Being told over and over that he is too young to have a girlfriend, or a boyfriend as the case may be, 15-year-old Kyle sends a wish to whoever up there is willing to grant it.

A Granted Wish

Kyle inches slowly, creeps in, and, stealing a quick glance towards the boy sitting next to him, he smiles. He looks down; can feel their fingers entwined together underneath their school bags. He loves seeing the blush on the other boy’s face, feel the slight tremor running through his hand–though from excitement or fear he knows not. They are inside the school bus after all.

He swallows his disappointment when Aiden pulls his hand back. Right. He tries not to show his feeling, looks up and sees the boy’s shy smile toward him, making him feel warm all over.

Download to read more

Mikey didn’t have any friends at school, they all laughed at him for being a SWOT, and a NERD. However, a visitor arrived at his back door, and they soon became best friends.  The first time he saw the boys from school, with his new friend, they became jealous.

A Shaggy Dog Tail

Mikey turned off the computer, threw all his textbooks on the floor, and flopped heavily onto his bed.

‘SWOT’, that’s what they all called him. He hated the way his friends made fun of him,

Soon, they would be sitting their GCSE’S, but – did that worry his friends, NO –WAY, (friends -that’s a laugh).

They never included him when they went out. The only time they wanted to know him, was if they needed help with their homework, because they were too lazy to do it.

Download to read more

After the death of his mother, Curtis’ abusive father takes him aboard his fishing vessel where they live in discordance. Armed only with a mysterious diary page written by his mother, Curtis accosts love and disaster and is forced to confront loss, search for happiness, and ponder the meaning of coincidence.

A Spoonful of Happiness and Ashes

Whatever piece of furniture father heaved into the hall assured me there would be no sleeping tonight. I lay under my blanket holding my breath as my father’s drunken rampage echoed down the hall. The clamor of wood, plates and profanities filled my room like thunder. The upheaval comforted me because it was familiar. It had reminded me countless times that my nightmares were fantasy, but it never protected me from father’s drunken wrath.

The cacophony ceased. I held my breath in fear. Moments ticked past, and I refused to blink knowing he’d hear it. What was he doing? Why did he stop? A rustle. A footstep. A cough. Nothing. Only the pounding of my heart against my rigid lungs.

Download to read more

Aunt Sarah filled my head with all sorts of reality. The truth of the world as she saw it and the magic that can be found. I never knew how much I depended on her stories until she was no longer there to tell them.

Aunt Sarah’s Tales

As a child I knew many things. I knew fairies painted flower buds with colour in the dying light of day. Cats were sacred, tracing their ancestors back to the ancient gods and that the full moon was Diana hunting the clouds. I knew pearls cried for their return to the sea and that unicorns were not always white.

I knew because Aunt Sarah told me so.

Aunt Sarah was no real relative. She was someone special to me and I chose her as mine, gladly giving the title that would draw us together as family.

Download to read more

Can young love be stymied by social media, by the likes of Facebook and twitter? Romance hangs in the balance when a nerdy student investigates his potential girlfriend online.

Coffee with Luna

I arrive in Huffington’s class seconds before the great man himself sails into the room. The cables from his laptop dangle like the tentacles of some maladroit sea creature as he mounts the stage.

Should I lend a hand? Three classes of my helping him to download have laid bare his inability with PowerPoint. Also his pathetic choice of passwords. Access to his electronic grade sheet will net me a certain A.

But I hesitate. Assisting ‘The Huff’ yet again will brand me as a sycophant. Particularly in Luna’s eyes. And hers are the only eyes that matter.

Download to read more

Bullied at school, his mother diagnosed with cancer, 12 year old David Barrow is thoroughly miserable.  And then, he’s sent to live with a relative; The Colonel.  Is he a war hero – or a government assassin?  One thing’s for sure; he cures David of ever being bullied, again.

David and the Colonel

The Sign from the Heavens

When twelve year old David Barrow saw a shooting star from his bedroom window he wished most earnestly for a miracle.  As the light from the meteor extinguished, he made his wish.  “Please, God,” he whispered.  “Make it stop.”

