Short Stories
By marandina
A collection of fantasy shorts.
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- 693 reads
Chinese Whispers
I guess there was no way of knowing that things would turn out like this. As I stood and stared out across the moonlit, mountain vista, I reflected back on what had led up to this moment. When you're a mile high in the sky the air seems so much clearer and your thoughts become crystallised like a moth caught in an arctic freeze.
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Haunted
It had been 18 months. The world had moved on. Life was engulfed by a pandemic; individual tragedies subsumed by a crisis. The searchlight of...
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The Hotel at the Edge of the World
John and Ali were star-crossed. They had met as teenagers at a night club. John had spotted Ali and Tina looking over a balcony at the dance floor...
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Lockdown Walkees
Today was a great day to be alive, it was Tuesday, after all. Not just any Tuesday…well…yes just another Tuesday. Skye woofer was lying in the hall...
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Mr Clean
Eddie Sinclair had loved lockdown. He revelled in the lack of contact, the isolation, the chance to be free from other people’s germs. Microbes were...
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Empire State (Part One)

Halloween, Hallowe’en or All Hallows’ Eve is an important date in the Christian calendar. Probably based on Pagan tradition, it a time of remembrance...
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Empire State (Part Two)

Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Traditionally held on 1st November, celebrations...
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Invisible

At between 50 and 200 nanometres it was easy to miss. In fact, everyone failed to notice as it stalked the pavement at the corner of Isambard and New...
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Empire State (Part Three) - The Devil in Tintagel

Beltane is a Greater Sabbat celebrated on May Eve. It is one of the four Sabbats that are cross-quarter days. These form the Wheel of the Year. Only...
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Empire State (Part Four): The Initiate

Modern day Wiccans eschew the notion of left and right hand paths – left associated with malevolence, right linked with good intentions. Not everyone...
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Empire State (Part Five) - The House in the Woods

Wicca celebrations can be based on the cycles of both the moon and the Sun. The former are known as Esbats and associated with the Goddess. Black...
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It's (Still) a Wonderful Life

It had been difficult times for Jerry O’Halloran of late. Friends knew him as Down on his luck Jerry . It hadn’t always been this way. Jerry’s mother...
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The Horses of Wooldale Road

In Norse mythology, it is said that the Norns spin the threads of fate at the foot of the tree of the world – Yggddrasil. The concept of free will...
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- 105 reads
A Bridge of Lies

It was the year of our Lord 1850 when my first sentence was given. My poor Mina had been transported this twelve months past. It was at the quarter...
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The Dead Cat

Steve “Stevo” Mason never did like school. At 14 years of age, the rest of his life looked a very long way away. Particularly bright at junior level...
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- 146 reads
The Haunted Fort of Bhangarh

I stare out of the tinted window for most of the trip; it’s like being in another world. You have to go to India to know what I mean but the villages...
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The Existential Fate of Original Thought

Every day had been the same for so long now. Epicurus sat in his leather backed chair, cradling a glass of scotch, ruminating about life and the arts...
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- 92 reads