Suspicions
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I am a possessive person. I admit it. I thought that Lauren loved me, and I thought that I loved her. I just felt that we were meant to be together. I thought that our arguments and lack of sex were issues that we could address, but that our relationship would be lasting.

I have to admit that sex was an issue for me, and I never really understood why at the time. Now I realize what the problem was. It seems so stupid that I did not recognize my own nature. I must be the biggest self-deceiver on the planet.

This part has a forced sexual encounter. I know this type of story is not too popular here, but part 1 and 2 have had 3000 hits between them. So it is being read.

Bob came back an hour later reeking of beer. Carol fussed over him while I finished the steak dinner we were making for him. The smell made my mouth water. Carol and I were to just have a salad. Bob says we must keep our slim figures, she told me.

The Apron
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

I don’t believe in magic, but it is hard to think of another explanation. I may not have been the manliest of males, but I was male. Now I am not so sure.

I was helping out in the kitchen as a guy should do, and as I was stirring the meat sauce, and as wearing a while shirt, somebody suggested that I put on an apron. That stuff stains.

Seeking Redemption
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

People do not understand rape. Nobody wants to talk to a rapist about why they do it, unless it is to judge them. A rapist cannot even go to a shrink. They say: “If this is in the past then we may be able to discuss it while respecting confidentiality, but if you are contemplating future offending, then I must report any impending crime.” Contemplating? It those days it was all I could think about. But what do you do?

It Takes a Village
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

My grandfather fought in the Great Patriotic War – what is referred to in the West as World War 2. He was a hero, although he said that they all were. The Soviet Union lost 8,668,400 soldiers in that war, which was 10 times more than all the Western allies combined. But when you add civilian casualties the total people from our nation who died was over 27 million – 12% of the population.

As soon as I woke up I knew something had happened. I felt the warm embrace of sleep slowly slip away. My mind tried to make sense of where I was. A hotel? I didn't remember getting there.

My head felt so heavy. I had almost no strength, this wasn't right. I tried to recall last night. I had been driving through the corn belt region of the midwestern United States. It had long been an ambition of mine to drive from Canada to Mexico.

Retransitioned
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I saw him across the room, and my blood ran cold. I knew when we split up that I would have to avoid all the places that we loved to go to together, and to avoid mixing with people that we knew as a couple, but it seemed to me this was not one of those places. He was not interested in art before he met me, so why would he be at the opening of that exhibition?

The President grinned impishly. “Life in the fishbowl. Just smile and wave, Jessica. Smile and wave!”

New Year's Eve

By Melanie E.

Originally posted to the BCTS Patreon on December 31st, 2022

“Good morning, everyone,” Allan- my university lecturer- says as I (and no doubt all of the other students on my course) get my notepad out. “I’ll let you all have a couple of minutes to get set up, then we’ll begin.”

“I’ll talk to you later,” I say, mirroring the sad smile of the long-haired girl on my phone screen.

“Yeah,” Leanne sighs sadly. “I should be getting to work too in the next couple of minutes. Well, not technically ‘getting to’, but you know what I mean, right?”

“Bein’ a girl doesn’t mean you need to be a victim.”

“Uh huh,” Dr. Singh said, his voice indicating deep skepticism. “Officer Wolf also wrote that you claimed to be a missing professor of something or other.”

“That’s ‘Distinguished Professor of Something-or-Other’ to you,” I said indignantly.

In a world without women, the trans woman is Queen. Taken from the old saying "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."

No one knew who started it, but the Americans accused the Chinese and the Russians. Both of those countries accused each other. The Gynax virus had effectively wiped out 98% of women.

It was thought that it came from a mutated virus that was meant to mimic the beneficial effects of female hormones on the immune system. During the covid outbreak, more women recovered than men, and fewer were hospitalized.

Fathers
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I found a canoe. I had taken a job for a few days cleaning out an old shed behind a house on the shore bought by somebody in the city. The realtor said that I could stay in the basement under the house for a few days and earn some cash for emptying the contents of the shed into a dumpster, sweeping the floors and wiping the place down.

I pulled the front door open with a jerk, surprising an imposing man with a completely bald head just as he was about to hit the door again. “If you say anything about knockers, you’re a dead man!” I growled.

Collateral
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I was on holiday on my own. I had broken up with my girlfriend holly and I decided to drive my car all the way down to Cabo – just time on the road to clear my head. I just wanted to go somewhere where the booze was cheap and forget everything. I just jumped in and drove and drove.

“Do not open or scan battery,” Worm replied in his flatest voice.

“What will happen if we do?”

“Boom,” he said.

Wildman’s Wife
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I reached into my purse and flipped him my drivers’ license. “That’s me,” I said. “Or was, up until a month ago. I have sixty years of memories to go with the photo. If I was scammed, the scammers are the functional equivalent of an advanced species. And there’s no way that I could ‘delude’ myself into a working knowledge of Old English, Norman French, Greek, Classical Latin, Church Latin and Hochdeutch, with a smattering of other languages besides.”