That day had been the last day – and the most awful day – of school term.  “Go and fetch it, Barrow!” shouted Simon Fanshaw, the leader of the three bullies, as he flung the satchel, containing David’s school books, high into the air.  The satchel crashed into a holly bush and as David tried to extract it without cutting his hands to pieces on the sharp, thorny leaves, Simon Fanshaw all but doubled over, howling with helpless laughter.

Download to read more

Alan’s day at the beach takes a scary turn when he runs into a boy who is not what he seems.

Feet

Alan faced the ocean. A huge wave crashed and he waited. At the exact right moment he skipped forward and jumped. His board bobbed and slid across the water. He was flying over the world.

His foot scraped against something sharp. He yanked his leg up and toppled over into the water.

Download to read more

In the little town of Worton, a girl named Kristen watches a performance in her community theatre which features her favourite celebrity, James Roberts. After the show, she does everything she can in order to catch up to him and meet him in person.

Flawlessness

James Robert was her obsession. If one was to visit her house, they would be surprised to see that his image was everywhere – from the posters of her bedroom walls to the mugs she drank her tea in. She could never live through a day without taking some time to admire one of his images scattered throughout her house. She fell in love with his godly appearance after all of the television shows, films, and plays she had watched of him during her early adolescence. Now he was here performing at the community theatre in her little town of Worton.

He was travelling with a show group who were performing all over the United States, from East Coast to West. He was the star of the show. There was no other position in the cast that fit him so well, she thought.

Download to read more

14 year-old Etienne keeps getting flashes of someone else’s memories. Dancing bears and painted wings are not exactly the things he meets every day especially since he is just a homeless boy living on the cold streets of Paris.

Glowing Dim as an Ember

Denmark, 1840

At first he thought he heard it from afar, the roar of a gun blaring, a voice screaming. Or perhaps it was a dream.

But someone was pounding at the door, and he leaped out of bed. Feet entangled in the blankets, he nearly toppled face first onto the floor when a pair of hands caught him and he gasped, panicked.

“You have to go. You have to go!”

“Mama?”

His mother grabbed his boots and pulled them onto his feet, then snatched up his coat and put it on him; she pushed him urgently toward the window.

Download to read more

When Ama’s cousin Kerr invites her on a hunting trip she gets to capture something she as only seen alive at a zoo.

Human Scooping Morning

Kerr heard it first. The distant sound of a blacksmith’s hammer as it beat out a steady rhythm of metal on metal CLING, cling…CLING cling. My ponytail was already pulled through the half-moon closure of my cap. I was more concerned with tucking stray stands of brown hair up under the rim than with being quiet as I lagged behind. Annoyed by the snaps and crunches that came from every stick and dried leaf I stepped on, my cousin Kerr motioned for me to be still.

“You need to be quieter.” He hissed. He knelt down beside me, adjusted his empty game pouch across his shoulders. Its camouflage bottom almost touched the ground.

Download to read more

Loner Jason thinks he finds the love of his life: the star of his high school’s girls basketball team. But the “love of his life” is just the first girl who ever gave him the time of day. Their first date (if you could even call it that) goes awry from the start. But who said that’s a bad thing?

King-sized Kingdom

I got the job of Girls’ Varsity basketball scorekeeper at Hampton High School on a day we didn’t dress for gym. On a late fall day back in 2004, Mrs. Henson, Girls’ basketball coach and my senior year gym teacher, emerged from the equipment locker with a rack full of basketballs and dodge balls.

“Guys and girls, Mr. McCaffrey isn’t here…today so I’m…in charge of both juniors and seniors,” Mrs. Henson said. She always paused at the weirdest times. “Instead of having one big game of football or whatever, I just won’t make you change and you can just take it easy.  Here are some balls if you wanna shoot around or something.”

Download to read more

A teenager receives an interview/audition with a piano virtuoso, an unusual character, but having an agreeable outcome.

Meeting Sir Michael

I stepped through a small wooden doorway onto a winding path, leading through an archway into the silent courtyard of a Georgian mansion. I clutched my letter of introduction in my right hand. In my left, I tightly gripped my music case; the grasp so tense that I felt the cramps in my forearm. I paused before the ornate door, searching for a bell or a knocker. As I began to panic, the door opened inwards.

