short story – Page 26

Veg Aisle

January 14, 2019 LittleFears37 Comments

Brass Ep. 5

The vegetable aisle was empty. The worst reminder of the lack of life. Everything had rotted back at the start, devoured by insects. Empty trays remained with seeds and pips left at the bottom.

Copper had tried to grow some vegetables. The only success she had ever had was beetroot. One had grown before the drought had come. She wanted to see how big she could get it.

It was a lazy plant. The beet grew to barely a mouthful. Then the taproots growth stopped.

She recalled stepping out of her front door one day and finding it uprooted, laying on her steps with a knife sticking out of it.

Dead beet.

Original photo by Natalia Fogarty on Unsplash. Thanks to Warren for the $10 Patronage.

Copper is available as an art print on the Little Fears Etsy store, along with many other Fears characters: etsy.me/2Rdy0fM

Fly Market

January 11, 2019 LittleFears16 Comments

Copper pushed her way past a collapsed shelf. Entering the meat aisle, a renewed sense of dread washed over her.

All of the meat had rotted away long ago. Picked clean bones remained. She could remember swarms of flies filling the fridges. A dull, black carrion hum. The thought of flies bartering with each other over meat, where to eat and where to lay eggs. Hideous tiny pests, a gross thought.

But then flies who bartered with fruit and vegetables? Grocer.

Original photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash. Thanks to Warren for the $10 Patronage.

Copper is available as an art print on the Little Fears Etsy store, along with many other Fears characters: etsy.me/2Rdy0fM

Ghost Hunt

January 10, 2019 LittleFears30 Comments

Brass Ep. 3

She’d cleaned the hardware shop out of sealant years ago, but petroleum jelly from the supermarket would work in some cases.

As Copper arrived, she noted that the front doors had been opened since she was last here. Could be a sign of life or an effect of last nights storm.

The left side of the building had collapsed a few months back. Noises would occasionally rattle out from the rubble, packets of food rustling, or possibly ghosts. Imagination could be a saviour or curse in times like these.

Copper would often fun to imagine she was a ghost hunter. She’d have to stay fit as a ghost hunter. Just a little exorcise.

Original photo by Clark Young on Unsplash. Thanks to Warren for the $10 Patronage.

Copper is available as an art print on the Little Fears Etsy store, along with many other Fears characters: etsy.me/2Rdy0fM

Windy House

January 9, 2019 LittleFears31 Comments

Copper cut the last bean can into shape. She pressed it down over the hole in the wall. Driving screws into place and applying the last of the sealant to avoid more dust coming in.

She looked across the street. The windows at number thirty-four had blown in overnight. The curtains swayed gently in the breeze. As the wind picked up and died down, a random melody came from inside. Notes would play as each gust blew through the empty house. The tune made Copper think of a jazz musician playing the flute.

She also wondered if this would count as house music.

Original photo by Andrew Ly on Unsplash. Thanks to Warren for the $10 Patronage.

Copper is available as an art print on the Little Fears Etsy store, along with many other Fears characters: etsy.me/2Rdy0fM

Copper Pans

January 8, 2019 LittleFears30 Comments

“Apples? Do you like apples?”

She offered an apple out to the mechanical creature.

“Click, click, whir,” came the reply without a bite.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she sighed. “She just left you with me and told me to keep you fed. I mean what the bloody ‘eck do I feed a clockwork lizard!”

She wandered into the kitchen to continue preparing her apple pie.

“It’s not easy you know, she’s so random! And shes got all this weird stuff. You’re about the least weird thing she’s given me”, she mused as he dropped in the apples, syrup, brown sugar and drop of oil into the beaten copper pan

She ambled back into the room and stood to face the metal lizard.

CHOMP!

She looked down at what remained of the copper pans handle.

“Copper. You like copper?”

Original photo by Jordan Sanchez on Unsplash . Thanks to Warren for the $10 Patronage.

Copper is available as an art print on Etsy: etsy.me/2Rdy0fM

Step Up

January 7, 2019 LittleFears34 Comments

“She takes the stairs, every single time man,” cried Spectre.

“It’s just one of those things,” sighed Sprite.

“Yeah,” groaned Spectre. “But I always prefer the escalators.”

“Bruv, I don’t mean to sound rude,” said Sprite. “But maybe you were just raised differently.”

Trivia. A fear of slopes or stairs is called bathmophobia. I wonder if there’s a really scared person somewhere naming all the different fears and phobias in the world…

Original photo by Alex Rodríguez Santibáñez on Unsplash. Thanks to Warren for the $10 Patronage.

Durthi

January 4, 2019 LittleFears15 Comments

She watched the roots, reaching up out of the ground. Twirling around each other. Tying themselves together and standing tall. She would have run when she saw her face forming in the organic ballet. If only the roots holding her hands and feet would loosen their grip.

Ya know, I was absolutely certain I’d had Durthi as a #Colour_Collective portrait. Can’t find her in any of the usual folders or my Twatter though. I shall remedy this in 2019.

Obs, this ain’t just no straight-up horror post, but an advert too. Cause ya know, I do need a few quid to buy tea!

You can get an original hand drawn Durthi or a print of this fiendish plant lady on my Etsy store. Postage is free and first class wherever you live in the world, and each card envelope comes with a free bird drawn on it. Stick that in ya stovepipe and smoke it.

Literally…

Links!

Durthi, art print: https://etsy.me/2sd6PCJ

Original hand drawn, Durthi: https://etsy.me/2F7RGuh