Category: Issue Eleven Fiction
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Every Shiny Thing on Fire
By Keren Heenan The sky that morning red as a sailor’s warning, yet nothing by afternoon. No cloud but cirrus, no wind but a hush like the breeze was waiting, like everything was waiting. Waiting for something to fall, or explode. And just before nightfall the sky is a bruised, livid yellow, with dark clouds…
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Good Neighbours
By Jane Downing The water was gushing onto the tiles, lifting breadcrumbs, grated carrot and all the bits and scraps that hadn’t been swept for weeks. Bethany’s momentary snap of housewifely guilt was drowned in the rising tide. ‘Stay out,’ she shouted at Lucinda. The toddler’s eyes were wide, unbalanced by a war between concern and…
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Stainless Steel
By Alexander Todd Wet weather. Wonderful. Just bloody wonderful. I pulled my hood closer over my head. It took a lot for stainless steel to rust, but I had been warned with tales of others going home on a rainy night and waking up as a statue. Stiff, unmoving, less than whatever less than human…
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Habits
By Jessica Murdoch Content note: Alcohol, suicide attempts, suicide ideation For a long time, I couldn’t stand to listen to a voice message from my mother. A missed call. A notification to phone 101 MessageBank. The forced brightness in her tone as she would ask me to ‘Call whenever you get this.’ It…
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The Festival
By A. M. Joseph. The day of the festival took place each spring when the flowers were in full bloom and the sun was at its highest. The town, comprised of white weatherboard houses, was surrounded by a forest, the only place where nature would dwell. This was where the festival took place. It was…
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Not A Threat
By Cora Tate. Some of Rob’s friends, and some of his ex-girlfriends, thought him a little nutty, because he talked to animals—or to ‘non-human animals’ as he would say—and not just to Stella, the orphaned Stellar’s Jay hand-reared by a local family. Walking to or from a neighbour’s or friend’s home, Rob would say, ‘Hello,…
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Sweet Charity
By Lyn Mitchell Based on life I’ve known EXT. SHOPPING CENTRE, BURWOOD EAST – AFTERNOON The RSPCA charity shop lived in a small shopping centre at the Burwood East junction on Burwood Highway and High Street Road. Convenience and a feeling of village life makes the shopping centre a popular destination. A tram…
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Autumn Flowers
By Amy Bertacco. Relief doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel. It’s a fine Autumn day, and the leaves of the trees are turning into shades of burning red until they become subtle hues of yellow and gold. They fall as though they are flakes of actual gold, delicate and beautiful, swept away in gusts…
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The Inheritance: Vignettes
By Annette Koco MARGHERITA Margherita walked the long cobblestone path down to the lake as she had done so many times before. The stone steps were steeply terraced and regularly punctuated by large pots of red geranium. Botticelli angels decorating the urns were chipped in places, and the once smooth terracotta was now crazed…
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Life Unfurling
By Ellen Lewis Chicken Soup The bank is steep, cold and wet. Her little hands and knees have scraped against the gravel, and there is blood seeping into the blue of her pyjama bottoms. She looks up at me, her eyes wide and shiny with tears. I kneel by her side and carefully pluck…
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House of Rot
By PJ Petraitis To my pupil and friend, or to anyone given the right to the Holy Archives, the following are the last known writings of famed author and poet W—- K—-W—- K—-before his death in W—- K—-27 in his hometown of W—- K—-after it was cleansed of the Unholy Rot. The documents were found…
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When life gives you lemons…
By Vanessa Perera After spending the entire day sorting out bills, the dining table was filled with receipts, notes, and scraps of paper. Jane was now obsessively polishing the silverware to impress her mother-in-law who would visit for tea that evening. Jane never knew how to be the perfect daughter-in-law, but she tried. Today she…