Turning the key in the garage door, there was a satisfying click as it locked. His left hand held a claw hammer which was swung at it. It took three swipes to break the key. He nodded in satisfaction. “There, now we’re locked in,” he said, dropping the tool, then turning and walking across to a full-length Hanoi mirror, leaning against a drawer chest. In its reflection he could see the object of his disgust, Kenneth May,...

He squeezed his eyes tight and placed his palm over his ear in a vain attempt to shut out the noise that felt like a hammer blow to his brain each time it ricocheted into the bedroom. He lay in his bed, in the darkness, facing the window, the warmth of the duvet cocooning him like a caterpillar. Rain lashed the window, and thunder rumbled away in the distance, but the shed door continued to bang away in the wind, and his...

"City of Peace" (Raanana, January 12, 2018) On days like these with a high-noon sun Shining on a little courtyard, The bougainvillea silent for lack of breeze, I wonder whether David, the shepherd king, Considered the possibility I'd be sitting here Sipping from a cup of coffee, daydreaming Of his pasture not so far from me And lambs long gone, their progeny roaming The barren hills of Ein Gedi And his dreams of a city of...

Dad was at work. Mom was at the grocery store. Her sister Em was at a friend’s house. El sat on her bed, playing with her kitten, Shadow. El had a feather on a string, and tossed it out like a fishing line for Shadow to chase. Something sounded from outside the room. Shadow jumped off the bed at once, his attention no longer on the feather. He bolted out of the room and took a sharp turn into the hallway.  El followed him...

What did I  see first . It was the flies, as they danced in the pools of blood.Nurses hurry about they are the final hope for the wounded .  And the flies wait to start the dance once more.As foolish children we played war.  Funny as I think back there was no flies.  Maybe the flies knew  playing war  brings  no blood.Each hour each day blood spilled pooling on the floor.  And each day the flies came and danced in the blo...

This is part of a story I wrote for the writing group.  I was left the unenviable task of saying what happened to Alex when she was 15 years old,  what had happened to the young innocent girl that day ten years ago. I hope you enjoy it; I will be incorporating this into a larger story at some point.  I lay down on my sofa, my Analyst pulled up a chair and started making notes. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.  As...

Prologue Dimitri held his breath as he watched the dark phantom wrapped in a ragged cloak of an archmage fly overhead. He was sure Thael's invisibility cloak shrouded them from the spirit, but he dared not make a sound, even breathing, while the creature flew so close to them. Though the woods were thick where they ventured, the twisting grey-brown trees of the Shade Wood never seemed to produce a leaf, only sporadic bran...

The bloody handprint on the window- calling card of the wicked. Of the sick. Entering the house, he could see straight away that there had been trouble in the hallway, which was the first thing one saw when they entered the house. Long abandoned was the house, built in the early 1900s and occupied until the 60s, where dark legends had surrounded it from local youth with the intent to scare, and now some sick fuck had turn...

The Copper Knight III Jorden wasted no time explaining everything, soon as Derren and the other present captains were in his office. Including himself, there were only four other captains present, all of them had some sort of blood stains seeping into their white cloaks. "The Baron made an all-out semi-coordinated attack against us," Jordan explained. "In the last hour alone we have lost over twelve-hundred men, about two...

The Iron Rook VII "The Baron is dead," Derren reported to Duncan in the councilors quarters, when he finally got in to see him. Present with him was Gerald, Mira was busy that morning. "Thanks to an anonymous man, we think someone who was close with him but betrayed him, we received his severed head. Afterward, we reclaimed the lost districts in the city and his rampant followers were far more easily dealt with. We still...

The Grey Bishop III Edward moved away the floor boards accessing his secret hiding spot, where he stored his most valuable stuff. He grabbed the small brown linen pouch and opened it to find four coppers. He punched the hard floor in rage; there had to be more. He couldn't get far with just this much when leaving the city right away.Desperately he dug through the dirt searching for any coins he may have dropped in there b...

"Gone, what do you mean gone?" Edward asked Madam Fiona. "I mean Lisa is gone darling, she'd been saving up for a time now." "I don't understand. I thought... I mean," he shook his head. "You thought she loved you? Come darling, you're smarter than that." The madam was right, he was smarter than that, he knew she didn't truly love him. But it was fun to play pretend for a time. That didn't mean it wasn't painful for him....

The Iron Rook V It all went according to plan, nearly everything to the detail, with every member of the Royal Guard under the influence of Sage Ordon. The secret coupe was done silently in the castle grounds, by the royal guards, the men Duncan had brought with him (Gerald too), and the Riverlords and their men. They overwhelmed the king's guard on duty that eve, all but one, of course, a new member who was on his one da...

TheCopper Knight II Derren found himself at the Westcher for the second time within a fortnight. The first time was for William, and now William's house had been burned down, with two female corpses found inside the remains. They were blackened and charred, and entirely unidentifiable. Derren couldn't even tell they were female, not until the Grey Sage told him.The lanky old man spoke so quietly Derren struggled to hear h...

The Copper Knight I Derren watched helplessly as his father grew worse every day, now no longer able to leave his bed, he lay there getting sicker and sicker. When he came home after work he went to bed without a word or food, just collapsed on top of the straw bed. He slept for two days straight and then when he woke he was weak and could hardly move about, let alone work.Soon enough their food storage ran out, the coin...