could work together

 

 

Survival

Survival: Those who walked upon the Earth still, didn’t know of or hope for anything else. When it’s not just your world, but the whole world, that comes crashing down, immediate priorities tend to stay simple. Those who survived the impact and the subsequent ‘winter’ became single-minded scavengers, wanting only what they could consume.

It was in this state that the crew found every survivor: concerned only with lasting another day. They did not respond to the plans for rebuilding, did not comprehend the need to secure life on a timescale longer than a season, longer than food would last.

 

[100 words]

Poor Pete [comic strip!]

[This is a blog-first medium! Enjoy. Let me know if there was a better way to put this up than this clunky format. For anyone interested, I believe a friend/cousin drew this, and I later added a story to (arguably) fit.]

Pete the orange was sad, as he lived all alone
Rain clouds would follow him wherever he’d go
His life seemed to be just a miserable mess
This sad state of affairs caused Pete much distress

Then Pete found a rabbit, sat on the ground
This rabbit had udders, strange though it may sound
From these udders came poison, strong as can be
It could kill all the humans in the vicinity.

The US Army, corrupted by greed
Didn’t like much this new technology
So they nuked the whole place, killing Pete, and unfortunately
His dopey, cute, flop-eared poison factory.

fin.

Play That Old LP

Just fall, break down in my arms
break down the walls that guard your heart
and leave you distant
You don’t know how much I’ve missed you
We’ve both changed and I’m insistent
you give me one more chance

Been a while since we split now, when you were thinking we were right this is it now. I guess I caught you off guard because I wouldn’t commit and yeah I guess you fell hard because I treated you shit. I know I don’t deserve another shot at us, still I’m clinging to this hope that I’ve got of us.

[Just found this, undated but it’s within the last five years or so (because I consciously changed how I wrote the letter a around then and because of the subject matter) and seemingly half-finished. Feel free to suggest how it should continue if you want]

Once

Once I heard Heaven. Not as peaceful as I expected, at first I struggled to hear any one voice.

They talked slowly, and each voice grew in volume before fading away, as if floating lazily past. Many sang in foreign tongues. One line I understood, sung by a woman, lasted five minutes.

“Oh to be where the grass is greener…”

The first word took up half that time, drawn out in wistfulness. There were no harps, but I heard a steel drum. People ask how I knew it was Heaven. I say I’d heard my father calling, they smile sadly.

[100 words]

Some roughly-9-year-old poem

[Is that heading hyphenated correctly?]

[I just dug this out of an old writing folder. Believe it dates back to April 2009, so I was 18 and angsty. And apparently loved dropping the g at the end of ‘ing’ words.]

Tear me apart
I’ll love til it kills me
You’re out of control
But the journey it thrills me

Waitin for you waitin for two but I’m one
out on my own, all alone why don’t you come
Could it be something wrong you got held up
Text that comes thru ‘Where are you?’ ‘I just forgot’

Hate it tonight but wait for the high

Give me that look and I’m comin over
Feel such a rush as we’re movin closer
beyond you and I this world counts for nothin
And when you’re mine my life could be somethin

Give it your all but watch for the fall

You’ll Regret This If You Remember Me

[10 points to Gryffindor if you can tell me what band I’m imitating here]

These tears froze from your cold shoulder
And we’re just getting by, just getting older
I’d give an arm to take you home
But I need my wrists for when I’m alone
And as the night and my thoughts grow darker, we just grow bolder

So I will stay with you like scars on skin
And let them all remind you of a time you let me in
You took my breath and you took my best
Lying through my teeth with your head on my chest
And thinking that for heaven we enjoyed a lot of sin

So life’s a joke – it’s on me
Show me parts of you that they can’t see
Life’s a joke and it gets me down
Drive me somewhere out of town
And we’ll curse at the sky
and we’ll feel so alive

Eating alone as the class files in
Knowing I won’t be your chain again
Sat at the back thinking how I messed up
And it’s Saturday night and I’m all out of luck

The phone lies in silence and I lie to myself
The phone lies in silence and we lie with words
News is you’re mine and haven’t you heard
These dreams keep me high and the lows keep me singing
It’s Saturday night and it’s my phone you’re ringing

Take me driving out of town
And we’ll curse at the sky
and we’ll feel so alive…