Geoffrey sat inside the ambulance wrapped in a blanket, blandly watching the scene before him. Two other ambulances, two fire trucks and …
“I lub you too.” A four-year-old James said to his father with a little wave goodbye. He was excited to meet his …
3 Min Read
You summon me with your constant chatter; loud, insistent, beckoning, as you weave and wander your way through the valley far below. …
2 Min Read
Right or left? Both tracks from the junction taunt you. Both disappear into a heat that broils the earth. In both directions, …
3 Min Read
When I bought my new dress you smiled cheekily, lasciviously. At my graduation you put your arm around me, And said, “she’s …
1 Min Read
Mary hung the last pair of black cotton knickers from the laundry basket, onto the white clothes horse. She stood back and …
16 Min Read
Geoffrey’s phone rang. It was Lucy. “Hello, Mr Accountant,” she said. “Hello, Ms Bureaucrat.” “That’s Lady Bureaucrat to you, buster.” “I’ll call …
10 Min Read
My pride, my joy My castle, sanctuary My home Dust, dirt, cracks Rust, leaks, gaps Fingers scrubbed, patched and painted …
1 Min Read
“Forty Love. Match point,” John called out after his tennis partner on the other side of the net failed to return his …
16 Min Read
Oh glorious, silver orb, your beams drip deep through the dank damp earth until they reach me here in my resting place. …
2 Min Read
A drifter, my Pa had said. A young girl just passin’ through. I seen her next day in the big barn, watchin’ …
3 Min Read
“Are you fucking kidding?” “Oh darling, you know the deal – you’re a coathanger for their Art.” “It’s a bit of tin …
1 Min Read
“Have you seen the curve?” Beth’s father slurs, as she shuffles softly towards the living area. His eyes are riddled with delicate …
7 Min Read
Geoffrey’s phone rang; its face said Lucy. “You’re up early,” he said when he answered it. “”Hello to you too,” said Lucy’s …
39 Min Read
Please, he says, as sternly as possible. A bit too sternly though: he hasn’t used that tone for years. He flinches, …
8 Min Read
Abraham My blade is sharpened before you, oh God Most High. I am ready to use it. I am prostrate. I prostrate …
17 Min Read
Andrew fingered the manuscript on the chipped formica table in front of him and looked out the cafe window for Vanya. St …
25 Min Read
Terry looked up from behind his computer as his colleague entered the room. The neon from the tower opposite them spread a …
2 Min Read
“Ping.” Busy, I’ll check that later. “Ping.” I really don’t have time for this. 1:20. Boss wants this report on his desk …
4 Min Read
“This better be good. I’ve got a network to run. My clock is ticking. Who’s this?” Vlad freezes as he steps into …
8 Min Read
Tara loved living near the mangroves, where the tides rolled in and out every day. At high tide the water was bustling …
14 Min Read
And, after all these years, she still can’t touch it. Snow. It makes it difficult, living in a mountainous atmosphere. Every …
6 Min Read
It was worth it wasn’t it? The Lamborghini 350GT, the two mercs, the houses and farms, the fashion, oh my, the fashion, …
3 Min Read
“Oombawa oombawa oombawa!” “Eeni teeni weeni ayo!” “Mmmmm whoopee! Whoopee! Higher higher higher hoo ha!” “Oombawa! Calamar! Oombawa! Calamar!” “Ooh aahh! Ooh …
32 Min Read
The Mountain Climber’s Beginning Let me tell you a story. Just three nights ago I was in a public bar, in …
31 Min Read
She had often thought of killing him. The reverend had joked about that once in a sermon on marriage. “I said to …
10 Min Read
“Jack, mate, how are you? I didn’t think you’ld be back for a few days.” Beth can hear a man calling to …
16 Min Read
Your neck is on the guillotine. Its sharpness gleams above you, the base is already cutting into your throat. You’re choking …
9 Min Read
The sky was dark and the wind was howling. Julia looked up at her mother hoping that she would see the menace …
3 Min Read
Mary left the coffee shop in Shanghai Pudong airport where she had spent the last hour passing the time. Her excitement grew …
5 Min Read
Lysandra felt almost invisible in her black cloak as she hurried in the darkness down the Avenue of the Pharaohs. The shadowy …
