Category: Creative

More and more words were forbidden. The simplest conversation became a minefield.

Punishment was terrible: blanking. She’d been through it before. The isolation was unbearable.

They took away her words again, and she killed herself.

A revolution ensued, upturned the Linguists, and gave the people of Otea their words back.

Je me languis de toi. On a beau parler, c’est ta chaleur qui me manque.

C’en est trop. Je saute dans le premier avion.

Tu ne sembles pas ravie de ma venue, mais je fais semblant de rien.

Dix ans plus tard, mourant, je t’écris une lettre qui expliquera tout.

That same day, she adopted a small black cocker spaniel and a four-year-old. Back home, dread seized her: nothing to feed them, no bed for the boy. Unprepared.

She’d been impulsive, and regretted that the adoption process didn’t protect her better from herself.

They lived happily ever after.

Pierre et Alexandre sont en vacances au bord de la mer. Une femme se noie sous leurs yeux. Le mari semble louche, et la police n’est pas intéressée. Julie, la domestique, se confie à eux. Ils confondent le mari et dénoncent les flics verreux. Après les vacances, retour au boulot!

Le feu brûle dans la cheminée, mais personne n’est là. Dans le silence de la montagne, le chalet d’en face est vide aussi. Il y a de l’eau sur le feu.

C’était un coup monté de main de maître. Durand réussit pourtant à retrouver tous les membres de la secte.

She followed her lover to a strange land where she could neither study nor work. She had no friends, no life, save him.

He left her for another woman. Alone with her lost years and shattered dreams, she died in my arms under a bridge on a cold winter’s night.

She had learned to live with the pain. But when an experimental cure came out, she signed up. It led her into the dirty world of drug testing, doctored results, side-effects and failures that would wake you screaming in the night. She exposed them all and died in peace.

People all knew each other in the village. Visitors were welcomed with a smile, but new residents were eyed with suspicion. It took Richard years to become one of them. Then his dirty secret came out and the whole community collapsed. Richard was finally murdered, but the damage was done.

This is a tale which should never have been told. It lies between those that are told, in the spaces of life where nothing deserving a story ever happens. It will be told though, because the fabric of life is the ordinary rather than the extraordinary. Sometimes, the ordinary surprises.

Megan left John for Steve. Steve left Megan for Judy. Judy left Steve for Robert. Robert left Judy for Nicole. Nicole left Robert for John.

Five broken hearts all in a row.

Thirty years later, three of their children piece the stories together. They discover and destroy the cursed book.