Tales From The Town #24: Hell

At the bottom of the slide was a darkness so complete Claire knew she was in hell. Hell was probably pretty dark and also it was underground. There was no other explanation at all.

“I can’t believe I’m dead,” Claire said. “I can’t wait to tell the others. They better hurry up and get down here!”

She waited and waited but the didn’t arrive. She was furious.

“Where are they?!” Claire said. “ What a bunch of scaredy cats! I knew they were frightened! Well, now I’m dead, I’m going to and haunt them all. Forever! Then we’ll see how scared they are!”

The idea of haunting her siblings filled her with so much glee she did some cartwheels in the dark. She wasn’t worried at all about falling over or crashing into something because she was dead and being dead meant you couldn’t hurt yourself at all. And even if you could, you couldn’t die. Not again.

Being dead was brilliant.

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Notes:

1. Written on the 6th May, 2021
2. And a sequel to Tales From The Town #22

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Tales From The Town #23: David

The days of his unemployment stretched out behind and before him like a line of pebbles across a vast plain, each one essentially the same as every other, and exactly as unremarkable. You could move them all around and no one would notice.

To David, time was an abstract concept untethered from narrative concerns.

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Notes:

1. Written in January 2017

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Tales From The Town #22: The Slide

There was a slide under the stairs. They didn’t know where it went. They didn’t have a cellar or a basement. Or, at least, they hadn’t before.

“I’m not going down that slide,” Ethel said. “Not ever!”

“You’re scared!” Claire said triumphantly. “I’m not scared.”

“You are!” Ethel said. “You’re just pretending you aren’t.”

“I’m not!” Look! I’ll show you!”

And with that Claire sat down on the slide and slid off into the dark. It took a while, but eventually her screams faded out to nothingness.

No-one spoke for a very long time. They thought they could hear Claire calling, but it was just Anna and Oya having tea in the kitchen.

“Well, I’m not going down there to find out where’s gone,” Tina said.

“No am I,” Ethel agreed. “Not ever.”

“Daniel?” Tina asked.

“Nah.”

The three of them went off to play in the garden.

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Notes:

1. Written on May 6th, 2021

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Tales From The Town #21: The Bookshop

The books on the shelves changed every time you turned away. The words dripped from the pages like venom. By the time you got them home you did not know what you were going to find inside.

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Notes:

1. Written on May 8th, 2021

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Tales From The Town #20: Dimensional Perception

The goldfish swam about in their tank. Round and around and around. There was nowhere else for them to go.

“Do you think they can see us?” Daniel asked, as he peered in at them through the glass.

“I hope not,” Tina said. “How would you like it if you looked out the window and some strange giant was staring in at you?”

“Like David!”

“Or Simon!”

“That’d be so weird,” Daniel agreed.

“Anyway, of course they can see us,” Claire said. “They’re goldfish no blindfish!”

But what if their brains can’t even perceive our existence?” Tina said. “Like those frogs that can only see flies if they’re flying around like flies?”

“Those frogs are stupid!” Claire said. “My goldfish aren’t stupid.”

“You’re stupid!” Ethel said.

“I am not stupid!”

“Imagine if there’s things out there watching us right now that we can’t perceive,” Daniel said, as he peered slowly out the window. “Just because they don’t move like people!”

“Like David!”

“And Simon!”

“That’d be so weird!”

The goldfish swam about in their tank. Round and around and around. There was nowhere else for them to go.

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Notes:

1. Written on May 4th, 2021
2. I just realised that this is basically the end of that Moriarty episode on Star Trek
3. But with goldfish

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