“Master Williams?” I nodded. “Please come in, sir, you are most welcome. The maestro is waiting.” I entered and the door closed behind me.

Download to read more

London, 1853. An orphaned boy, Timmy, had to leave the orphanage when he was big enough and work as a chimney sweep in houses when their residents were not home.

That night didn’t start well for Timmy. He lost his coat and the money he earned earlier to some bullies before he went to clean a house’s chimney. It wasn’t so bad despite the smothering dust, but that was before he fell and cracked his ankle.

O Res Mirabilis!

London, 1853

“Hey, Sooty!”

A bunch of scruffy-looking chaps stood idly about, some leaning against the dirty brick wall behind them, picking their teeth or folding their arms on their chests.  Timmy walked past them, head down, stealing glances toward those men once in a while, making as though he was about to turn around and run but a small voice inside his head warned him not to.  Slowly he advanced, careful not to make jerking movements that would stir those bullies’ attention toward him if their attention had not been toward him already.

Download to read more

Candy Shiner loves to dance. But when her middle-school recital turns out to be a disaster, she runs away to New York City to try to make it into show business.

Sequins

Twelve dancers in red, sparkly leotards scurried out on stage with their hands crossed over their chests and formed a zigzag line. Most of the audience clapped while their grade eight classmates hooted and hollered. In the school auditorium for the mid-winter recital were dads in narrow ties and black suits, and moms in beehive hairdos and pearls. The lights dimmed, and the jazz music began.

Download to read more

Downtrodden Sidney Deller lives with his step-mother and bullying step-brother, Bradley.  He’d like new trainers, to go to the fair on the Common, and for his dad to come home.  He’d also like to be noticed by the girl of his dreams, Hannah Prince.  Sid doesn’t believe in magic, but he’s willing to give Cosmic Ordering a shot.  You never know, right?

Sidney Deller

Dear Cosmos
           Things I would like
1                   New trainers
2                   Fewer spots
3                   Muscles (six-pack if poss)
4                   Better eyesight
5                   Better glasses (if 4 not poss)
6                   Less homework
7                   Less of Bradley’s homework
8                   Less of Bradley

Sidney Deller didn’t believe in magic.  At fourteen he was too old to be taken in by magicians, however good they might be.  As far as he was concerned, magic tricks came down to sleight of hand and wearing clothes with long sleeves.  Lots of trickery and zero magic.  Cosmic Ordering seemed different though.  At least, Sid hoped it was different.  It certainly sounded different when Jordan explained it.

Download to read more

Despite living in an old run-down caravan and dressing shabbily, Smiley was always smiling – hence his nickname. He never seemed to have any worries either. People often wondered why he always carried a plastic shopping bag with him wherever he went, and what it contained. So how did Smiley strengthen my faith?

Smiley’s Secret

Everyone in the village had heard of Smiley. He was always shabbily dressed and down-at-heel, but, give him his due, he was always clean shaven. They had given him the nick-name, ‘Smiley’, because despite his apparently poor circumstances, he was always smiling.

Smiley lived in an old caravan with his dog, Poppet, seemingly without a worry in the world. “Why should I worry about anything?” he would say. “My best friend will protect me.”

Download to read more

Two girls; two first kisses.

Spinning Jenny

Bethany Butcher would come to our door, tell me about films playing at our local cinema, and ask if I wanted to go and see them with her.  As she didn’t like westerns, I declined.

Dad laughed.  “That ‘eavyset girl ‘as ‘er sights set on you, son.  I’d be careful if I were you.”

Bethany was twelve and I was eleven and I couldn’t see how she’d set her sights on anyone.  We were friends because we lived near each other.  I thought Dad was overdoing his parental thing, but Mum totally confused me when she said, “Girls are two years older at your age.”

Download to read more

It is World War One and Fred enlists underage. He is sent to the Somme battlefields but is traumatised by the horror of the front line. When he is sent to work as a stretcher bearer, he thinks he is safe and Doctor Lawrence, who he works under, quickly becomes his best friend. But this friendship is put to the test when they discover a vampire is feeding from the dead in No-Man’s Land.

