I Told Her Not To Go

I told her not to go
But inside I wanted to say leave,
She’d hurt me so many times
Yet, my heart was still on my sleeve.

I told her not to go
I don’t think I could love another,
How long had it been going on?
Your sleeping with my brother.

I told her not to go
But now jealousy consumes my heart,
I invited him to join us
He must pay; he played his part.

I told her not to go
She really shouldn’t have listened,
Because her lover now lays dead
The murder weapon; it still glistened.

I told her not to go
But she stayed and now she pays,
The knife feels right in my hand
As I end her unfaithful days.

My Cat Sooty

Prompt: A day in the life of your pet.

I watch as she picks up her bag and puts on her coat and I know that that means she is heading out. Sure enough, a few minutes later, I hear her shout ‘Bye Sooty’ and she is gone. Why she insists on calling me that I don’t know. I’ve never responded to it. Sooty indeed! I’ve told her several times that my name is Empress!

As soon as the door closes I’m up and into the kitchen. Sometimes she is only gone a few minutes, so I need to be quick. I love the cookies that she keeps in the cupboard, but when I jump onto the kitchen sides to get at them, she always shhh’s me off. I can smell that there are some there today, so I jump up onto the side and paw at the cupboard. If it’s loose then I can sometimes paw it open: once I even got a cookie.

I was so engrossed in my desperate attempt to get a cookie that I didn’t hear her come back.

“Get down off there Sooty!” she shouted.

I jumped down and ran for it but not before I shouted over my shoulder at her, “It’s Empress not Sooty!”

The Letter

Prompt

Character: a police inspector    Place: flight of uneven stairs

Situation: two more days to live    Object: a submarine   When: when we were in France

Inspector Radley put his hands onto the side of the boat to steady himself, the speed that they were going at he was surprised that no one had fallen overboard!

It felt like an age before he finally saw the submarine in the distant waters. He still couldn’t believe that he was even here! Whisked away from his usual duties because of an urgent message he had received from his life-long friend and Commander in the navy, just that morning.

The message had been vague. It read:

Dear Brian, do you remember when we were in France last year and I got taken away on an urgent matter? Things have come to a head. Please come, it’s a matter of life and death, transport has been arranged, we need to talk. I have been told I only have a few days to live, hurry! Regards John.

Brian kept thinking what that last sentence implied and he had to swallow several times to get rid of the lump in his throat. He couldn’t bear the idea that John wouldn’t be part of his life for much longer.

Finally, the boat pulled up next to the submarine and Brian wished that he had better sea legs as he tried to navigate himself up the uneven step ladder that they had thrown over the side. Eventually he reached the top and was distraught to see that his once tall proud friend was now a shadow of his former self, he wouldn’t have even recognised him if he hadn’t of been expecting to see him there. What on earth has happened? Brian thought.

The Storm

Prompt: it felt like the sky had fallen in.

Bang!

Beth cringed as another piece of garden furniture hit hard against the window and she was surprised that it didn’t break. She closed her eyes tight and tried to pretend that the storm wasn’t happening.

The weatherman had been warning all week that a big one was coming, but they were so often wrong that preparations this time just hadn’t happened. Beth wished that she had listened to her husband, Pete when he had wanted to prep the house and evacuate.

Bang!

Something else smacked against the window but this time it didn’t hold and broke. Suddenly the room was sent into a frenzy as papers and belongings were whipped around by the wind.

Beth hoped Pete had found somewhere safe to shelter. They had spoken a while ago and she had promised to leave the house and head to the local emergency shelter at the school, but she had been delayed and now it was too late to leave.

Just then the wind picked up even more and Beth could hear the house creaking. Perhaps it would be safer out there, after all, Beth thought, but too late as suddenly the ceiling began to fall in and Beth felt like the sky was falling in on her.

An hour later, Pete brought the car to an abrupt halt at the pile of rubble that had once been his house. He was really glad that Beth had relented and gone to shelter in the safety of the school as he couldn’t see anyone surviving that!

Don't Snoop!

Prompt: a babysitter is looking around her employer’s house and finds a disturbing picture.

Jane was relieved that Billy had finally settled down for his nap and it was now time to explore. It was the best part of her job, having the opportunity to have a nose around people’s houses. She loved the insight that it gave her into their private lives. And as long as she put everything back as she found it, her employers would be none the wiser. No harm done! She worked for a high-end babysitting agency and some of the places she had worked in left her in awe of the wealth.
Jane hadn’t met Billy’s dad yet, his mum had seen her in and had left to meet her husband at the theatre, so Jane started with his office first wondering what sort of man he was and what secrets she may find.
She went straight to the bottom drawer of his desk and it held a big shock. There was a huge pile of photos all being held together by an elastic band. The top picture showed the body of a lady who had a knife sticking out of her chest. The next was of a man's severed head, his lifeless eyes seemed to be staring at Jane out from the photo. A quick flick through the rest of the pictures left Jane feeling cold and shaken. Dead people in a variety of poses. Different methods of murder on display.
What manner of a man is he? Jane wondered. And does his wife know?
Jane wanted to call the police and leave straight away but she couldn’t as she had Billy to consider, and she knew she would lose her job for snooping. Instead, she sat shaking and scared until she heard them returning. She pressed 999 on her phone so she just had to press the green button to call for help if she needed it, but the couple came in smiling and happy. They paid Jane and she left the house as quick as she could, the couple thought she was a bit weird, but Billy was safe and happy, so they were too.
The next day when Billy’s dad went into his office he realised the babysitter had been snooping in his drawer and he now knew why she had been acting so strangely. He smiled as he looked at his photos of the props that he had made for several tv shows.

