I must be quick for I hear them coming.
50
josh
I must be quick for I hear them coming.
I must be brave for I sense a presence troubling. I must be wise for I do not know their cunning. I must be gentle for I fear they are not loving. I must be cautious for I see my end becoming. I must be quick, I must start running.
tom
I must be quick for I hear them coming.
Don't look for me, that is what they want. Don't waste time mourning. Our work must continue. I have uploaded my research to the usual place. The artefacts we uncovered at the dig are real. Everything they've taught us is a lie. Tell Molly I User Disconnected.
Our legs dangled off the side of the dock.
50
tom
Our legs dangled off the side of the dock.
"Do you promise?" He asked, gazing out to sea, his fingers worrying a splinter of wood free. "I promise." There was a heavy throbbing joy in his chest, the exquisite leaden pain of love. A car pulled up nearby. "That's me." Lips brushed his cheek and she was gone.
josh
Our legs dangled off the side of the dock.
Southport Newquay Every Saturday morning, Gus and I dreamt of faraway places the boats were venturing. Lowestoft Newhaven Today you were nowhere to be seen. John O’Groats I scanned the fluctuating waters. “HEY! JOHNNY!” Disbelief. “GUS! WHERE ARE YOU HEADED?” Waves muffled your voice. Stavanger “WHERE!?” Waves again. “Please stay.”
The sound of a piano drifted downstairs.
50
josh
The sound of a piano drifted downstairs.
They answered on the second dial. “Mr Baptiste…” “It’s happening again.” “Mr Baptiste there is nothing we can do about nocturnal ivory tickling.” “You make it sound appealing.” “Sounds beautiful from where we’re sat.” I hung up and headed straight for the broom cupboard. I’d had it with that piano.
tom
The sound of a piano drifted downstairs.
The detective frowned, "You said there was no-one else home." "I... must have left the radio on." She uttered, flatly. A wrong key. A pause. Thee Blind Mice started again. "Paperwork?" Her head shook. He lent to his radio, "We have a suspected 374, unauthorised possession of a child."
They called it the city of the sun.
50
tom
They called it the city of the sun.
An unmistakable metropolis, rising from a hunk of rock, silhouetted against our great ball of fire. Over the years we sent messages via every medium we knew how; there was no response. Silently it propelled itself towards us. Today we heard from them at last and the world went mad.
josh
They called it the city of the sun.
The final battleground, so it was told. The fight that could save us. The Seven Gods descended, presenting their battle scars, brandishing their monolithic weaponry. I stared them down, the weight of my world hanging heavy in my empty fists. I gathered all my might as the first blow landed.
The stars were unfamiliar.
100
josh
The stars were unfamiliar.
They echoed back to me a heavenly overture that sounded terrifyingly foreign. In that moment I felt the visceral, turbulent weight of fear. Try to see something beyond stars, beyond atoms, beyond anything of disbelief. “Mum?” I whisper to the phosphorescent multitude of bulbs above, knowing full well you were not there and you could not hear me. One day, my son. Keep whispering my name and one day I shall respond in the way you truly need me to. Gleaming abstractions transform and catch my eye until suddenly a constellation I recognise. Something resembling home. Beautiful. Devastating. Empty. Home.