His friends had told him of The Lady of the Woods. By day she slept in a stone tomb, and by night she preyed on lonely travellers, lost in the depths of the trees.

He had laughed and told them to stop being so stupid.

He had boasted that not only could he walk through the woods by himself, unscathed, but he would do so at night.

Now, as he stood by a stone tomb in a clearing, his bravado had de...

‘Michael?’

My throat is dry. I stare at the phone in my hand. The screen reads ‘unknown number’ but I’d know that voice anywhere. My mind is flailing. Heart palpitating.

‘Michael, can you hear me?’

Yes, my brain screams, but my mouth refuses to form the word. I feel a numbing cold trickle down my spine. I’m very far away now, I can see the backs of my eyes in the distance, my mouth, if I coul...

I never seemed to find the time

To sit awhile and read

The dopamine of electric screen

Made me forget the need

Picking up a book again

Feeling it’s weight in my hand

The sense of calm is palpable

I begin to understand

It’s more than just a story

An author’s A to B

It’s a pathway to the soul

To set imagination free

And so it’s here I vow

(Books deserve more than ‘try’)

I’ll make time to read ev...

‘Everyone here is alive because of them.’

Kayla shook her head, disgusted that anyone could have a bad word to say about the sky men. It was the end of the conversation. I knew it was going to be.

Inwardly I sighed, outwardly I held my expression blank.

Here we floated, several thousand of us, on a platform high above the seething cauldron that used to be Earth.

There they floated, five of the...

Caspian was captivated as the meld dance played out in front of him. Limbs weaving effortlessly between ripples of silvery skin. He was a small boy skimming stones on the Loch once more.

Hobart observed him, a wry smile on his face.

‘You see how they inhabit one another’s body? As if two minds have become one?’

‘It’s mesmerising’ Caspian was snapped back to the present by the old man’s interj...

‘A group of teenagers stumble upon something they shouldn’t have... and your solution is to kill them?’

The words were out of Mitchell’s mouth before he could stop himself. He had the look of a man who couldn’t believe he’d just spoke. He stared a spot on the bunker floor, willing it to open up and swallow him whole.

All eyes were on him.

The silence sucked the air out of the room, tension le...

You do it in reverse

At first

Embers

Smouldering, refusing to die

Constantly catching the back of my mind. Distracting until I, tending to the crackling, find a golden flicker rising from the coals.

Excited I blow into your base, get smoke in my face but I will not be choked from my prize, with or without watering eyes.

I press forward, fanning the feeble flames

You blaze into life, without warn...

Scrolling

Someone’s life, better than yours

A retreat in the Swiss mountains,

bliss mounting

Reality striking, painful hiding,

Retreat

Scrolling

Cute cats, dogs in hats, a seal claps.

The trainer clicks and gives a treat.

Clap, Click, reward.

I clap, click, and reward myself by moving on toward

nothing in particular.

Scrolling

Time idles by as my finger slides up, my eyes scanning, my...

The sun was beginning to set behind the scorched hills, bringing a welcome respite from the intense afternoon heat. Evening time, bringer of long shadows and, if one was very lucky, the sighting of a nightjar or two.

Every dusk she sat on the veranda, binoculars in hand, trying to catch a glimpse of the elusive family of birds that lived in the valley. She heard them often, but seldom saw them ...

It was as if he had left his body. He could see himself shrinking in front of his eyes, a tunnel of darkness closing in around the fringes. All focus drawn to a single point. The computer screen.

With a throaty gasp he scrunched his eyes tight, forcing his attention back inside himself. He could feel his mind screaming, racing to escape and spill in every direction. He was dizzy and nauseous. Th...