Go Away!

Prompt: Tonight, death has to be invited in.

Katie was just drifting off to sleep when there was a sharp knock on her bedroom door.

“Go back to bed Tommy!” she shouted at her younger brother through the door. “I’m too tired to read you any more stories tonight.”

Katie burrowed back into her duvet and closed her eyes, hoping that she would be able to drift back off to sleep, when there was a harder and louder knock on the door.

“I’m serious Tommy! Go and find mum if you need something.”

Suddenly Katie felt the hairs stand up all over her body and her stomach clenched in fear when a deep, gravelly voice from beyond the door said, “It’s not Tommy. He and your parents are not available anymore I’m afraid. How about you come and open the door for me? Tonight, Death has to be invited in.”

The Graveyard

Prompt: a tombstone, a first kiss, a butterfly collection.

Hayley walked through the gates of the graveyard and the fluttering’s of nervous excitement she had been feeling all day, turned to apprehension.

Why on earth did Martin want to meet here for a first date? Very strange. It’s not quite where she had imagined she would be for her first date, and hopefully her first kiss, but nevermind.

She had met Martin while she was on a school trip to the museum. Their eyes had connected through the glass display of a butterfly collection and she had been mesmerised ever since.

Deep within the graveyard, Martin paced in front of his family tombstone. He had already prepped the ground in anticipation of Hayley’s arrival.

“Don’t worry dad,” he whispered to a corpse, “fresh blood will soon be here. You will be awake again before the sun goes down.”

The Locked Door

Prompt: The Locked Door (why is it locked and what is behind it?)

I ran past the basement door as quickly as I could, as I always do. It has been locked for as long as I can remember, my parents were very clear when they told me that it was never to be opened and that if I disobeyed there would be trouble like I had never known before.

That warning didn’t stop me one day during my rebellious teenage years. I remember trying the handle, it was really stiff and noisy. I’d given it a pull, but I didn’t get any further as my dad caught me. Oh my! Did I get a beating that day! I have never touched the door since.

Ridiculous really, I’m not a child anymore but I’m still scared of that door. I wonder what secrets are behind it that would turn a usually kind dad into a raging hurtful maniac. But I will never know. Packing up the house after my parents had been killed in a car crash last week had been traumatic enough. Whatever secrets they were keeping from me can stay that….secret. The next owners can deal with it.  I leave the house without touching the door.

Down in the basement a chained up, starving girl gives up hope of living. He hadn’t been down to feed her in days and her water supply had now run out. Forgotten and alone she curls into a ball and waits for death to arrive.

The Poisoned Pencil

Prompt: The Poisoned Pencil

Matthew slammed himself against Elizabeth’s bedroom door, the frame rattled a little but didn’t give way, so he took a few paces back and launched himself at the door with all his weight behind him.

This time the door gave way and Matthew found himself propelled into her room at speed. It was as he had feared, Elizabeth was slumped at her desk, the poisoned pencil in her hand. When he had noticed it missing from his study desk he had hoped it wasn’t Elizabeth who had borrowed it. He now cursed himself for being so careless.

The pencil had been laid out ready for his brother, Ben, to use. He was always taking things that didn’t belong to him. The speed at which he was spending their inheritance meant that Matthew had felt he had no choice but to act.

Now, instead of Ben laying dead, it was beloved niece.

Drawn to the room by the commotion, Ben entered the room and let out a wail as he saw his daughter. He ran to her and gently removed the pencil from her hand. Even in his state of grief, Matthew couldn’t help but smile. Problem solved!

IMPRISONED

I remember the days of not being held

When I was free to do as I pleased

Not stuck here inside, alone in the dark

Feeling like I’m being held and squeezed.

But the bars that hold me imprisoned

Are bars that no one can see

The bars that hold me imprisoned

Are in fact my body, it’s me!

Some days it’s the body that stops me

Won’t let me go far at all

Pain in the joints, wobbly legs, weak limbs

I fear I will topple and fall.

 Other days it’s the mind that haunts me

My words just stumble and fail

I lose my way in brain fog

Every thought is a whisper, so frail.

So I retreat inside to my writing

I retreat inside to my book

My character, she is restless

She asks you to come and look.

At how she confronts villains

And overcomes many fears

She is asking me to hurry

And please not to cry many tears!

So yes, real life is painful

And yes, my mind is a bog

But my family and book, they help me

So I WILL make it through the fog.