I got the phone call just after lunch, and I was late to my next class, sitting in a restroom stall until I got my tears under control. I couldn’t concentrate to pay attention to my afternoon classes anyway; I might as well have skipped them.

Mary was sitting on her sun porch, enjoying the lovely Sunday morning. It looked like it was going to be another postcard day in Florida. She was enjoying her morning coffee and reading the Palm Beach Post when the tranquility was broken by the sound of her granddaughter’s yelling.

“Grandma, Grandma, where are you?” Julie Preston yelled from the house.

A strange girl appears in the dead of night. She can’t speak or remember where she has been, what could her secret be?

Fantasy, horror and humour in Brexit Britain. Oh, and more than a little TG.

Thanks as always to Robyn and Chris for their input and support. Please post comments, they help me continue writing and improve as I do so.

Unseen People

Chapter 1

Ben and Molly both stared at the little screen of light on Molly’s iPhone.

A transitioning story as told by a friend

“I don’t like the lightning and thunder,” Carl said in a frightened voice. He moved closer to me, as if I could protect him. His T-shirt was so soaked, it clung to him and was practically transparent. It was then that I noticed what looked like straps over his shoulders. I had no idea what they were.

“Hey, whatca wearing under there?” I asked, pointing to his shoulders. It was too hot to wear even a T-shirt, but wearing something under it made even less sense.

His face began to redden. “Nothing,” he replied.

“No, there’s something,” I persisted.

He just stood there, looking at me. His face was even more red. “If I tell you, you’ve got to keep it a secret. Will you do that?”

“Of course,” I said. Now I was really interested.

He pulled off his T-shirt, and there was some kind of garment there. Not having any sisters, and being rather naive about girls, I had no idea what it was. “What is that?” I asked.

“A camisole,” was his reply. I could see that it looked like something a girl would wear, but the word “camisole” meant nothing to me.

Just Call Her Lesley

By Joannebarbarella

Full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door

Dark
Matters
-5-

by Donna Lamb

  
“What?” he asked.

“Not what. Why?” I said. “Why me?”

A storm was brewing and Charles Martin Thompson the Third knew it. It was not one that would sweep across the frozen lake he was looking at outside his living room window. No, this storm would be inside the massive house along Lake Minnetonka his family had called home for three generations. Taking a sip from the glass of Scotch in his hand he tried to prepare himself for the night that was approaching. A night where two distinct fronts would move in and change the course of this family for a long time to come.

CHAPTER 58
Harwich was visible from a long way off, or at least the big white reactor dome at Sizewell. There was nothing really visible of England apart from the dome for what seemed like hours, but eventually we were passing the moles or piers or whatever they are called and nosing up to the dock. There was the usual hanging about while sailors did sailor things, and then we were called down to our vehicles. Pete drove, silent that morning, and in a very short while we picked up the first motorway up past Cambridge, leading on to the A1 after a frighteningly busy dual carriageway to Huntingdon.

Secret shopper blues

Dark
Matters
-4-

by Donna Lamb

  
I was going to have to buy something no guy would want to buy. Something a person wouldn’t buy as a gift.

“What are you doing to me, Jon?” I muttered

“I’m ready,” I said firmly, though I wasn’t quite sure I was. I’d been on the birth control pills long enough for them to be effective, anyway, and if I didn’t do it now, I wouldn’t have the chance for months. Of course, once I was thousands of miles from the nearest Raleigh rabbit pheromones, I might not want to anymore... but I wasn’t thinking about that.

He is wrong, and thanks to the help of a girl from his class he is forced explore a side of him he's always hated, and ends up facing some unpleasant truths. Family isn't always to be trusted.
 

CHAPTER 56
The bus was quiet that morning, Ashley seeming a little lost. Pete was driving, so I made my way down to where the young man was staring out of the window. He’d said nothing over breakfast, and apart from a quiet ‘morning’ nothing at all since we got up. I slipped into the seat beside him.

“Bit quiet today, son”

He looked down at his hands. “Bit thinking to do, Mr Barker. Not much sleep last night”

I desperately wanted away from there and I was half afraid he would kiss me again and half afraid he wouldn't! Somewhere in the back of my mind, though I could hear Jim yelling at me and I realized that it had to be the programming that was making me act like this! Ginny had been in charge for the past several minutes and Jim wanted back at the reins of this runaway stagecoach! I made an effort to push the Ginny part of me into the background and I was