‘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)

I go to Waitrose every Saturday morning to eye up the men I wish I’d married. I leave my reusable, upcycled cup in the bike trailer and queue for a complementary flat white served in a single use waxy cup that will take longer to decompose than my still living corpse. Then I meander like … Continue reading REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE by Sonia Trickey (3rd place Jul19)

It’s Friday, and she’s gone. They’ve talked - it’s all they’ve done for weeks, because words are what she’s good at - but now the house is quiet. On the table is the manuscript, her first novel, the final draft, the version everyone will see. It’s thinner than he expected, and on the cover is … Continue reading NOTHING BUT ASHES by Jason Jackson (3rd place Apr19)

In my hand is the black and white photo taken by Dad with his Box Brownie camera the last summer my family went to the beach. Behind me is the pier. Hovering in the shadow is a hazy figure. The picture is black and white, but now the pier has been repainted and is garlanded … Continue reading A BLACK AND WHITE SUMMER by Alyson Hilbourne (2nd place Apr19)

“Good looking vanner you got there.” The old man wearing ratty jeans and a thin blue jumper curls gnarled, swollen fingers through Gerry’s long black mane. “I might know someone who’d be interested.” “Don’t want to sell but...” I shrug. “Me mam’s not well, we’re stoppin’ in the town for now. Not much need for … Continue reading HORSE TRADING by Barbara Young (1st place Apr19)