Submissions by Lozzamus
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
I compare poetry to painting, believing that I lack any drawing/painting skills but believing my imagination and training in writing has enabled me to transfer my love of visual art to the written word
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
21st Sep 2024 6:09pm
21st Sep 2024 6:09pm
Silent - Conclusion
In the present, Gavin returns to his musical studies and learns to come to terms with Philippa's betrayal
Lucy, similarly, returns to her University studies in Manchester and comes to appreciate her family and the sacrifices they made for her.
After a while, contact between Gavin and Lucy fizzles out as the past loses significance for them.
*** Spoiler if reading for the first time
.
As Katie Whittacker explained in the denouement, her father-in-law Arthur Harlesden ordered the fire that killed Lucy's parents when Lucy was 8.
In the...
Lucy, similarly, returns to her University studies in Manchester and comes to appreciate her family and the sacrifices they made for her.
After a while, contact between Gavin and Lucy fizzles out as the past loses significance for them.
*** Spoiler if reading for the first time
.
As Katie Whittacker explained in the denouement, her father-in-law Arthur Harlesden ordered the fire that killed Lucy's parents when Lucy was 8.
In the...
#mystery
#risk
114 reads
4 Comments
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
6th Sep 2024 6:47pm
6th Sep 2024 6:47pm
Silent - Caught In The Fire - Part 2
Now, Gavin
Switching on the flame again, the bloke set the cloth alight.
'No, don't,' Jace shouts.
Taking a few steps back, the Angel of Mercy hurls the burning cloth on the floor and ball of fire leaps from one side of the room to another, narrowing missing him.
'Run,' Jace shouts.
We leg it from the main storage area, into a draughty corridor at the rear, searching for a window or for something to escape through. I don't exactly leg it, as I can barely walk, let alone run, but somehow I manage to keep going, past cement walls with...
Switching on the flame again, the bloke set the cloth alight.
'No, don't,' Jace shouts.
Taking a few steps back, the Angel of Mercy hurls the burning cloth on the floor and ball of fire leaps from one side of the room to another, narrowing missing him.
'Run,' Jace shouts.
We leg it from the main storage area, into a draughty corridor at the rear, searching for a window or for something to escape through. I don't exactly leg it, as I can barely walk, let alone run, but somehow I manage to keep going, past cement walls with...
#anger
#escape
#revenge
169 reads
7 Comments
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
4th Sep 2024 6:49pm
4th Sep 2024 6:49pm
Silent - Caught In The Fire - Part 1
Gavin!' A voice.
A hallucination in the dark – audible, not visual. Somewhere in the distance, water trickles down a wall.
'Gavin!' The hallucination again.
'Gavin!' Desperate almost.
I hear it three times. A powerful fantasy of rescue, like a mirage in the desert. The false and cruel offer of freedom.
My name again, slightly louder.
I try to sit up, wince. The wires dig deep into my body, hurting. The voice gets closer. I hear footsteps in a corridor, running, and I try to shout out, but the gag prevents me from making...
A hallucination in the dark – audible, not visual. Somewhere in the distance, water trickles down a wall.
'Gavin!' The hallucination again.
'Gavin!' Desperate almost.
I hear it three times. A powerful fantasy of rescue, like a mirage in the desert. The false and cruel offer of freedom.
My name again, slightly louder.
I try to sit up, wince. The wires dig deep into my body, hurting. The voice gets closer. I hear footsteps in a corridor, running, and I try to shout out, but the gag prevents me from making...
#anger
#revenge
151 reads
7 Comments
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
24th Aug 2024 5:16pm
24th Aug 2024 5:16pm
Silent - Warehouse On Fire
The Present, Lucy
She walks, or rather hobbles, across a path as fast as she can – difficult after a day or so lying in a dark room. She has to keep stopping and starting, ready to pass out from exhaustion. Eventually, she comes to a car parked behind a high, abandoned wall and waits outside, trembling. Her hands are tied, so she can't get into the vehicle. What's happening? Does Katie know this man? Was Katie involved in the fire too? Terence?
Katie Whittaker returns. 'Jace phoned me in a panic and Pete and Scott told me everything. Come on, Lucy, I'm taking you...
She walks, or rather hobbles, across a path as fast as she can – difficult after a day or so lying in a dark room. She has to keep stopping and starting, ready to pass out from exhaustion. Eventually, she comes to a car parked behind a high, abandoned wall and waits outside, trembling. Her hands are tied, so she can't get into the vehicle. What's happening? Does Katie know this man? Was Katie involved in the fire too? Terence?
