You can’t just do what you want

A Raymond Carver inspired short story and my personal favourite at the moment. Hope you enjoy too!

A key turned in the lock and Amanda entered the house with her three children, Lola, Matt and Bradley. She dropped her keys in a dish and walked through to the kitchen. Scanning the room she noticed that someone had knocked over the Rice Krispies, half of them were now scattered on the floor.

‘Kids, did any of you knock over the cereal this morning?’

Only Lola replied with a firm ‘no’ from the lounge. She swept the cereal up and put it in the bin. She checked her phone, no new messages, no missed calls. She walked through to the lounge and saw Lola was watching Newsround. She sat close to the television on the floor. Legs tucked up, she held them tightly. She was so light it would only take a gust of wind to blow her over. It was a fragile position.

The Lovers

Another short story, this one concerning two unnamed housemates.

On one side of a wall, two people are having sex in a double bed. On the other side, a man sits alone in a double bed. He picks up a book on the table next to him. It is the collection of Oscar Wilde poems she’d left behind. He opens it up to ‘Remorse’ and begins to read. He immerses himself in the poem, not noticing the moans that came from the other side of the wall. He can only hear his inner voice as it revels in the reading of a literary great.

After forty minutes of reading, the man pauses and checks the time- twenty past two. He closes the book and places it on his bedside table. The only items that inhabit the table are her book, his alarm clock, a comb and a pen. The rest of his room is bare too, just the way he likes it. He is lying on the right hand side of the bed, the side he always takes when he sleeps in a double bed. The left hand side is empty, but for a hair.

The Visit

Another short story for people to have a gander at.

Four white walls. Probably the whitest walls that Graham had ever seen. He had been looking at them for around ten minutes now, his interest in ‘Great Expectations’ had waned quickly, just twenty pages in in fact. The ‘classic’ literature had never been his thing, but he gave it a go now and then. He thought about returning to the likes of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. He just needed to get his hands on some of their new material.

The walls had finally become tedious and Graham turned to lie back on his bed. He lied down on his side and tucked his legs in tightly to his chest. He rested his head on the pillow and sighed. It seemed weird having just one pillow, he was used to two in his old place. Not that it made too much difference, he fell asleep just as easily. That was one problem he had never had. He pitied his friends that would be up half the night, desperately trying to find the sweet soothing solace of sleep.

A Celebrity for the Day

This is a short story I recently submitted for an assignment at Uni. Have a read and hope you enjoy it!

 

‘It’s a big crowd, Miss Cole.’

‘Good…well, sort of.’

Melissa laughed nervously to herself as John, the senior lecturer, went back in through the double doors. She wasn’t used to being addressed so formally but quite enjoyed it. With John gone she turned and looked out of the window at the dingy fields. They were still populated with a scattering of cows and sheep. She always found it odd how neither really socialised. They stayed in their separate groups, almost opposite ends of the fields, and just ate. It must be an easy life. No hassle, no stress and no pre lecture nerves. What I would give to be a cow right now, she thought.