20 Min Read
Shadows – always the shadows! Do I seek them, or they seek me? They cast their imagination across drooping ribbon bark. Flicker, …
1 Min Read
Caroline stepped off the greyhound bus and onto the dusty red earth. She threw her backpack onto the ground and watched a …
14 Min Read
A blur of blue and white light. Voices. Electronic beeps. Geoffrey’s head pounded. He moved his arm. His limbs were lead. It …
39 Min Read
It was when Albert backed the car into the driveway and turned off the engine that he got stuck. It wasn’t the …
34 Min Read
There was grumbling at the station The news had reached the men That their favourite cook, Asian Jack, had received the DCM. …
4 Min Read
‘What you get is no tomorrow’ David Bowie, Fame After her best friend was killed in the Paris restaurant by ISIL …
10 Min Read
Back in her private chambers it took a long time for Lysandra’s tears to stop flowing. Sitting on the end of the …
16 Min Read
Impotence beats a steady drum at her temples as Beth retreats to the sanctity of her privacy pod. Her small lithe fingers …
10 Min Read
This piece is an 800 words piece for a spoken voice competition: Entanglement – Voices of Women. https://voiceswomen.com/entanglement/. It was written in …
5 Min Read
When we stop, blind bodies collapse in a mound of sick, sweat and BO. I scramble to breathe. Someone kicks me. Yusef …
1 Min Read
Lysandra’s right foot came out of her sandal as she took the bend at pace. A troop of Roman soldiers marching in …
15 Min Read
“Dennis, Dennis.” “What is it, darling?” said the elderly man behind the shopping trolley to his wife who was hovering about like …
3 Min Read
…A Tale Told in Triptych… CHAPTER 1: WHITE TSARINA After they told me my boy was a haemophiliac I believed I …
11 Min Read
Cindy leant her weight to push open the heavy glass door that bore the words “Jessica Mulgrave, Solicitor” in gold plate at …
35 Min Read
Henry listened to the soothing and rhythmic sound of the car tyres thumping on the road. The weather was great. He had not …
3 Min Read
“The magic lasts only a couple of minutes. You’ve got to be ready, here it comes.” Dr. Tom Robertson said to himself …
3 Min Read
Geoffrey stood on the roadside in the morning sun. Peak hour had just begun, and cars were starting to queue in the …
19 Min Read
“Well?” Beth’s brother Jack demands as she returns to the apartment she shares with three generations of her family. “Well, what?” Beth …
8 Min Read
https://themovingpen.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Boreas-Street-3.m4a Sarah strides across the strip of hard black sand, her toes kicking at the pebbles. Like marbles in a schoolyard, …
3 Min Read
“Oi, Scrubs, do us a solid will ya?” shouted the man in the overcoat to another some way ahead of him in …
3 Min Read
Bradley, a five year old boy with too much energy for the day, looked out of the vast window of his apartment …
20 Min Read
Life is short. According to palmistry, a lack of lifeline meant a short life. “Mary, your lifeline is so faint that I …
3 Min Read
Three ghosts live in this toilet block. They were students of this school. It’s been said that you could see the long …
3 Min Read
Another curry then. He’d rung and said, “Sorry love, work’s all over the shop. I’ll be late in.” She knew what that …
3 Min Read
Geoffrey sat on the blue vinyl chair in the waiting room beside a reception desk piled with mail and files. The receptionist’s …
34 Min Read
‘I didn’t expect you this early, Dad.’ She was as brittle as usual, a blonde shadow, sitting stiffly in the velvet gold …
8 Min Read
Anna hung up the phone and punched the air “Yes, Yes, Yes!!” She pushed back her grey chair and danced on the …
15 Min Read
Gav couldn’t decide what gave him more solace; the pistol in his right coat pocket or the bottle of poison in his …
7 Min Read
You’re in the air, swirling, when a face gazes from the tiles below. Hitting the water, your perfect half-twist dive is knotted …
1 Min Read
The year is 2120. Beth blinks and refocuses on the text. They can’t be serious. She stops, breathes slowly, carefully, aware every …
