‘Funny, look at this!’

I stopped editing the newsreel and squinted, trying to figure out what Francesca wanted me to see.

She paused the video and pointed at one of the aliens.

‘There,’ she said.

The huge insect-like figures, clad in silk robes, strode across the square, alongside human dignitaries and military officials in ceremonial uniform.

The video was Francesca’s footage of the “G20+” i...

The mud was becoming too much for the horse. Axton could hear the driver getting nervous.

He knocked on the trap door on the ceiling, ‘I can proceed on foot!’ he called.

‘Are you sure, sir?’

The rain had given way to a dense fog, which washed away all colour from the dark landscape of the marshes. It felt like it was past midnight, yet it probably wasn’t even six o’clock.

Axton paid the driver an...

The city was darker than ever. The blackness enveloped Malick like a dense liquid. His footsteps echoed in the silence.

He had to get out. He feared they could be after him already.

The streets were cold, arid, lifeless. No one around. An endless river of articulated driverless trucks, flying past, their tyres muffled by sound-canceling technology.

It had been years since he had seen a street. H...

The creaking wouldn’t stop. It moved across the wall, following the ray of moonlight, creeping up towards the ceiling. Tom tracked it with his left eye, his head half wrapped in the blanket.

The shadow of the air conditioning vent’s frame, drew an ominous, oblong grid on the opposite wall. Every time a car flew by on the flyover, it opened up for an instant, and then shut again.

Tom knew better...

Finally, light. Only the sound of the cicadas. That hypnotic, perfectly rhythmic, accurate sound. Almost electronic.

Katie breathed. She felt it was the first time that week.

‘When was the last time you actually breathed?’

Everyone needed something from her. Since when had she been so essential to all of them? All of them doing their thing, except her.

She realized she was close to the edge of ...

There was an old man from East Coring,

Who could barely get up in the morning,

Though very unfit,

His sledgehammer wit,

Made your time spent with him far from boring.

I must say I soundly agree,

When you say youth is no guarantee,

Though they often look bold,

Many youngsters are old,

I dare say, even older than me.

You mention the feeling of youth,

Well now, let me tell you the truth,

When I...

After the party there’s another party.

A silent celebration. Empty plastic cups, trees painted white. Leaves melting on the shivering worms, twisting themselves around the exposed roots. Ears still ringing with the super bass, ultra-subwoofers the size of a road train.

Weblock and Proxy swaying through the woods, looking for Tuttle’s red van. They zigzag, hopping first on one leg, then on the oth...

‘I will not answer your question,’ the skipper said, without looking away from the sausage he was peeling.

He let the silence hover. His long hair fluttering in the breeze.

For a good whole minute, there was only the sound of the sails, the halyards gently clanging against the mast, the waves caressing the hull.

All four of us looked at each other, waiting for him to continue, not knowing what ex...

The long, thin grey tube slowly moved across the wall towards the window.

It hesitated, then rose to the ceiling.

After crossing the width of the small office space, the barrel pointed to the two large computer screens, then the loudspeakers, followed the cables and reached the door, where it found Max.

The long metal bar rose up to her face and stopped there, aiming at her stern expression.

‘Dro...

He stopped in his tracks half way through,

The contents were much too taboo.

He took a good look,

Was this really a book,

Made for kids? His anxiety grew.

Cinderella, for starters, drank booze,

Her sisters, they never wore shoes,

The prince was a bum,

His parties a scrum,

No one went, they had all an excuse.

He eventually got to Snow White,

And was shocked, something wasn’t quite right,

Bizarre...