I brought the stone home from the beach. I often do that. There are so many beautiful stones and I end up bringing home too many. Then I have to perform triage and take most of them back to the beach, where I drop them among other beautiful stones and fight the urge to take … Continue reading TURNSTONE by Nicki Parkins (1st place Jan20)

The banknotes were transported in several large cases to the Bank of England. From them, a dozen batches were picked for inspection. Staff in rubber gloves examined the print, the watermark and the motion thread. From one inspector, the Chief Cashier took a note and held it idly up to the light. A genuine, newly-printed … Continue reading THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS by Joe Bedford (2nd place Jan20)

In Lesterville, we know the phrase Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce, we just choose to ignore it. Not because we’re against saving the planet, or don’t understand the plastic problem. We do. But when we hear or see that slogan, we think of Merin McCallister. And shiver.   She doesn’t live here anymore, and the house … Continue reading NEVER GOING GREEN by Sherry Morris (3rd place Jan20)

The sky was dying a red death when we eventually reached the swamp. We’d been walking for so long that the village was nothing more than a huddled mass of black teeth jutting from the rolling hills behind us. I couldn’t even make out my house anymore. “Could’ve just gone to the rec,” I grumbled. … Continue reading SURFACE TENSION by Andy Banks (1st place Oct19)

‘I remembered the nail clippers, mum.’  If she had the strength to look down and see the state her fingernails had gotten into, she would have been mortified.  If she heard me, she didn’t flinch.  Not so much as a quiver of her eyelids.  I tended to her nails as she slept.  It gave me … Continue reading WHEN DEATH CALLS by Claire Wilson (2nd place Oct19)

It’s weird but when people have been saying the same thing to you over and over for years, it’s really hard to remember when it first began. So I can only guess it must have started when I was about eleven or twelve.  It spooked me a bit at first – the way someone in … Continue reading SPITTING IMAGE by Gwenda Major (3rd place Oct19)

Brenda pulls the mop from side to side across the kitchenette floor, slapping it to the kickboards on either side. It’s too wet, and she curses herself for not wringing it out enough in the first place, because now the floor won’t dry in time so she’ll have to give it another once over. ‘Morning, … Continue reading BRENDA HAS THE PATIENCE TO ENDURE IT by Joanne Leonard (1st place Jul19)

The loudspeaker crackles and all the passengers look up expectantly. I strain to hear but can only make out the muffled words: ‘Ealing Broadway’ and ‘delays’. I sigh. ‘Bloody hell,’ the man next to me says. ‘Always the same.’ The temperature in the subterranean world is stifling and sweat is beading on his forehead. I … Continue reading HYPOGEAL by Michele Seagrove (2nd place Jul19)