Terror of the Trenches

October 1916 – The Somme Battlefield, France

Sharp wooden splinters dug into his hands, smearing beads of blood over the ladder as he climbed. A mortar shell exploded, spraying hot mud, jerking the ground, blasting chemical smoke into the trench. Fred gasped, pressing his face into the earth wall.

“Gas!” someone shouted.

“It’s not gas!” Fred coughed.

“We’ll be casualties ourselves soon!” The voice came from the trench below. “Where’s this ceasefire?”

Download to read more

Fourteen year-old Claire is desperate to be accepted. All her girlfriends have boyfriends, but she seems to be unloveable. Her mother notices her too much, her father too little, and her younger sister keeps achieving. She loses weight, expecting to be admired, but earns isolation instead. Will she ever fit in?

The Beaded Belt

My hand trembles as I pull the crystal covered satin off Mum’s belt rack. Mum wore the beaded evening belt before she married Dad. For years she has bragged how the stupid thing still fits. Sure, she can just squeeze it around her flab, but I can step out of it. I’m much slimmer than she was, despite being the same height.

“Italian? Italian? Why do we always have to have Italian?” Chelsea said, as her mother pushed her out to the car.

“That’s what you wanted.”

“Well, what did you give me to choose between? Oily Thai or stodgy, cheesy Mexican. Just because you like to pile on the calories doesn’t mean everyone else does.”

Download to read more

Beginning Halloween night, Jacob Strom heads out into the woods alone.  Two years later, Frank breaks curfew to search for answers about his friend’s disappearance.  But, land keeps secrets — so does its ghosts.

The Forest Green

Blue skies of summer turned gray weeks ago, a cold chill taking away what was left of the heat.  Lying on his bed, Jacob didn’t mind.  Eyes up, almost looking through the top of his skull, he enjoyed the clouds, the dark; the lurking bite that was early fall.  It brought the wicked, the tricks; the unknown.  It was Halloween.

The clock atop the TV clicked 11:23.  It’s red warmth giving substance to Optimus Prime beside it.  The slate colored modeling clay smeared permanently slantwise over his right arm looked blackish white.

Download to read more

A new school can be a scary place, especially for the new girl from rural Clay County.  At the end of a long blue hall freedom beckons to her.  Should she make a run for it?   What would you do?

The Long Blue Hall

The long blue hall stretched out before me.   Doors stood open along each side, sucking unwary children into prison.  Fourth and Fifth Graders jostled past me, laughing, talking, boys swapping good-natured licks and put-downs.  One or two girls, their dark braids bouncing as they walked, gave me curious looks as I stood there half blocking the entrance to corridor 4.   Their heads bent together to whisper and giggle.   I was the new girl from Clay County.   Maybe they knew that just by looking.

Download to read more

Andrew Gray takes a job at a chemical firm only to discover tensions are seething just beneath the surface, but with espionage and false identities who if anyone can he trust?

The Other Hand Outstretched

The train carriages were comfortable, but the seats were arranged so that no more than four people could fit. Andrew Gray slid open the last door in the aisle and smiled at the man and woman already seated there.

He knew the man as the Head of Science Affairs, but he didn’t know the young woman. The pair of them ceased whatever conversation they were having, but only the woman smiled as he sat down. A faint scent of carnations reached him. He looked again, but the difference between the older man and young woman remained as stark as before.

Download to read more

Set in the 1950′s, we find out how a teenage boy is inspired to earn money so he can contribute towards the cost of a new bicycle.

Youthful Enterprise

“Colin’s got a new bike.”

“Oh yes.”

“It’s maroon, with dropped handlebars.”

Rob’s mother looked him in the eye, her head on one side. “Has he had a birthday then?”

“No, his Gran died and left his dad a lot of money.”

“She always looked like she didn’t have two halfpennies to rub together.”

“Well, she left over two hundred pounds. His dad’s had a new bike as well, and he’s going to extend his pigeon house.”

“I think it’s called a loft, Rob.”

Download to read more