016

One day, while Squishy was playing at the foot of his garden, he heard the faint sound of laughter drifting on the breeze. It was a sound so full of joy that Squishy could not help but laugh aloud.  Putting down his toy soldiers, he climbed atop the boulder that marked the edge of the forest, straining his ears hoping to hear a repeat of the joyful sound.   Again, the laughter pealed, the sound echoing through the trees.  With that, Squishy dropped to the ground, and so began a journey that would involve dark magics, heroic feats, new friends and the discovery of his true name.

015

The air was thick. You almost had to swim to move through it. Justin hated Dengher. It was always a tiring journey. Everything that much harder to do. It wasn't just moving around that took more effort, so too was communication. It was as if the words took longer to pass through the air. You could see the words being formed and after a delay you would hear them. The Dengherian at least were pleasant. Just in slow motion.

He only came to Dengher to collect the sperian fuel and it was usually a good two months between visits. As he approached the Ticlig Temple where the markets were, he began to count his money. It was always better to haggle when you knew how much you could actually afford. He had heard that prices were down since the war had ended but he wasn't sure if that would be the case today. Perhaps it would be too early to affect the markets. He had delayed his trip as long as possible hoping to benefit from any price decrease.

Lost in financial considerations, Justin finally arrived at the Temple and entered looking for the sperian fuel merchant. He couldn't see him and so began asking other merchants, all who pointed and directed him to a space that was empty. He looked at the empty space and then he turned back to the last helpful merchant shrugging. The merchant lifted his eyebrows and chin, as if to say "there stupid, look there". Justin turned again and saw nothing. He didn't wanted to turn back for fear of the chin so he walked into the empty space and was suddenly sucked straight through a space so small he thought that he would disappear. He quickly popped out what seemed to be the other end only to crash into the sperian fuel merchant.

"Hey there, man. Looks like you took a little too much Dengherian energy with you. Next time, take it easy. Not so much enthusiasm."

Justin was embarassed and very confused. He wasn't expecting the warp, he hadn't even seen it.

014

As Orr sat at the heavy wooden table, shadows shifting across his hunched form in the flickering candlelight, he paused to lick the statue of a balding cat sitting in front of him before dipping his quill into the deep purple ink from the river Quash. "This will prevent the dark turnings of Fate", Orr muttered to himself in plummy tones more suitable to an upper class public school than a draughty chamber on the banks of the Quash. "Once this is complete any man with even a rudimentary grasp of grammar....." His voice trailed off as the boulder which protected the cavernous chamber was rolled away with such force, such joyful abandon, as to belie its huge weight.

013

“Oh. My. God.”

“What? What is it?”

“No way! Seriously, this is insane! Check it out.” Nat handed her phone to Steph. She watched Steph’s face. She wasn’t sure whether she should laugh or not. “How bad is that?”

“Shit. Like, what is she going to do? Do you think it’s photoshopped?”

“Who knows. It’s for real, right?”

“Yeah,” she replied handing Nat back her phone so that she could check her own email. “Hey, I’ve got it too. Text Katie. See if she’s got it. I would so not be going out in public. I’m sending it to Nick – what a laugh.”

Nat watched Steph as she typed on her phone with a huge grin on her face and started to think about where the email came from.

Suddenly Steph laughed out loud, “Hilarious. Seriously, this is going viral.”

012

Squishy lived with his mummy and daddy a few miles out from town on the edge of a deep, dark forest. The forest was old when people had first settled in the area and was full of mystery and enchantment. Most people thereabouts avoided the forest, fearful of the strange creatures and even stranger magics that supposedly inhabited its darker reaches.  Even woodcutters worked quickly and quietly and made sure they stayed within a shout of the forest’s edge when plying their axes. It was rumoured that a person who ventured too deep would come back changed, if he came back at all.

011

Did he hate her? He wasn’t sure. He sometimes imagined pushing her. Thinking about it made him smile. Her facial expressions often annoyed him. Everyone said that she was pretty. That made him angry. Why did they think that their opinion mattered? It didn’t matter and she didn’t need to hear it. All she needed was him. He was good enough for her. She shouldn’t listen to big mouthed no bodies.

They had been very happy with a great plan for their lives together. They would be married, have some kids and head to the beach in summer. All they needed was each other. They had agreed and were both happy about it. But then she started thinking about studying and a career. That was because of her dad. That guy thinks he knows everything. Thinking about the smug bastard made him pinch his lips together in disgust. His nose creased as if he caught a bad scent. He clenched his fist and began to imagine slamming him in the face, breaking his posh reading glasses and making him bleed.

He thought about how perfect daddy thought his pretty girl was. He began to squeeze his eyes shut as he started thinking about how he would put them all straight. Show her how much she needed him. Show him that his daughter wasn’t Miss Perfect Purity. Show everyone that he was the man.

He’d had many ideas about how to sort this out. Now it was time to do something. He deserved respect and love. She needed to listen to him and no one else. He knew what was right, what was good enough. Nothing else should matter to her. Not more than him.

010

"I know what you're after, Malone, and I'm telling you now, I am not going to hand over the manuscript of Orr without a fight!" shouted our reluctant hero, before leaping backward over the crumbling cliff-edge before tumbling down, down, down, to the rocks far below, in a dramatic, but ridiculously stupid final gesture. “Damn you Billy Gruff!”  Malone shouted at the form tumbling to a certain and painful death.