6 Min Read
She kneels, her back heaving and pushing. Every muscle straining. Doc Martins scuff and push against the footpath. Passersby glance, then stop; …
1 Min Read
Santa (real name Andrew Smith, employee name Ian Goldsworthy) beamed joy to the puddle of mums and prams and toddlers in his …
60 Min Read
H – That was a good day, all things considered. W – Oh, I’m full. Just got this glass. (Holds up glass …
5 Min Read
Ah yes, The Barnacles! Don’t they seem to just grow right out of the rocky shores of Sydney Harbour. Regular readers of …
22 Min Read
“Oh good grief,” whispered Jennifer to husband Jason, “it’s Uncle Frank.” The waft came first, steaming feather meal and river mud, followed …
19 Min Read
“Well fuck Scott Morrison anyway!” Laura bounded into the sitting room of the dilapidated share house in Bondi and slumped onto the …
14 Min Read
The gauche fitout of the salon was far from calming. As she lay naked under the towel, Irena took in black drapes …
13 Min Read
Geoffrey woke. The room was still dark, although day was up, and shreds of light stained the rims of the blinds which …
25 Min Read
“Gentlemen, please place your bets.” Marcia announced to her two younger siblings Tom and Peter as she laid out the table for …
10 Min Read
A few days before Christmas we got a new puppy. We called her Ruby. She was very cute, with big floppy ears …
3 Min Read
‘For chrissakes, put it away!’ We winced as Aunty Vi bellowed at my cousin again, her voice as subtle as a dying …
13 Min Read
Oh God, she was beautiful! Ra’s heart belted against his ribcage each time he thought of her – let alone his groin. …
8 Min Read
“Have you got everything”? she asks. “A huh,” the small child nods, his pudgy arms gripping hard at the backpack hugged to …
2 Min Read
Joey The wind blowing off Lake Michigan gives me jitters. It’s rattling the trolley wires, and the street lights hanging off them …
11 Min Read
The white fluorescent lights of the modern classroom hurt Harold’s eyes as he walked into his sixth form class after lunch. He …
6 Min Read
THUMP! CRASH! A deafening sound broke the silence of another peaceful evening in the cosy home of Miriam. Miriam woke from her slumber …
10 Min Read
From the other side I watch them enter the church. Sitting at the altar, beside the priest, just near the satiny …
6 Min Read
I steer the ute out along a dirt track for a while and stop only when I feel it is safe. I …
40 Min Read
“You know this woman?” Judith shoved the dog-eared photograph at the barman. He studied it and launched a chubby finger to her …
3 Min Read
Geoffrey prodded the white surgical tape that held the plastic cover over his right eye. By dodging his head one way and …
31 Min Read
Paradiddle, flam, blam, now the side tom, boom boom boom, kick drum, snare, sticks in the air, roll it ‘n’ swing, shake …
3 Min Read
Laura clicked off the tv with the worn-out remote and tossed it onto the battered coffee table. She sighed and lent her …
14 Min Read
Peter counted the iPhones in the box at least a dozen times. He was definitely missing a few. He returned nervously to …
5 Min Read
“I miss Samantha. She was so athletic and good-looking. She used to bring home rats half her own size, being so petite …
8 Min Read
‘Loonies speak their own language, like educated people.’ The Tree of Man, Patrick White Let’s just walk, let’s just …
11 Min Read
Mihaela thought for a moment that she’d gone too far. “Hey! We’re all admiring your buns in those stretchy pants, Jen.” She’d …
2 Min Read
Helena stepped back from the edge a second time. Breakers thudded against the rocks below and the sea-breeze ruffled the folds of …
3 Min Read
The shade from the London plane trees does a good job of extracting the sting of the sun. Now winter is over …
2 Min Read
The bar heaved with the heat of drinkers, talkers and hangers-on. At the far end of the space, beyond shadowed dancing hordes, …
12 Min Read
“I’ll need you to drive,” said Dave when they arrived at his Audi. “I’ve got a couple of phone calls to make.” …
20 Min Read
The old man turned the skiff homeward. It had not been a successful day. The sea had misled him. His pots were …