Katie Whittaker returns. 'Jace phoned me in a panic and Pete and Scott told me everything. Come on, Lucy, I'm taking you...
#mystery
#risk
145 reads
4 Comments
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
9th Aug 2024 5:50pm
9th Aug 2024 5:50pm
Silent - A Deranged Man
The Present, Lucy
'Hurry up,' the man in the baseball cap says, dragging her by the arm, up a semi flight of concrete stairs, into a long corridor. He yanks her along when her strength gives way, his breathing rapid and heavy. 'I have a knife and I will use it on you if necessary. I will kill you. Stop messing about.'
She hadn't seen the knife. But the weapon changes everything. Everyone knows that when a stranger makes a threat, they intend to carry out the threat.
'A few moments ago, I received a phone call from a woman informing me that she knows of...
'Hurry up,' the man in the baseball cap says, dragging her by the arm, up a semi flight of concrete stairs, into a long corridor. He yanks her along when her strength gives way, his breathing rapid and heavy. 'I have a knife and I will use it on you if necessary. I will kill you. Stop messing about.'
She hadn't seen the knife. But the weapon changes everything. Everyone knows that when a stranger makes a threat, they intend to carry out the threat.
'A few moments ago, I received a phone call from a woman informing me that she knows of...
#mystery
#risk
97 reads
2 Comments
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
31st Jul 2024 6:41pm
31st Jul 2024 6:41pm
Silent - Trapped In The Dark
Now, Gavin
Nearly two years after the fire that killed my friends, I return to the north of England: Manchester this time. To see Lucy. But it all goes wrong. Lucy doesn't turn up for lunch in the park as we arrange and a load of weird stuff starts again.
So here I am now, locked in a damp-smelling room in the dark by a bloke I've never met before, a bloke in a baseball cap.
He enters the room with a torch and stands by my feet. 'Goodbye, Gavin.' He fiddles with a padlock.
'Hey, let me out. You've got to let me go.'
'You're...
Nearly two years after the fire that killed my friends, I return to the north of England: Manchester this time. To see Lucy. But it all goes wrong. Lucy doesn't turn up for lunch in the park as we arrange and a load of weird stuff starts again.
So here I am now, locked in a damp-smelling room in the dark by a bloke I've never met before, a bloke in a baseball cap.
He enters the room with a torch and stands by my feet. 'Goodbye, Gavin.' He fiddles with a padlock.
'Hey, let me out. You've got to let me go.'
'You're...
#mystery
#risk
125 reads
4 Comments
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
13th Jul 2024 5:36pm
13th Jul 2024 5:36pm
Silent - A Tragedy
Two Years Ago, Gavin
After that? Pretty blurred, really. Tragic, like a dying swan. All that beauty gone. Jace invited me back to his for a drink and a grill up, but I made a decision: get a train and return home early, enough of Philippa. Dawn went to fetch Paul, and Paul drove Dawn, Jace and me back to Lyme House to collect my stuff. Then on to the train station.
We didn't say much on the way to the station. Such an intensity of emotion, Jace and Dawn seemed upset by my departure, even though we hardly knew each other.
At the station, Dawn hugged me,...
After that? Pretty blurred, really. Tragic, like a dying swan. All that beauty gone. Jace invited me back to his for a drink and a grill up, but I made a decision: get a train and return home early, enough of Philippa. Dawn went to fetch Paul, and Paul drove Dawn, Jace and me back to Lyme House to collect my stuff. Then on to the train station.
We didn't say much on the way to the station. Such an intensity of emotion, Jace and Dawn seemed upset by my departure, even though we hardly knew each other.
At the station, Dawn hugged me,...
#mystery
#risk
#tragedy
140 reads
2 Comments
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
7th Jul 2024 6:24pm
7th Jul 2024 6:24pm
Silent - The Concert
Two Years Ago, Gavin
Friday, day of the concert. Jace seemed jittery. Lucy still wasn't answering her phone, he told me. By now, she would be back in Yorkshire. At quarter to one, he took his seat in the audience and I went to sit in the Green Room behind the stage before my turn.
A couple of people performed before me. I was due on last. In the background, I heard applause, followed by mentor Dawn voice whispering my name, telling me to go on, wishing me the best. I opened the door and stepped out. Walked over to the grand piano and took a bow. Warmed up with a...
Friday, day of the concert. Jace seemed jittery. Lucy still wasn't answering her phone, he told me. By now, she would be back in Yorkshire. At quarter to one, he took his seat in the audience and I went to sit in the Green Room behind the stage before my turn.
