M.K. Lee's Blog: Telling Tales, page 120

From Coffee Shop Corners: new story coming soon!

If you’re the kind of person who indulges in people watching, imagining what other people are doing with their lives while in the queue for coffee, then you might have something in common with George, the protagonist of my new story.

George is a daydreamer, constantly dreaming up the lives of the people around him from his favourite cafe corner – so he doesn’t have to focus on his own. Not the most productive use of his time, probably. Poor George, he’s a little lost in the world, heartbroken...

From Coffee Shop Corners: new story coming soon!

So last year, I participated in NaNoWriMo for the very first time, and I have to say it was a really good experience. This year I might even do it and actually interact; yes, I know, I am appalling at that kind of thing, it’s a constant work in progress that is far scarier than the ridiculous amount of WIPs I have…

Anyway! From Coffee Shop Corners is my new baby, a product of that NaNoWriMo last year. Our protagonist is George, who is a little lost in the world, someone who also is a bit of a...

Diary Drabble: Show

They’d been waiting too many months for the return of their favourite TV show. Too many teasers, too many times the schedule had been pushed back. the day leading up to the first new episode airing left everyone nervous. Those who could view it live at a reasonable hour prepared themselves with wine and snacks, and those that couldn’t found streaming sites with grainy pictures to squint at in the middle of the night. And when it started, an international fandom held its collective breath. Was...

Diary Drabble: Fog

Jason could barely see the other side of the street for how heavy the fog was. The hills in the distance disappeared into a blanket of white, all the colour seeming to drain from the world at every point. Jason put the rubbish in the bin – the task he’d come out here to do – then went back into the house, shivering for the cold. Today was a non-starter. The files he’d brought home to work on were unopened on his coffee table. Next episode hit one too many times on Netflix. The fog pressed aga...

Diary Drabble: Confront

Tony keeps having this dream where he finds the courage to confront him. Where he backs him into a corner demanding that Reece tells him what he wants. They’ve both hinted enough. Discreet glances and no-so discreet touches, stolen kisses in the middle of the night. Always when no one can see, of course, always stealing those moments out of sight. Avoidance is something they’ve both perfected over these past few months. Now Tony’s just tired. That smirk is calling him even now, calling for hi...

Diary Drabble: Ancestor

He could be looking at a cousin, an absent brother, or a photo of his father or uncle when they were young. Yet this is Brian’s ancestor, a soldier from a long-ago war he hardly knows a thing about. He wants to ask him questions, climb into the screen where he’s viewing his records and learn everything he’s got to say. His face is proud, serious, yet there’s a hint of mischief around his eyes. Brian ignores his date of death and glosses over the cause of it, wishing for the chance to go back...

Diary Drabble: Dynamic

As colleagues, they had an interesting dynamic. Fiercely competitive to the point of obsessive, and no words between them that weren’t curt, or rude. No one would believe they were friends outside of work. No one could know – they didn’t even work in the same department. All their colleagues saw was two angry people butting heads instead of having a civil conversation. Some might even find their mannerisms too much, not even professional. Others speculated even more to their relationship, wag...

Diary Drabble: Prescription

“Think of it as a prescription.”

Nathan narrowed his eyes, though couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth curving up into a smile. “You a pharmacist or something now?”

Michael nodded at the teapot again, until Nathan took the hint.

“Fine.”

“If people have lived for centuries – maybe millennia – with only the herbal properties of plants to heal and treat all their ailments, then there’s no reason you can’t benefit from this tea.”

“Anything else you’re prescribing me?” Nathan asked, raising his...

Diary Drabble: Limit

If his only limit was his imagination, then there would numerous ways for him to reach the sky. He wouldn’t have to think about gravity, safety, or a fear of a lack of air, he could just reach for it. He could already be there. But looking out of his bedroom window imagining others doing the same from their bedroom windows on the stars, Kieran could see so many blocks in his adventures. His leg cast. His worrying mother. And how he couldn’t even really get down the stairs.

One day, he promis...

Stay

The dent of the mattress, the rustling of sheets. These aren’t the things that wake him, nor the cool air blasting in from the window creaked open in the middle of the night. It’s the wrapping of arms around his waist from behind, the sigh of home that’s breathed into his neck, and the soft kiss to the back of his ear, with the mumble of, I didn’t mean to wake you.

“Ross,” Adam says as he stretches against him, curling into his heat.

A hand squeezes firmer around his waist, then presses flat ag...