4 Min Read
“Shona, why are you gripping the stern rail so tight? Are you seasick?” Oh Christ! It’s Veronica, the gym junkie. “Just enjoying …
3 Min Read
Sho Sushi was a traditional Japanese restaurant nestled in the main street of a small fishing village west of Japan. An elderly …
3 Min Read
It was my first time. The rifle was slippery in my fingers, and Jojo laughed when I nearly dropped it. I’d seen …
5 Min Read
The crisp air assailed them as they stepped outside. Dawn had not yet appeared, and the sky was glass clear, the moon …
15 Min Read
Back in his apartment, Geoffrey dialled the number of the only person he thought might understand his dilemma. “Dave, it’s Geoff.” “Geoffrey, …
12 Min Read
“Show me where the diamonds are, Lehmann!” Lehmann’s face reddened under the throttle hold of the thug who held him over the …
2 Min Read
“Shoes, sunshine, ships or shore Love me rich, love me poor.” It was a song her grandmother had taught her as a …
2 Min Read
‘It’s hurting,’ mumbled the old man. He shuffled in the seat, closed his eyes to the fluorescent light above him. The …
3 Min Read
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO JEREMY MANKIN? by DAVID SAFFORD Everyone in Whispering Harbor knew that Jeremy Mankin wasn’t fishing with the sharpest hook. …
5 Min Read
Annie sat at the bottom of the stairs looking at the back of the blue front door, the house still reverberating from …
12 Min Read
Ben sat uncomfortably on a lumpy chair in front of Mary, his company’s HR manager. “Ben, you need to tell your trainee …
3 Min Read
As I approached my death I came upon a man seated On the stoop of the Doorway To the End of Life. …
1 Min Read
Leo lay languidly under the acacia tree, picking at the morsels of meat caught between his molars. He thought about nothing in …
11 Min Read
The ringing phone was a premonition coming true. Jane had known to expect it when the storm began to lash the hills …
16 Min Read
Meredith and Toby sat in abject terror on the chaise longue where they had, until this moment, been enthusiastically making out, staring …
3 Min Read
The evening had begun its descent into a sepia haze as they drove the dirt track through low sparse scrub. A red …
25 Min Read
A million doubts flooded his mind. He had never really contemplated his own death before. Sure, he knew he was going to …
16 Min Read
The assembled gods declared, “The Mortals mock us! We must combine our eternal fluids and make a god so awesome they will …
3 Min Read
There is another test next week. Mel slumped over her desk feeling the dread. Then she remembered the rumours that had been …
5 Min Read
‘Mum, I’m bored. Can we go to the shops?’ Corey’s mum held up her hand to shoosh him and told the Zoomed …
16 Min Read
The stadium roars like a thunderbolt. So loud her chest vibrates. Are the heavens pulsating? Is it war out there, or just …
9 Min Read
Geoffrey walked along a narrow lane of boutique shops up to the main road. Two lanes of night time traffic swirled past, …
9 Min Read
Mum says being dead is like being asleep except you don’t wake up. Which is silly. I have a sleepover at Andy’s …
3 Min Read
It was a stormy Sunday night. When the lightning bolts lit up the sky, they revealed an eerie landscape shrouded by …
12 Min Read
Hotel 25 – affectionately known as The Two and Five by its regular guests – was a squat boutique hotel hidden in …
25 Min Read
Alex’s hands were steady as he unlocked the door to the empty house. Inside, he stood totally still, listening to the silence. …
16 Min Read
Andrea sat at the large formal reception desk staring at her blood red nails and scrutinizing her cuticles. With the stark fluorescent …
10 Min Read
The sound of the crash ripped apart the hubbub of the pub. Geoffrey and others at the bar paused momentarily to realise …
15 Min Read
The blue sky was striking. The fluffy white clouds resembled little bunnies waiting around for their mother. Tom was nine. He stopped …
9 Min Read
‘I’m telling you, garbagemen can deal with anything. The smell of corpses, shit, rotten eggs. The worst stink in the world, …
