Author: Graham van der made

I walk down the stairs. The house is old, well over fifty, and continues to settle as it creaks and groans every so often. The room below is dark, and the smell of dampness rises towards the open door. Another smell, slightly more pungent, fills the air as well. It hits me hard as my nostrils tense up at the scent.At this time of night, no one is around to hear the noises.I pat my hands gently along the wall until one of them finds the light switch. A low-hanging neon bulb dimly illuminates the room, but not enough for the naked eye to see everything it should.Groans grow louder as the house settles a little bit more. The wooden steps beneath my feet let off a high-pitched squeak as…

A long and empowering horizon of blue separated the Earth from the sky. It reached far and wide in its splendour and glory, and all who beheld it knew to offer respect. Its tendrils licked the edges of the world back and forth in a rhythmic motion.'We're at the beach. Well, it's more poetic to say that we're at the Ocean's Edge, wouldn't you say? I'd also like to see the sunset.''No. Why are we even here?'The man reached down, picked up a handful of sand, and examined it closely. He picked out a few small pieces of shell. 'We're here to watch the sunset.' The brim of his hat fluttered in the day's gentle breeze, as did his beard.'All of these people, these men, women, and children are all…

As he stepped out into the sunlight, he knew what he needed to do. It had been coming for a long time now, and had taken him a long time to get here.They say that a bullet to the brain will kill any man. By God, he hoped this was true.The man, a build of around 6 feet, with broad shoulders, blue jeans, and a black t-shirt, stood across the road from his goal. His holster hung to the right, and the bullets hung from his belt. He knew that he carried a limited amount of firepower. Every single bullet counted. The man only had an inkling of what was about to take place.A sign in front of him read, "Deschide Usa Inn," and under it, "Where guests are treated…

The grocery store bustled with all manner of activity: a small boy begged his mother for a new action figure, a man groaned as his girlfriend tried on another pair of shoes, and a small, elderly woman approached the meat counter.'I would like 300 grams of that pork,' she pointed to a dish of thick, brown-marinated meat. Even from where she was standing, an aroma of almost-BBQ filled the air. The man behind the large, well-stocked counter smiled at her. He had begun to dish her request into a small container when he said out loud, so that all could hear, 'That's an excellent choice, ma'am. You know that our pork is the best tasting in the whole city?''It is?' The woman already knew this, but in her older age,…

'Why the fuck are we doing this?' The cool night air choked his throat as he shouted; it was hardly above zero.'What?' the other man shouted back.Trees and shrubs grazed and slapped their legs as they ran. One of them stumbled but quickly recovered. There was no time for mistakes. Not now.'I said,' he took another shallow breath as his lungs quickly filled with the icy air. 'Why the fuck are we doing this?''Oh,' the other man shouted back. 'Cos you said it would be a good idea.' He jumped over a foot-high stone. 'You said it'd be a damn good idea.''Well, why in the hell did you listen to me?'The two men had been running for several hours, taking small breaks along the way. This was the first time…