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. 

009

She sat staring at the email. The shock prevented any sort of response. She blinked often without realising and her stomach groaned. Otherwise, she didn’t move and she wasn’t thinking about anything. She was just staring. There was a huge black cloud in her head. It filled every space and no thoughts could escape. The black cloud hurt her. It pushed against her scull. It squeezed her brain. The blood was building behind her eyes. She blinked again. The pain continued to increase.

Her hand jerked and the mouse moved, so she watched the cursor flick across the screen. The email was the same. The pictures were still there. The to field in the email still had too many addresses to count. There was a scroll bar so that she could see all the other addresses in the field. She didn’t scroll.

Her phone rang. It lay on the desk but it was a distant noise. Then it beeped with a message and rang again. She stood up and walked towards the bedroom door. She touched the handle and slowly pushed the door closed. She leant her head upon the door and began to cry. Tears ran down her face and then her mouth opened as she began to gasp for air. She fell to the floor sobbing. She lay gasping and sobbing until, exhausted,  she dozed off.

“Jessica!” screamed her mother from the other side of the house. Her mother ran down the hall to her bedroom in a panic. She tried opening the door but Jessica was lying behind it. “Jessica, love, I need to open the door. Hop out of the way.”

Jessica sat up, dazed, exhausted and disoriented. Her mother knelt down and clutched her. “Don’t worry, don’t worry, love. It’s ok, everything will be ok.”

Jessica rested her head against her mother looking towards the laptop. Her mother was warm and her voice was comforting. Her head hurt and her eyes were still hot from crying. Her arms and legs were almost numb. “Are you ok, Jess?” Jessica looked up at her mother. She was too exhausted to cry but it’s what she wanted to do. She rested her head again and started to sense the humiliation that would soon hit her like a slap in the face. The negative and fearful thoughts that would continue to plague her for a long time barged in and found a space in her brain. They began sewing their seeds immediately.

008

Once upon a time there lived a little boy called Squishy.  When he was born his mummy and daddy thought he was so huggable and cuddly, with his teeny tiny hands and teeny tiny feet and his wrinkly scrunched up little face that they fell completely and irrevocably in love with their amazing creation.  Unfortunately for Squishy, whilst his mummy and daddy were very good at loving little children, they weren’t very good at picking names. But this meant nothing to Squishy, nestled in the loving bosom of his family and he grew up strong and tall, clear of eye and fair of face, secure in the knowledge that there was nothing a boy in possession of a keen mind and a stout heart could not accomplish, should he set his mind to it.

007

People are lazy, she thought for the tenth time that day. How hard was it to take your rubbish and food with you as you exited the cinema and walked right. past. the. BIN. Oh, she knew, if it wasn't for these lazy people, she wouldn't have a job. She wouldn't be scraping through. Still, lazy people..

She reached her right hand under the chair to grab the red and white striped popcorn box. As the box moved in front of her body towards the rubbish bag on her left, something caught her eye. She paused, looking inside the box, trying to see what she was looking at.

She kept staring unable to recognise what it was. As in a dream, she slowly put down the rubbish bag and took hold of the box with her left hand. Without thinking, her right hand moved and as she saw it enter the box she thought that she should stop. But she couldn't and then she felt it between her fingers. She turned her hand so that it was facing her and moved it closer to her face.

Bill, the other cleaner, came up behind her. "What have you got?" He asked. She turned in fright as she hadn't heard him coming. He squinted to see what she was holding. He reached out to take it from her. She closed her hand around it and said it was nothing. She immediately picked up the rubbish bag and quickly turned around to keep picking up all the crap.

006

Bob looked at his tummy and thought for the hundredth time that he should just bite the bullet and get it waxed. Tomorrow, definitely. He sucked his stomach in. The harsh fluorescents of the bathroom light cast a ghastly light across his face as he picked up a comb and styled his 50s coif. “Still got it” he whispered, winking at this reflection. 

While Bob ran the comb gently across his tummy, dawn broke in a startling shade of green. Things had been a little strange lately, sure, but this was plain ridiculous. Bob put down the comb, opened the window and shouted angrily “I know what you’re up to, and it’s not even clever!” before slamming the window back down.

005

"What the..!!"

Oh, no. He's found it. She slowly shut her eyes while taking in a deep breath. She

could hear the anger, the fear, the shock in his voice. The raw emotion was

penetrating.       

"Laura! LAURA!!"

God, what do I do.. I can't deal with this. I'm not dealing with this now. The sick

feeling increased, it spread through her body so that she started to feel numb.

"Laura! Where are you? Laura!?"

Picking up her bag, she walked into the kitchen and said "I'm here. Look, I've got to

head out. I need to be at Jill's place for the rehearsal. I'll see you later."

He grabbed her arm as she started to leave. "Wait a sec. You've got to talk to me.

What's this? What are you on about? What are you doing? Look at me!! What do you mean?"

She felt hot. Her head hurt and she was tired. Weeks, day, minutes of agonising had

brought her to this moment. She had made a decision and now she didn't want to face it.

"I don't want to deal with this now. It'll have to wait. I've got to go."

I'm a coward. A pathetic person but I can't do this. Not now.

004

“I don’t want to”, he complained in his whiny little boy voice. “Why do I have to?”

“Bob, you’re 32 years old. Act like a man. And while you’re at, pick up your dirty clothes and clean the vegemite off your face”.

Bob was 32 years old. Married. Wife. 4 kids. House and a mortgage. In an alternate universe, Bob flew around in tights and underwear saving old ladies from getting run over by buses. In this reality, Bob was rapidly approaching middle age and had a strange growth of hair on his tummy in the shape of an elephant.

003

Today was the day. Her heart beat with excitement as she jumped out of bed and began checking her things for the fifth time since she had packed them. She wanted to make sure that the day was perfect and that she didn't forget a thing. It was so hard to be quiet but she knew that she had to be. She collected her clothes and tried not to run downstairs. Once dressed, she popped the bread in the toaster. Her heart beat strongly with the anticipation of the day ahead. This was going to be the best day of her life: her first play date!

002

The pencil scratched across the paper for a moment before pausing again. He sighed and looked out the window. Writing was the hardest thing in the world to commit to. You had no boss, no deadlines but those which you set and which you could amend as you saw fit. You sit there deliberately trying to let your mind wander and, well, it does. Almost everything else looks more interesting. He looked around at his desk littered with mangled shapes of folded paper. Not discarded drafts, the latest distraction was origami. Sort of. With no instruction manual and no one to show him how, he’d decided to give it a go anyway. Kids can do this stuff, so someone with a degree from Sydney Uni should be able to do it, no sweat. He picked one up. If you looked at it from the right angle, it could be a dog. Or a rocket ship. Or even a really crappy piece of badly folded paper. Smartarse kids. He picked up the pencil again.

001

Sipping the warm tea, she looked out the dirty window into the street below. Even on the cold and grey day, the world looked so calm and peaceful. It made her relax a little although she couldn't entirely shake the heaviness of her other thoughts. For the moment though, she just wanted to enjoy the colours of the streetscape, the rain dripping from the bright green spring leaves and mostly, the quiet.