10 Min Read
Winter One winter’s day at sunset, four sulphur-crested cockatoos landed on my fence – one bird for each of the seasons. It …
6 Min Read
I was a slight kid, some say cheeky, but not one of the muscular kids. There was one kid, a couple of …
3 Min Read
There is that one dazzling slo-mo moment, when the kick goes up and the ball ascends towards the heavens, and with it, …
3 Min Read
The white flash, then the savage crack of thunder, the flash again and the rain attacked the night. The storm had come. …
3 Min Read
“Julianne, look what the cat dragged in. Over at Chanel,” said Suzanne, a coiffured blonde in charge of Lancôme. In front of …
3 Min Read
An estimated five thousand people amassed in the plaza that day, some said more. Jess was one, masked, arm in arm with …
8 Min Read
Geoffrey was floating, high and joyous amidst the whirring fans and rafters of the pub, slowly revolving in his private heaven. The …
20 Min Read
The brown squishy excrement slid down the bus window leaving a trail behind it, like a slug on a dewy morning. The …
7 Min Read
Ilse cowers; her body trembles. All because she knows, immediately, who she has collided with while rounding the blitzed corner. Despite …
5 Min Read
SCHOOL The funeral for her mother over the weekend gave Matilda a chance to see her cousin Susan again. They grew up …
11 Min Read
Elias’s cheeks were burning. He strode down the corridor, barely looking at his father walking beside him. The sound of the rain …
7 Min Read
The woman and the dog walked through the park. Viewed from afar, their various colours against the vibrant green of the spring …
9 Min Read
What to do. What a to do. First thing, get out of bed. This involves sitting upright on the edge, in the …
13 Min Read
TWO STORIES EACH AT 500 WORDS FOR EASY READING, by Rob Wilcher The Slave Five bedraggled slaves made their sorry way up …
5 Min Read
MAY’S COLLECTION OF 100 WORD STORIES BY THE MOVING PEN AUTHORS * * * * * * * * Century by Paul …
5 Min Read
Julie wrapped Ben’s uneaten dinner in tinfoil and placed it into the fridge with a sigh. She looked at last night’s dinner, …
5 Min Read
Mary sinks a ball into the hole on the practice green. There are 30 minutes before her tee time. She will be …
14 Min Read
You can’t bring her back you know. In the gloaming we queued, awaiting our deliverance from another week. The bus arrived just …
7 Min Read
Mike strained as he planked, trying to resist the pull of gravity on his belly as it pulled on his tensed abdomen. …
30 Min Read
Deedee’s been losing weight. She stands and watches herself in the mirror. Runs her hand down the sides of her nightie …
10 Min Read
APRIL’S COLLECTION OF 100 WORD STORIES BY THE MOVING PEN AUTHORS * * * * * * * * Meeting by Rob …
6 Min Read
Just a few days into the swimming program of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the world was astonished to see the …
13 Min Read
Days and days and days and days have passed – years really – and yet people still look at him strangely when …
8 Min Read
Ring Ring. Ring Ring. The phone shrieks. “Don’t pick up the phone.” Dad calls out. “Why?” I asked. “It’s grandma. She is …
8 Min Read
Howard Hodgson paused at the entrance to the laneway to enjoy the busker who was belting out a blinding rendition of On …
19 Min Read
Aine scanned around the dimly lit hotel ballroom. The bejewelled curtain backdrop behind the empty top table sparkled under the glow of …
7 Min Read
The packed beer garden buzzed with the sound of Friday evening revellers. Office workers keen to shake the formality of the week …
4 Min Read
Fermanagh, Ireland, 1593. The deluge washed every extremity of Hugh’s body while fresh mud camouflaged his legs to the thigh with …
13 Min Read
Mike sat in the community hall and tossed up whether to tell the truth. It was shocking, he knew, that he was …
6 Min Read
Jett pressed play on the CD and You ain’t Nothin’ but a Hound Dog rocked out across the empty rehearsal room. Normally …
8 Min Read
O, this one was a beauty. A brilliant brazen mane, an enormous head, my god the power in those jaws as he …
10 Min Read