You’re in the air, swirling, when a face gazes from the tiles below. Hitting the water, your perfect half-twist dive is knotted …
You’re in the air, swirling, when a face gazes from the tiles below. Hitting the water, your perfect half-twist dive is knotted …
She kneels, her back heaving and pushing. Every muscle straining. Doc Martins scuff and push against the footpath. Passersby glance, then stop; …
Santa (real name Andrew Smith, employee name Ian Goldsworthy) beamed joy to the puddle of mums and prams and toddlers in his …
H – That was a good day, all things considered. W – Oh, I’m full. Just got this glass. (Holds up glass …
Ah yes, The Barnacles! Don’t they seem to just grow right out of the rocky shores of Sydney Harbour. Regular readers of …
“Oh good grief,” whispered Jennifer to husband Jason, “it’s Uncle Frank.” The waft came first, steaming feather meal and river mud, followed …
“Well fuck Scott Morrison anyway!” Laura bounded into the sitting room of the dilapidated share house in Bondi and slumped onto the …
Geoffrey woke. The room was still dark, although day was up, and shreds of light stained the rims of the blinds which …
“Gentlemen, please place your bets.” Marcia announced to her two younger siblings Tom and Peter as she laid out the table for …
‘For chrissakes, put it away!’ We winced as Aunty Vi bellowed at my cousin again, her voice as subtle as a dying …
Oh God, she was beautiful! Ra’s heart belted against his ribcage each time he thought of her – let alone his groin. …
“Have you got everything”? she asks. “A huh,” the small child nods, his pudgy arms gripping hard at the backpack hugged to …
The white fluorescent lights of the modern classroom hurt Harold’s eyes as he walked into his sixth form class after lunch. He …
THUMP! CRASH! A deafening sound broke the silence of another peaceful evening in the cosy home of Miriam. Miriam woke from her slumber …
From the other side I watch them enter the church. Sitting at the altar, beside the priest, just near the satiny …
I steer the ute out along a dirt track for a while and stop only when I feel it is safe. I …
“You know this woman?” Judith shoved the dog-eared photograph at the barman. He studied it and launched a chubby finger to her …
Geoffrey prodded the white surgical tape that held the plastic cover over his right eye. By dodging his head one way and …
Paradiddle, flam, blam, now the side tom, boom boom boom, kick drum, snare, sticks in the air, roll it ‘n’ swing, shake …
Laura clicked off the tv with the worn-out remote and tossed it onto the battered coffee table. She sighed and lent her …
‘Loonies speak their own language, like educated people.’ The Tree of Man, Patrick White Let’s just walk, let’s just …
Helena stepped back from the edge a second time. Breakers thudded against the rocks below and the sea-breeze ruffled the folds of …
The shade from the London plane trees does a good job of extracting the sting of the sun. Now winter is over …
The bar heaved with the heat of drinkers, talkers and hangers-on. At the far end of the space, beyond shadowed dancing hordes, …
“I’ll need you to drive,” said Dave when they arrived at his Audi. “I’ve got a couple of phone calls to make.” …
The old man turned the skiff homeward. It had not been a successful day. The sea had misled him. His pots were …
“Shona, why are you gripping the stern rail so tight? Are you seasick?” Oh Christ! It’s Veronica, the gym junkie. “Just enjoying …
Sho Sushi was a traditional Japanese restaurant nestled in the main street of a small fishing village west of Japan. An elderly …
It was my first time. The rifle was slippery in my fingers, and Jojo laughed when I nearly dropped it. I’d seen …
The crisp air assailed them as they stepped outside. Dawn had not yet appeared, and the sky was glass clear, the moon …
Back in his apartment, Geoffrey dialled the number of the only person he thought might understand his dilemma. “Dave, it’s Geoff.” “Geoffrey, …
“Show me where the diamonds are, Lehmann!” Lehmann’s face reddened under the throttle hold of the thug who held him over the …
“Shoes, sunshine, ships or shore Love me rich, love me poor.” It was a song her grandmother had taught her as a …
‘It’s hurting,’ mumbled the old man. He shuffled in the seat, closed his eyes to the fluorescent light above him. The …
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO JEREMY MANKIN? by DAVID SAFFORD Everyone in Whispering Harbor knew that Jeremy Mankin wasn’t fishing with the sharpest hook. …
Annie sat at the bottom of the stairs looking at the back of the blue front door, the house still reverberating from …
Ben sat uncomfortably on a lumpy chair in front of Mary, his company’s HR manager. “Ben, you need to tell your trainee …
As I approached my death I came upon a man seated On the stoop of the Doorway To the End of Life. …
Leo lay languidly under the acacia tree, picking at the morsels of meat caught between his molars. He thought about nothing in …
The evening had begun its descent into a sepia haze as they drove the dirt track through low sparse scrub. A red …
The assembled gods declared, “The Mortals mock us! We must combine our eternal fluids and make a god so awesome they will …
