Tag: future
-
THE ISLAND BETWEEN

Patrick ran along the path, hands spread wide, feeling the tall rapeseed through his fingers. The sky was a deep blue, the sun was shining. It felt good to be out of the stuffy house. For the first time in a week the wind direction on the island had changed and the radioactivity levels had…
-
SPOILS OF WAR

‘Don’t cross the border,’ his father had pleaded. Cortez sat on what remained of the balcony. ‘Look at me now, Padre.’ His balcony. It would take hard labour to fix the place up, but he had been doing hard labour his whole life. This time though, the work would be for his benefit, not the…
-
UNDER THE STARS

Sam lay back against the tree and looked up at the twilight sky. The first stars of the night were visible, or perhaps they were satellites. It had become difficult to tell in the crowded heavens. The exhaustion from his escape overwhelmed him. He imagined one of the satellites trained on him, zooming in with…
-
THE LAST SHOP

Herbert let the final customer out, a lady all the way from Missouri who bought a purple coat. He closed the store for the last time. He had expected more ceremony. Only one journalist had come to bear witness. Since Ancient Greece there had been shops – physical places with goods to sell. 5th Avenue,…
-
RELEASED

Vince reached the familiar streets of the old industrial area. The factories lay silent and rusting. Sitting on the same bench he had used for forty years, he sat and had his lunch, looking at the workplace he had devoted the best years of his life to in the distance. A siren sounded, followed by…