It is just a snowflake they tell me. But to me, he is everything. He is my start and my beginning, my alpha and omega, my exodus and my stage left standing ovation. No, I know it doesn’t make sense to you. If you’re like everyone else, you think I’m delusional. You think I am nuts, unwell, crazy, whatever word you use that you think won’t hurt my feelings, or will make me look at my feelings and change my behavior. I have...

“Damn!” I was driving home from Ottawa University when the car ahead of me fishtailed, then slid off the icy road and disappeared down the shoulder towards the trees. I pulled my foot off the gas, pumped the brakes, and finally came to a stop. Jumping out of the car, I ran back through the driving snow to the skid marks, which were already starting to fill in. I slithered awkwardly down the slope and to the tree where the...

In an instant, without warning, a feeling of unrelenting suffocation drops in the pit of my stomach. An intense twisting and turning, swirling like a category five hurricane. My breath shortened, gasping, looking for a means of escaping this internal agony. My head aching, pounding, pulsing like an underground rave of unwanted thoughts. To what extent do I deserve this punishment? You may question my morals or ethics, a m...

APRIL 1918 Loose soil, mud and clay, dropped from his head and face as he raised his shoulders and chest. Legs still buried, he struggled to free them. Dirt-blurred eyes viewed devastation. Slowly, ears reached beyond a ghostly silence, to take in harsh distant explosive noise. Clearing vision saw distant flashes. His mind would not tell him where he was, why he was half-buried, what had happened. A bare arm lay close to...

Rain rattled on his large black umbrella, as Mark Dexter leaned over the promenade wall. It had pelted down non-stop since early that Sunday morning and looked set in for the day, accompanied by a gusty breeze. Below him, the sand was hardened all the way to the seawall. Now, the exceptional tide had receded to reveal normally unseen rocks and bladder rack seaweed that were further testament to how heavy the tide had been...

Yorke Millen sat back and viewed the letter on the desk in front of him. How, in the present circumstances, was he going to manage the next few months as temporary head teacher? Being deputy head was fair enough, the buck didn't stop with you. But now, he was standing in for Gordon Rafter, the actual head, who had suffered a heart attack just over a month earlier, and school problems were multiplying. He knew he could man...

A bright, warm May afternoon, and 79-year-old Jack Turnby stood on his drive viewing his 2002 Toyota, contemplating whether he might outlive this scarred vehicle. Purchasing a newer model had much appeal. His imminent rebellion against the so-called ‘care’ of his two darling, married daughters stemmed from many things, but each had expressed their doubts about this potential purchase.. “I know you can afford it, Dad,” Mel...

Her story. She knew their time together would be brief, she knew he would one day join the evanescent group of lovers that had once visited her life, she knew he would give all of himself in the spiraling madness of orgasm and take it all away once this was over. She knew all this beforehand and yet she went into it wholeheartedly, eagerly, challenging herself to emerge unscarred. He had been like tropical rain, barely gi...

I woke to the sound of bird-call. The clock told me it was eight-thirty, that’s late for me. I turned to see an empty pillow, he’s up. I had better get up, he’ll be waiting for me in the kitchen, no doubt. He must have snuck out of bed, he usually wakes me. Oh well, I was getting on a bit, I deserved a lie in now and then. I’d had a good sleep; I was feeling happy, today was going to be a good day. As I entered the kitche...

Eden. The word doesn’t need adornment, it just evokes the image of paradise. Except, it doesn’t in my case. Though not by any means hell, my Eden wasn’t the paradise you should find yourself praying for. For you see, my Eden was, and maybe always will be, my community; a coastal Australian town, about five hundred kilometres, though at times it felt more like five hundred years, away from Sydney. Eden was, as you might ha...

July’s midsummer heat stuck. It stuck to the blades of grass. It stuck to Sumire’s beige romper. It stuck to everything and anything like a sweltering bog. Sweat drenched her underarms as she set up her easel and foldable chair. Even at her elevated vantage point, the muggy draft painted her body with its salty sheen.Wiping her brow, she gazed over the stacked rows of terraced rice paddies below, bristling with the vibran...

Gail's first day at this new department in the Foreign Office was an uneventful day that did not come as any surprise to her. She had seen a lot of ministerial and government departments before. She had been seconded, from the Home Office where she had been working, since leaving Cambridge, for some twelve years. A typical classics student, and an ambitious young lady, Gail had given most of her time to her work and progr...

Completely true in every detail, I remember after all these years, how she sat, the little silver bracelet she wore on her left wrist – even the charm that hung off it – a small fish. I can describe her dress, her shoes…sIip-ons actually, smell her hair, hear her soft voice – tell you what the weather was like. I don’t have to imagine the tears which come to my eyes as I write this either. She was so ethereally beautiful...

Frank Baldwin stared out the window of his office. The lights of downtown Eversham shone before him. Usually, the mayor smiled when he looked out at those lights. A lifelong resident who had been the city’s mayor for twelve years, Frank was pleased and proud with the work he had done to improve the city. Tonight, though, he gazed out at them and sighed. It was looking like twelve years was enough for the citizens of Evers...

“My family is much different from the Glantrys. We value the person, not their wealth or heritage. I’m working as a lawyer, starting from the lowest. I attended a public school where nobody knew me, and I had to work to do anything that wasn’t connected to my studies. Yes, I’ve been luckier than most. Just to make you understand the difference, I’ll tell you this family secret, and I trust you not to go telling it to anyb...