Far away in the north was once a grand city famous for its splendour and beauty. The inner city of this wondrous place was filled with twinkling lights, no matter how deep into the night it was, while beautiful people in their finest clothes passed each other in ornate carriages. The scent of champagne lay …
Continue reading Fiction: ‘The Piper’
Music
Fiction: ‘Famous Red Dress’
It’s five in the morning and a grey light is starting to pierce the air. The frost melts beneath its touch. Trains begin to rattle down the line, their carriages empty, the platforms still and bare. You stand upon that same spot where you first saw her. No-one passes you at this hour. And even …
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Fiction: ‘Beats and Breaks Part 3’
The keys tap beneath my fingers with a constant rhythm. Data appears in the spreadsheet. I don’t have to think while I’m doing it, I just let my fingers walk across the keyboard and enter the figures. Downstairs I can hear the roar of machinery clanging through the factory, metal beating on metal. The joints ...
Continue reading Fiction: ‘Beats and Breaks Part 3’
Fiction: ‘Beats and Breaks – Part 2’
There’s a rhythm that runs beneath the clamour of life as strong and constant as a heartbeat. It strings all the noise together into coherence. But sometimes life’s tempo grows unsustainable; it gets faster and faster, racing out of control until the music becomes noise, and the beauty pure chaos. When you lose track of ...
Continue reading Fiction: ‘Beats and Breaks – Part 2’
Fiction: ‘Beats and Breaks’
The bass pumps from the sound system, filling the balcony with the full-bodied rhythm of hip-hop. No-one’s really listening. And yet when the chorus comes in everyone mouths the lyrics. He sits at the table, his fingertips drumming on the splintered edge. He smiles when everyone else does. He laughs when he’s meant to. Sometimes ...
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Fiction: ‘Faces in the Pit’
There’s a layer of white noise underneath the music blaring from the speakers and the roar of the crowd. The spotlight feels warm on my skin. A buzzing gradually fills the room as the air comes to life with charged particles. I can see those same familiar faces in the front row. They look up ... Continue reading Fiction: ‘Faces in the Pit’
Fiction: ‘Body and Soul’
It used to be spectacular. It was the sort of instrument that was given pride of place in the music shop. The display lights in the store crowned it with a halo as passers-by stopped to admire its well-made form. The polished body gleamed under the lights. And anyone who saw it could swear they ...
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