M.K. Lee's Blog: Telling Tales, page 105

Winter Tales – Stove

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Hello! Throughout December there will be a series of stories based on these words. Happy reading!

These stories are all going to be about the same couple: thanks to the beautiful people at Character Generator, here is what we know about them:

Matthias Plattis a 30-year-old plumber who enjoys playing rugby and listening to music. He is affectionate and generous, but can also be very quiet and a bit self-conscious. He has a severe phobia of clowns. Physically, Matthias is in pretty good...

Turn

It’s late
And I wanted to see you
And I want to live in a limbo where tomorrow never comes.
Don’t turn
If you’re turning from me
Curl into me instead, we can’t undo what’s already been done…

To read the rest, seeShades Of Me

At The Bus Station

It’s been exactly eight days, seven hours, and thirteen minutes since Damien saw Elias last, and as he cranes his neck to look for his bus pulling in to the station, Damien is convinced he can feel the seconds ticking by adding extra tension to his stomach.

Not that he’s been counting all that time passing, of course, nor spent hours mournfully staring up at the ceiling of his room unable to concentrate on anything but the fact that Elias isn’t with him. And it’s not even that long really...

Cemetery

I dream that I am in an unkempt cemetery.
I hover, like some badly-drawn angel just above my plain gravestone
With the dead posies crinkling brown into themselves, shrivelling in the sunlight.

I’ve never liked posies.
Never liked picked flowers at all;
Take me to a garden of wildflowers or more specifically, daisies,
And that is all the flower I could ask for.

I recall my funeral.
An empty, echoing church filled with silence.
There’s the people who feel duty to be there;
They wouldn’t even...

Stinging nettles

When weeding stinging nettles,
It’s best to approach it with the acceptance
That no matter what you do, you’re going to get stung.
No matter the thickness of the glove,
The swiftness of your wrist
Or the air in your lungs,
Your skin will come alive in a cacophony of colourful language,
Biting barbs,
And bulbous blisters.
Long after you have pulled them out by root,
Soil clinging to their lifelines as though sheer will will keep them living,
The pain, on fingers, arms and thighs will shoot
Up...

A Wednesday Evening

Simon sinks down beside Cameron on the sofa as he’s done so many other Wednesday evenings, snatching up a handful of the immediately-offered crisps the moment he’s seated, and like Cameron doesn’t move his eyes from the TV. This is their favourite show; in fact, it’s what got them talking in the first place back when he’d first started working at the car services two years ago. Him in his pristine suit for his role as administrator sticking out like a sore thumb amongst all the casual jeans...

Imagination

In the place where you once sat, I am home.
I sit, in the same seat,
Raspberry velvet cushions and
Darkly stained wood beneath my feet.
Rugs. No carpet. This is our kind of place.

I look in the mirror and instead of my face,
I see you.
See what imagination can do?
In this cafe, in my mind,
There is not one, but two.
Under the low swinging lights
I picture you here, late into the night,
Book in hand, not reading, but staring straight through.

See what imagination can do?
In this cafe, in my...

Whatever Comes First

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Matthew isn’t looking for a relationship. Ask him, and he’ll say it’s because between work and studying there’s just no time. Ask his best friend, Sarah, and the story is a little different and involves a failed relationship that left him raw.

Enter Joel, a childhood friend of Sarah’s recently back in the area. He’s not looking for love, either, but he’s not averse to the idea of a little fun. Uncomplicated and on the same page: what could possibly go wrong?

Buy Whatever Comes First

Expected

Being strong is not always the solution,
And neither is doing what’s right.
It becomes what is expected of you,
And dreams vanish into the night.
Showing weakness can be an affliction.
A roadmap leading all to run you down.
But you settle, because that’s what’s expected of you,
Being stoic your greatest renown.
Change of character is met with resistance,
Self-reflection called selfish in fear.
Reassurance is what is expected from you,
Reaffirming your life’s not yours to steer.
In the wake of...

A Pit Stop

“Are you embarrassed by me, Grant?”

Josh’s voice is quiet; that low, growling pitch that, depending on the circumstance, either has Grant pleased he’s rarely on Josh’s bad side, or falling to his knees in reverent worship the way only he gets to worship Josh.

“What? ‘Course not,” Grant replies quickly, wondering where Josh is going with this, and also what he’s done wrong. He’s been so tense about taking Josh home to meet his family, that he’s spent the week leading up to it overthinking every step, and...