Author: Kieran

(042) Two short windows had developed in the summer without rain – both before and after the sun sat atop the world and lathered it in an oppressive heat – in which life could continue as normal. A mottled brown frog rests at the side of the river in the early hours of the morning,…

(041) Spring is almost over, but for a light chill that lingers in the air between the sun’s rays. Two teenage boys share a picnic blanket, propped up unevenly by patches of grass, an open backpack sitting beside them.  “Why don’t we toss for it?” Ben says, lifting himself up onto his elbows from his…

(040) A canoe floats gently down the river, a passenger at either end.  “Let’s pull in here.” Hugo says from the front. “I gotta piss.”  They place their oars to the right in unison and the nose of the boat veers towards the bank, touching down in front of a sycamore tree. With a deftness…

(039) Izzy taps her phone screen for the hundredth time to stop it from locking, a loop she’d been stuck in for well over an hour. She’d initially planned to be at her desk when the call came, but those plans had been scuppered by the sounds of drills and hammers coming from next door.…

(038) Two unnamed characters walk in tandem down the path we know so well.  “I’m writing this story at the moment.” One says, in a way that seems like he’d been waiting for you before he began.  “Oh yeah? What’s it about?” Says the other with a voice not dissimilar to the first.  “Honestly I’m…

(037) Two figures huddle close on a frosty riverbank, wrapped up, restless and fidgety with their shoulders hunched against the cold, a satchel resting at their feet. Across from them a single tree occupies the other.  “You ready?” One says, his words strained and clipped between his chattering teeth. “No, not really, but I know…

(036) Two friends meet on a path at the top of a hill, exchanging a wide armed embrace and a kiss on the cheek.  “Long time!” says Ethan.  “Yeah,” smiles Sarah, with the hint of an apology, “I’d been meaning to respond. It’s just–” she trails off, shrugging her shoulders.  “Nooo, don’t worry! I know…

(035) It’s not quite autumn, but the signs are there. The leaves are beginning to curl at the edges and though at a glance they may seem green, a closer look would reveal the hint of a brownish hue. Two young boys have scampered up into the lower branches of a sycamore tree and their…

(034) The location had seemed an odd choice when the guy had suggested it, but even more so today. A cold had crept up Graham’s spine during the night and he’d awoken with swollen eyes and a nose that wouldn’t stop running. Crawling out of bed had taken a herculean effort, and standing under a…

(033) Alone upon a riverbank, the earth beneath long baked into dust by the sun. Sickness bites. Tendrils and claws paw at sores and burrow deep. Holes form. Bark cracks. Leaves die. Roots dry. Wordless cries along the web of lines that connects them all: __•_~~~~|•__|–••__ Unanswered.  Starving. Aching. To the passing eye unseen. They…