Author: Kieran

(012) She had only planned to stay for one drink, but that was 10 hours ago. The sun had gone down and come up since then. The music had long ended but the energy of the festival was still rippling through the streets via the people finding their way home. Chloe had bumped into Liam…

(011) “Can’t you see it!?” Yasmine wheezes, her voice both flirting with and resisting laughter. The pair of them are led on their backs looking up at a tree, cheeks flushed, pupils wide and full of giddy elation. The sun is at its peak in the sky. Bright colours bleed into each other, bubbling in…

(010) By this point, the plan was well and truly out of the window. The plan had been to focus on every step being done with correct form – core tight, glutes squeezed, balls of the feet – but the plan hadn’t taken this god forsaken path into account. With his eyes always down watching…

(009) “Tell us a story?” Asks Alice, laying on her front on a towel she’d brought from the Airbnb.  “A story?” Cameron says, sat on a log, his back against a tree. “What about?” “Why don’t we all give you a word to use, and you make a story up about that?” Laura suggests, busy…

(008) “It’s all about balance,” Josh dips the black bucket into the river, white paint and hard concrete blobs clinging to it like barnacles, “I saw this guy on tiktok do it.” He pulls it out, half full but still requiring both hands to bring it to the floor gently.  “Right,” Tom nods, handing Josh…

(007) Empty, not even the dregs. Tilting back in the vain hope of a couple more drops, but none come, so fuck it. From his spring-loaded sitting position the can carves quite an arc in the hazy air, just enough light from the far away street keeps it visible until an unceremonious ploip in the…

(006) There are three dances that occur between them every morning. It took them time to learn the moves, of course, but now they coast wordlessly through the motions, conscious of the subtle differences in one another’s routines, sidestepping and pirouetting in a joint effort to maintain harmony.  One of them is up first, outside…

(005) “On 3.” Ben positions himself closer to the water on his hands and knees and Ollie follows. “1…2…3!” Both the boys’ heads drop towards the water, but only Ollie’s goes in. Ben stops with his nose against the surface for a moment, making sure that Ollie’s is submerged, then he rocks back up onto…

(004) There was something different about today. You could feel it in the half-caught glances between strangers in the streets, a vibrant energy skittering across them all and bringing them with it. Even the flea bitten dogs and greasy cats who loitered in the dockside were enticed, and Eric sensed that that must mean something.…

(003) “Why!?”  Hannah screams in a voice that isn’t her own. Her anger had only grown in her hunt for Pieter, finding him reading against a tree, socks and shoes placed neatly beside him, his shirt open revealing the faint impression of dark hairs forming on his chest. The image of relaxation, but no more.…