Barny

Great competition Sandra, am really intrigued to read the story that inspired it now. Well done Ath, and everyone else, good set of stories

Good job Athelstone! Love the comp and all the entries! Great challenge to not be allowed any prose.

Smashing comp, Sandra and a similarly smashing selection of entries. So I’m really pleased to be picked!

Well done, and well deserved, Ath!
And thanks, Sandra for such an interesting challenge.

Woohoo! Well done Ath! 😊 And thanks, Sandra, for stimulating dormant brain cells .

Another Session

“I dreamt about you last night.”
“Hmm.”
“That’s it?”
“What do you want me to say? ‘Tell me more?’ This isn’t the first time you’ve started a session this way.”
“Does it bug you that I dream about you?”
“Should it? We see each other twice a week now, it’s not surprising that I have a place in your subconscious.”
“So?”
“Yes, go ahe…[Read more]

I dreamt about you last night.

Really? I haven’t thought about you for ages.

Ooh! Harsh.

Aha – Sorry, Jack. That sounded terrible. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just, well, you know – the kids and all that. I don’t have much time for myself.

How old are they now?

Callum’s ten and Orla will be seven on Saturday. Most of this shopping is…[Read more]

“I dreamt about you last night. No, don’t look like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like it’s a line or… like I’m being…?”
“What?”
“I dunno. Overly sentimental.”
“OK. I won’t then.

…Well you can’t leave it hanging like that. What was I doing in this dream?”
“That’s the thing. I can’t actually remember. You know what dreams are like.”
“I know what my…[Read more]

The Sanctum of Dreams

“I dreamt about you last night. You were in the sanctum.”
“Well, that’s hardly surprising, is it? Given what’s about to happen.”
“No. I suppose not. It was just so…”
“So…what? Are you going to share? Or just sit there looking worried? I’m not a mind reader.”
“Yet.”
“Ha! True. Well, tell me about it. I don’t like to see y…[Read more]

When The Magic Ends

‘I dreamt about you last night.’
‘Sally, about that.’
‘No, please don’t say it. Things used to be so magical.’
‘But that was then, can’t you see? People move on. You’re not that kid I first met. There are others –’
‘Always were. From the very start you didn’t try to hide it let alone show any remorse. That deep chuckle…[Read more]

‘I dreamt about you last night, or rather I dream about this every night.’
‘You’re not John. Who are you? Do I know you?’
‘It’s me, Gran. It’s David.’
‘I don’t know anyone called David.’
‘Sure you do, Gran. It’s just that you don’t remember. I’m Moira’s son. You remember Moira, don’t you? She was your daughter.’
‘Moira’s dead. She had a…[Read more]

‘I dreamt of you last night, y’know’
‘Oh yeah, anything good? You should try this, sit down, its good’
‘Some of it, yeah. The old parts, y’know, before…..that’
‘Come on, Steph…..we agreed. It was the only way’
‘Was it? Really? We could have just left, run away, started again just you & me. She’d never have known where to send them if we were car…[Read more]

Are we allowed ‘he said/she said’ and scratching of heads, or is it pure dialogue you’re looking for?

Thank you, Sea, for the challenge. It was a challenge, too! Not my normal kind of writing.

Congratulations, Sandra. An excellent story.

Congratulations, Sandra – an excellent story. And thank you, Sea, for the feedback and setting a challenge I could rise to.

Apologies for the delay in posting these results…You know what I’m like with feedback but I did my best.

Firstly, though, many thanks for taking the time to post an entry 🙂

Sandra – Great use of short, staccato sentences and broken sentence structure to indicate disorganised thought. Sharp intake of breath when I realised where this was…[Read more]

346 words excluding title

Learned Habits

Her flatmate said she wanted a chat, about the apartment. She called it an apartment but with its beige kitchen units, its shower over the bath, its dingy paintwork, it was an old-fashioned flat.

Both women were in their early twenties.

Jess sat down on the sofa. The sofa, said the flatmate. Its…[Read more]