There is another test next week. Mel slumped over her desk feeling the dread. Then she remembered the rumours that had been …
‘Mum, I’m bored. Can we go to the shops?’ Corey’s mum held up her hand to shoosh him and told the Zoomed …
The stadium roars like a thunderbolt. So loud her chest vibrates. Are the heavens pulsating? Is it war out there, or just …
Mum says being dead is like being asleep except you don’t wake up. Which is silly. I have a sleepover at Andy’s …
It was a stormy Sunday night. When the lightning bolts lit up the sky, they revealed an eerie landscape shrouded by …
Hotel 25 – affectionately known as The Two and Five by its regular guests – was a squat boutique hotel hidden in …
Alex’s hands were steady as he unlocked the door to the empty house. Inside, he stood totally still, listening to the silence. …
Andrea sat at the large formal reception desk staring at her blood red nails and scrutinizing her cuticles. With the stark fluorescent …
The blue sky was striking. The fluffy white clouds resembled little bunnies waiting around for their mother. Tom was nine. He stopped …
‘I’m telling you, garbagemen can deal with anything. The smell of corpses, shit, rotten eggs. The worst stink in the world, …
Winter One winter’s day at sunset, four sulphur-crested cockatoos landed on my fence – one bird for each of the seasons. It …
I was a slight kid, some say cheeky, but not one of the muscular kids. There was one kid, a couple of …
There is that one dazzling slo-mo moment, when the kick goes up and the ball ascends towards the heavens, and with it, …
The white flash, then the savage crack of thunder, the flash again and the rain attacked the night. The storm had come. …
“Julianne, look what the cat dragged in. Over at Chanel,” said Suzanne, a coiffured blonde in charge of Lancôme. In front of …
An estimated five thousand people amassed in the plaza that day, some said more. Jess was one, masked, arm in arm with …
The brown squishy excrement slid down the bus window leaving a trail behind it, like a slug on a dewy morning. The …
Ilse cowers; her body trembles. All because she knows, immediately, who she has collided with while rounding the blitzed corner. Despite …
SCHOOL The funeral for her mother over the weekend gave Matilda a chance to see her cousin Susan again. They grew up …
Elias’s cheeks were burning. He strode down the corridor, barely looking at his father walking beside him. The sound of the rain …
The woman and the dog walked through the park. Viewed from afar, their various colours against the vibrant green of the spring …
What to do. What a to do. First thing, get out of bed. This involves sitting upright on the edge, in the …
TWO STORIES EACH AT 500 WORDS FOR EASY READING, by Rob Wilcher The Slave Five bedraggled slaves made their sorry way up …
MAY’S COLLECTION OF 100 WORD STORIES BY THE MOVING PEN AUTHORS * * * * * * * * Century by Paul …
Julie wrapped Ben’s uneaten dinner in tinfoil and placed it into the fridge with a sigh. She looked at last night’s dinner, …
Mary sinks a ball into the hole on the practice green. There are 30 minutes before her tee time. She will be …
You can’t bring her back you know. In the gloaming we queued, awaiting our deliverance from another week. The bus arrived just …
Mike strained as he planked, trying to resist the pull of gravity on his belly as it pulled on his tensed abdomen. …
Deedee’s been losing weight. She stands and watches herself in the mirror. Runs her hand down the sides of her nightie …
APRIL’S COLLECTION OF 100 WORD STORIES BY THE MOVING PEN AUTHORS * * * * * * * * Meeting by Rob …
Just a few days into the swimming program of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the world was astonished to see the …
Days and days and days and days have passed – years really – and yet people still look at him strangely when …
Ring Ring. Ring Ring. The phone shrieks. “Don’t pick up the phone.” Dad calls out. “Why?” I asked. “It’s grandma. She is …
Howard Hodgson paused at the entrance to the laneway to enjoy the busker who was belting out a blinding rendition of On …
Aine scanned around the dimly lit hotel ballroom. The bejewelled curtain backdrop behind the empty top table sparkled under the glow of …
The packed beer garden buzzed with the sound of Friday evening revellers. Office workers keen to shake the formality of the week …
Fermanagh, Ireland, 1593. The deluge washed every extremity of Hugh’s body while fresh mud camouflaged his legs to the thigh with …
Mike sat in the community hall and tossed up whether to tell the truth. It was shocking, he knew, that he was …
Jett pressed play on the CD and You ain’t Nothin’ but a Hound Dog rocked out across the empty rehearsal room. Normally …
O, this one was a beauty. A brilliant brazen mane, an enormous head, my god the power in those jaws as he …
We are a group of early writers who met at the Writer's Studio in Bronte, NSW (Australia) and want to showcase our creativity for the public to enjoy. Each of us has committed to producing a short story each month - that's roughly 4 or 5 stories each month.
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