A couple of people performed before me. I was due on last. In the background, I heard applause, followed by mentor Dawn voice whispering my name, telling me to go on, wishing me the best. I opened the door and stepped out. Walked over to the grand piano and took a bow. Warmed up with a...
#music
#mystery
#obsession #risk
#obsession #risk
154 reads
5 Comments
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
26th Jun 2024 8:02pm
26th Jun 2024 8:02pm
Silent - Concerns
Two Years Ago, Gavin
Arthur Harlesden drove over about half an hour later to meet us in the Remembrance Garden at the rear of the House.
'Ah, yes,' he said, smiling away at the entrance to the wooden shelter where Lucy had first rested her head on my shoulder the other evening. 'I'm afraid, there was a little bit of trouble earlier, but it's all been sorted now and Lucy is quite safe. A member of the public contacted the police in a somewhat distressed manner this afternoon, describing a female who matched Lucy's description. When the police came, they found Lucy...
Arthur Harlesden drove over about half an hour later to meet us in the Remembrance Garden at the rear of the House.
'Ah, yes,' he said, smiling away at the entrance to the wooden shelter where Lucy had first rested her head on my shoulder the other evening. 'I'm afraid, there was a little bit of trouble earlier, but it's all been sorted now and Lucy is quite safe. A member of the public contacted the police in a somewhat distressed manner this afternoon, describing a female who matched Lucy's description. When the police came, they found Lucy...
#friendship
#mystery
#risk
149 reads
2 Comments
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
17th Jun 2024 8:17pm
17th Jun 2024 8:17pm
Silent - The Missing Friend
Two Years Ago, Gavin
I phoned Jace. No answer. Texted: are u around? Weird stuff going on. Call me NOW.
I went back upstairs again.
'Awww,' I screamed near the top of the stairs.
A pair of hands gripped me around the waist, travelling up to cover my eyes. A knee lodged in my kidney, forcing me back, and I found myself half-falling, half thrashing out in self-defence, certain that Steve was about to attack me.
Or Aidan.
I tried stamping on his foot, but he sensed the intended move and twisted his foot away from mine....
I phoned Jace. No answer. Texted: are u around? Weird stuff going on. Call me NOW.
I went back upstairs again.
'Awww,' I screamed near the top of the stairs.
A pair of hands gripped me around the waist, travelling up to cover my eyes. A knee lodged in my kidney, forcing me back, and I found myself half-falling, half thrashing out in self-defence, certain that Steve was about to attack me.
Or Aidan.
I tried stamping on his foot, but he sensed the intended move and twisted his foot away from mine....
#friendship
#mystery
#risk
168 reads
4 Comments
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
8th Jun 2024 6:27pm
8th Jun 2024 6:27pm
Silent - The House Abandoned
Crazy move. Philippa back in my life. She hadn't meant to hurt me yesterday, she insisted at our hastily arranged meeting in the fields after the dress rehearsal. Aidan had emotionally blackmailed her. He'd managed to confuse her. Since then, she'd decided to end the relationship with Aidan for good because it kept going around in circles, and Aidan had already left for Exeter.
'Come on,' Philippa said, taking my arm and pulling me up from the tree trunk. 'I bought a torch with.'
It was about quarter to six in the afternoon. We located the outhouse, the one Jace and...
'Come on,' Philippa said, taking my arm and pulling me up from the tree trunk. 'I bought a torch with.'
It was about quarter to six in the afternoon. We located the outhouse, the one Jace and...
#manipulation
#mystery
#obsession #risk
#obsession #risk
179 reads
5 Comments
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
30th May 2024 7:25pm
30th May 2024 7:25pm
Silent - Sheer Danger
Two Years Ago, Lucy
Footsteps on the stairs. Faint, unlike Arthur's more laboured steps. She froze, held her breath.
Someone coming up the stairs.
Not Arthur.
The figure in the tree, watching, waiting. Climbing the steps to get to her.
But she'd just locked and bolted the kitchen door. No one could have got in through the kitchen door.
The footsteps were getting closer. She glanced around Arthur's bedroom. Nowhere to hide, apart from the wardrobe.
The footsteps stopped outside the bedroom door.
...
Footsteps on the stairs. Faint, unlike Arthur's more laboured steps. She froze, held her breath.
Someone coming up the stairs.
Not Arthur.
The figure in the tree, watching, waiting. Climbing the steps to get to her.
But she'd just locked and bolted the kitchen door. No one could have got in through the kitchen door.
The footsteps were getting closer. She glanced around Arthur's bedroom. Nowhere to hide, apart from the wardrobe.
The footsteps stopped outside the bedroom door.
...
#mystery
#risk
168 reads
4 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by Lozzamus
