Maeryn Lamonte Copyright ©️ 2024

So I’d bought one. It’s not as if I have a lot of people in my life, so the Christmas present budget is light. Sad, I know, but then it means I can splurge on me a bit.

I’d wanted one since they came on the market, but could never justify the expense. At least not until this year. This Christmas they had a sale with a humongous seventy-five percent off. which still put the price tag at a grand, but that was just inside my budget.

As long as I skimped elsewhere.

“Good morning. I have an appointment?”

The middle-aged woman behind the counter looked down at an actual paper diary before replying.

“Sam Hardy, by any chance?”

“That’s the one”

“You timed that well. Lou’s just on a coffee run. Want one?”

“Oh… do you do tea?”

“Coffee shop next door, and yes”

“Then just a tea please”

“Done. Louisa!”

I woke up to a bright winter morning in the room where I had woken up most my eighteen years. I just had had one of my one in every six weeks off. I lazed around and the had lunch with my parents. After that I got myself ready for my night job and headed out to the metro. In the metro people stared at me as usual. Since this was the age of Aquarius military uniforms were few and far between on the streets of the capital, especially on January 1. I grumbled over the fact the voyage took all of 15-20 minutes from door to door. I especially didn’t like the 200 m between the metro station and Defence HQ. That winter was COLD.

This story was inspired by the contest. Since I’m a judge, this story is not qualified to participate.

“… Cymru, yng Nghaerdydd; thank you for listening to Noson Werin, presented by myself, Siw Williams, with this evening’s guest the multi-instrumentalist Chrissy Morgan, who will be performing next Wednesday in St David’s Hall, Cardiff. This has been a Tidewave production for BBC Wales in Cardiff”

I waited till the ‘on air’ light was out, and confirmation from our producer, before I turned back to Chrissy, who was now encumbered with several instrument cases.

“How do you think that went?”

When a young trans girl promises to herself that she'll come out to her friends for the new year, an angel appears before her, promising to help her. Unfortunately, it seems that her friends are transphobic. Thankfully, a new queer cafe is opening up, and may give her a chance to make friends.

It had been an eventful year, some very low times, some low times, some high times ,I was now considering what would be the highlight of the year.

Dave doesn’t have friends, he has acquaintances. He sees the same people in the same pub every day, always betting on the horses. And for all the friends he doesn’t have he does have secrets, he’s unemployed, he likes men, and... well... he’s been on female hormones for over two years.

With Cheltenham, the biggest jumps racing festival of the year coming up, a string of bad luck means Dave might miss out on the week of gambling. That is until Chelsea—the only female gambler in the bar—makes an offer; a simple, honest offer, and one from her heart. No, she doesn’t want Dave in a dress, she doesn’t know his secret. It’s something far more direct than that.

A once off, self contained short story.

That summer I met my first love. I fell head over heels in love with Philippa. She fell in love with me. As they say, We had fun, we had joy we had seasons in the sun. That really was a lovely summer. We spent every moment we could together. Our hearts thumped. We had picknicks together, we went riding together, we went to concerts together, we popped over to Paris and the Riviera together. And then we were just together. I think just being together with someone I loved was what mattered most to me.

My relationship with my parents was not strained at all. We were perfectly civil to each other whenever we met. That summer my father had custody of me. My friends, or rather acquaintances, called me Pinball since my parents regarded me as the trophy in their fight against each other. Whenever the parent in charge was splashed on the front pages of the tabloids due to some scandal, which happened with depressing regularity, the other swooped in to grab the prize, Why? apart from the win, I never could figure out.

Author's Note: My muse took me to a heavier place here, but it's a story of survival and, ultimately, hope.

One Last Hail Mary
By Marissa Lynn

Even with nobody sitting next to him, it was impossible for Mark Tyler to twist his body into a position to sleep.

One father learns from the sad lesson of another.

Catching Up
By Marissa Lynn

"Come on Mitch, stop squirming."

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this."

"Oh stop whining, Mitch. You can't be having that bad of a time. And remember it's for the views, right?" Cassie asked as she applied the eyeliner along his left lower lash line.

"Besides, it's what we do for our art and sometimes, we suffer for our art, right? It's for the Dynamic Four, after all," Todd said

“Two pints of the Skull Attack, a Guinness, a Carling and a Carling top”

“Lemon or lime?”

“Lime. You new at this, son?”

.
I wanted to hold my head high and keep my voice steady. I wanted, so very much, to make her proud. Even though she’d never see it.

I'd also like to thank Melanie in helping me get this posted!

As was usual, she was lonely, especially on this day, as it was Christmas Eve. She got up and went to the kitchen, poured herself a cup of coffee, and instead of creamer, she poured a bit of eggnog in with the brew. She considered something stronger, but even though only she would know, she wasn’t yet of the legal drinking age, and it wasn’t like she had any alcohol on hand.

She put the nog back in her fridge, then returned to her recliner.

She lived in an apartment that wasn’t lavish by any means. She needed to save as much money as she could, so whatever was left each month after basic necessities was put into a savings account. Once it was large enough, it would fund her needed surgery.

As she sipped the coffee, she thought about the events that had brought her to the present. Her mother had played around a lot in high school and she kept it up as she went to college. She had been the stereotypical proud cheerleader, who felt no one but the football team was worth her time.

Usually.

It was colder than he had expected, the sleet steadily hardening into snow, but Ken had endured worse. There was a hedgerow running between two of the fields which he thought might work for the night, and part of it looked to be hazel, or at least something with similar leaves, which the shrub had clung to despite the nastiness of the late Autumn and Winter. It had all looked so simple when he was little, the Boy Scout books almost rhapsodising about hatchets and straight staffs as a ridge pole, but walking around with an axe these days would get him lifted by the plod in no time.

It was all because of Heather. It was her party after all and her idea as an additional element to the usual games, drinking and eating excesses that constitute our New Year’s Eve party.

As the night entered the small hours, she decided she might as well open her e-reader and wait for dawn, which was why she found herself waking from the faint memory of a dream as ever-elusive sleep had finally drawn her under.

Her cell was buzzing away next to her pillow.

“Ummmff?”

“Tiff? You awake? It’s Tyler”

“Wasn’t, but am now. Whadyawant?”

The moment Becky Stirling heard the voices in the distance, there were two things she instantly knew. Firstly, that she recognized the voices, which may have seemed strange as she had never actually heard them before. Secondly, she realized she had to leave. Immediately.

A tale as old as time…a witch, a curse, two star-crossed lovers. But how can love hope to prevail when true love’s kiss will undo the transformation and split the two young lovers apart?

Mini synopsis: This story involves the loss of a parent due to Alzheimer's. We often wage the battles of 'I should have said...' or 'Did they come to understand...' as we watch that person slipping away. This story tries to focus on the ideas of love and hope, which added to loss can be a very emotional balancing act to read.

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