In the warmth of her blanket and with her head still fuzzy from the previous night out, Rose woke up in the darkness with a hundred thoughts and feelings still flowing through her mind.

Aware that it was still too early to get up yet also too late to stay up, she laid in her bed hugging her spare, often unused third pillow not daring to check what time it was. Her thoughts swirled around and whether they had been influenced from her already-vanished dreams or not, currently revolved only around herself: her own being, and of the people closest to this fragmented conceptual image of herself.

Her father and her sister, standing there next to the bed staring at her in the blacked-out apartment, their faces young… Read More

Disclaimer: All of this really happened. Names, nationalities and suburbs have been changed to protect the innocent.

• So there’s a girl you like from Language Class. An Italian girl.

• You’ve met a couple of times, and even attended the same Language Class group dinner a few weeks ago. Since then there have been emails sent, promptly replied and responded to.

• You know she lives in Stanmore. It is pointed out to you by a friend that it is odd for a girl like her, a travelling student, to be living in Stanmore, as that’s more of a French area. You agree. You’re pretty sure she’s got a boyfriend. A French boyfriend.

• Indeed, he even picked her up from the dinner, you think. You didn’t get a very good look… Read More

Love was captured in an old wrinkled photograph

~~~~~

Encaged and scratched 

Its

In this extract we find one of the main characters stuck in a dream/nightmare-like state. It was interesting writing this as I have not previously attempted writing horror or suspense, and so these events merely unfolded as I coaxed my heart to race in an artificial state of fear, if that makes any sense. By closing my eyes, breathing calmly, and then imagining the worst possible place I could be, it helped to prepare myself in the right mood in order to empathise with the character.

Unpublished Work © 2009 Will Ooi. All Rights Reserved

I lie flat on my back on top of the blue ragged sleeping bag which has seemingly shrivelled and shrunken in my absence. I don’t bother uncurling… Read More