Wendy caught Jesse in the garden, snail in his mouth. Its shell splintered like soiled wrapping paper, gleaming wetness sliding forth when she pried his lips apart. “It’s got to stop,” she told his mother. Last week it was a worm; on Monday a pile of tight-balled slaters. “We thought he’d choke.” His mother nodded, … Continue reading Child’s Play
The sky left new treasure for Devon last night. She's up at dawn, running past Mum’s slumped form at the kitchen table. Her nose wrinkles; she turns away and calls old Toby to “Follow me, lazybones!” Out the back door, its springs thump right on Toby’s nose. “Oops! Sorry, boy.”She opens it for him, then … Continue reading Junk
There were three reasons to be grateful for waking up that morning, and three hundred not to. Rachael listed the three so-called positives in a litany all day, convincing herself it was worth it. It had to be worth it. One: Benjamin. She bent to pick up his discarded pants, jocks, tee, socks... “Ben!” No … Continue reading Little Things
Content warning: implied child abuse. “Knock, knock!” Madeleine listens at the basement door, her Shell-coloured pigtails dusting its fading, Ceylon wood. She smiles at a reply no-one else would hear, and twists the brass knob, carefully, quietly. Beyond the door, the space below yawns in Oolong Black. She checks her surroundings, but the Guild Grey … Continue reading Sister
A year went by without Rupert mentioning anything, but that didn’t mean he stopped thinking about it. You saw the references in his every move. In his hobby, his obsession, most especially. “That’s the last of them, I think,” he’d said, laying golden roses on the kitchen table. You’d looked out the window to the … Continue reading Letting a Wild Thing Grow
EMMA LOUISE GILL 