The Gods

The beaches were lined with bones and the bodies of the dead. That was until the Gods came forth from the ocean and the dead awoke screaming and terrified.

I had seen the footage on the News. Live footage. I remember that it had cut off halfway through; I remember hearing a woman’s scream and then nothing. And I had changed the channel and watched a sitcom.

I didn’t believe it was happening or rather, I didn’t want to believe it was happening. I told people that it was a gimmick, an advertisement, something to laugh about.

But I sort of knew it was real. Deep down. I felt it in my bones.

I heard people say that it was aliens. I didn’t laugh at that. I hoped it was aliens. Aliens were less terrifying than Gods. Aliens were nothing to do with me.

Graveyards filled with zombies. But only because the Earth had pushed up the bodies, turning them out of their graves and giving them back to the world.

I remember not being afraid. I was just deeply sad. The Gods were angry and everybody was being punished for it. There was no escape even in death.

I watched from my window as buildings fell and the sky filled with dust. In my city a statue taller than the highest skyscraper ran amok, ripping up roads, hurtling bricks and lampposts and cars. And people.

Some people said that it was robots. Giant robots built by man that had turned against us. Or perhaps it was alien robots from outer space.

I wished that it was. I tried to believe that it was but by now I knew...

It was the Gods.

Other people had known before me and as forests burned and seas froze over, more people came to realise.

I wish it was the media, or aliens, or robots, or monsters, or the military, but it was the Gods. And we had angered them.

I had angered them. I had...

I stood on a sea of frozen ice and watched as the sun exploded.

(First published in Everyday Weirdness in 2010)

Butterfly Kisses

A flash piece I wrote some time ago. Based on a true story told to me by a friend...

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Butterfly Kisses

EJ Tett

I’ll tell you a story, though you mustn’t laugh. I was walking home from school one time; it was a cold autumn so I was wrapped up warm. I was wearing a hat that pulled down over my ears and a pair of woolly gloves. I really hate the cold. I suppose I was just being a bit of a wuss... it wasn’t that cold; there was no snow, no frost... It was October though, and it was October cold.

I walked through a park and then a housing estate to get home. There was a shortcut, but it was through a dark little lane that I never liked the look of, and you hear stories about people disappearing from dark little lanes...

Anyway, on my way home this one time I saw a butterfly on the pavement in front of me. It was one of those pretty red ones with the eye pattern. I just thought it was dead. A poor dead frozen butterfly. But it wasn’t, its wings moved when I bent to have a look. They moved slowly though, as if the butterfly was dying or hurt... Butterflies are so beautiful how could I not help?! I removed my gloves and picked the butterfly up, carefully and gently because they’re such delicate creatures.

I took her home with me and called her Apricot. I wasn’t entirely sure she was a girl though, I’m not up on sexing butterflies...

Apricot lived in my bedroom. I did some research on butterflies on the internet and then fed her on watered down honey. I’m never quite sure if she ate it or if it just evaporated but I saw her go to it one time and curl her tongue into it.

I would go to school as normal every day and leave Apricot in my room. She couldn’t fly at that stage so she would just crawl along my desk and bookcase. I’d leave her on my net curtain sometimes so that she could get some light.

After a few months Apricot became tame. Or as tame as a butterfly can be. Once she was able to, she would fly around my room and then land on my nose when I was sleeping; leaving butterfly kisses on my cheek. I was scared that I would swat at her in my sleep and kill her but I never did.

I loved that butterfly, I nursed her back to health, kept her warm in the winter and let her fly again. One day I came home from school and my mum looked like she wanted to tell me something. When I asked her what was wrong she told me that she’d gone up to my room and opened the window... not realising that Apricot was on the net curtain...

A gust of wind swept my butterfly out into the cold and down to the ground outside. When my mum went down to retrieve her, the dog followed her out...

You can probably guess what happened. The dog ate Apricot.

The Barbarians' Key Progress!

Ok, so the goal of finishing The Barbarians' Key for my birthday has been missed. But, I'm now at 58 thousand words. I've written 8k in two months.


I kinda think that sounds okay. But then again, I completed the NaNo challenge of writing 50k in one month so... Probably not so good.

This manuscript is already longer than The Empress Graves and I think I'm about two thirds of the way through. This will probably end up being the longest book in the trilogy. It has so much more going on and a lot of the action takes place at two different parts of Aldenland. It's more complex too and I'm having to keep notes in my file so I know who's doing what, where, why and with who!

But, The Barbarians' Key will be finished this year. It will. :)

75 Words

I'm a member of the SFF Chronicles website, and every month they run a writing challenge. Tell a story in 75 words or less. There's a set theme and the winner of the month gets to pick the theme for the next month. I won it in August and so picked September's theme of the Seven Deadly Sins.

For now, I'll share my first ever entry which was back in April. The theme was 'visit another world.'  I came second.

The Dilemma

I asked for the world and he gave it. It’s been sitting in its box on the table for two days now. I know he’s expecting something in return. I don’t even like him but what can I do? I could open the box, I suppose. I wonder if I can squeeze inside and escape. Then I don’t have to make any decisions. I’d feel guilty though...

Screw it. It’s not even a nice box.