The Last Summer by Ian Critchley
‘You stand there, Dad,’ Adam said, pointing to a spot near where the goalposts had been. ‘I’ll cross it in.’ Max scouted around the penalty area, trying to avoid the…
‘You stand there, Dad,’ Adam said, pointing to a spot near where the goalposts had been. ‘I’ll cross it in.’ Max scouted around the penalty area, trying to avoid the…
“What about you, do you have kids?” we’re asked, but what they mean is “How many?” and their faces fold like fists when we tell them. “Have you thought about…
The boys on the football team call each other foul names and compete to impress the cool girls, who gaze on them with pious faces. I am not a cool…
She sings, her eyes closed, pouring life into that long perfect note. Her fingers twist the silk of her skirt into cascades of colour, tightening, tightening as the note lifts.…
Even with the lights on, it was still a dark corridor that stretched on and on like forever, and also, sometimes, like my bubble-gum—she would’ve differed and said something like…
She was the one closest to retirement, the one who sat tapping her biro on her thigh at staff meetings, the one who never bought biscuits for the staff room…
Stacks/ Jerry’s halfway through his second volunteer shift at the library, wheeling his cart between the stacks. Collecting books to be shelved is the only thing he knows how to…
I moved into my inherited bungalow a month ago. Curb appeal? None whatsoever, but still a winner compared to one more night of crashing on Morgan’s sex-soaked futon. The house’s…
He thinks he has me. From the sun-roof, light cascades into the office and splinters off the snub of his silver gun. Man’s knee-jerk reaction to violence is as clichéd…
I came home at 4:42am; I remember it quite clearly. I opened all the doors to let in the sweet relief of the summer night, then went straight to the…
Before they viewed the house, the estate agent had barely mentioned the cove. This, in Francine’s mind, had been a mistake. For the house by itself really wasn’t much to…
Aika had gone before I woke up. All that was left inside our place was my box of clothes, the last of the tools in the garage, and the Colt…