Fiction – Page 6 – Jessica Barratt

Second Monday

Joshua. He likes me, but I don’t like him because his fingers are always cheesy. So are his teeth. He pulls up his socks too high and is always breaking bones. When he was in a body cast I used him as a coat hanger. Another time, I found my school picture in his geometryContinue reading “Second Monday”

Reversal

Slowly, to consciousness, come and find your face crushed on pavement viscous. Dirt falling from eyelashes, blinking it away, gradually bringing your mind around. On a long-stretch of road, nose full of tar, all movement meagre, your energy’s long fallen from bones. Use your dwindling strength to bring back what happened. Raise hand to foreheadContinue reading “Reversal”

Quasar Trash

We’d gotten a vehicle to Mars for Christ’s sake, and this is what they choose to celebrate? Curiosity, out there all on his—its—own, humming to the frequency of “Happy Birthday”? Mics up to max, an ear-numbing static filling our large control room, some of the more senior staff sing loudly over the noise while eatingContinue reading “Quasar Trash”

Narcotic

I’m one of the lucky ones. I mean, I never got hooked. Could’ve happened of course, that’s always a danger when you’re a Trader. Got a whole supply at my fingertips, could tap in anytime I want—be like those kingpins over there, rattling their yellow teeth my way, hopped up on the stuff, eyes crazy. ButContinue reading “Narcotic”

Suck It, Miss Bea.

There’s a lady already on about her damn therapeutic hairless cats when I get in. Trying to catch my breath, I make it almost to the back row, but of course all 10 or 12 of them are drawn to the smell of what snuck in with me—the lovely, sultry, slightly burned aroma of aContinue reading “Suck It, Miss Bea.”