by Colette

Maybe She Needs A Bigger Table

Written by Fantasy Girl

dining table

The table will be set for three at exactly 7.24pm every evening.
Image Courtesy of http://www.dailymoderation.com

Tea will be served at precisely 7.24 pm, just as it is every evening. The table will be set for three around the small square at which they will eat. Three meals will be put on the place mats. Only one person will be there. Only one person will eat.

She never changed her routine, even after the incident. She still bought clothes for the other two. She still washed them. She still ironed them. She would even put them away for them. She would have conversations, seemingly with herself; about what they should have for dinner, about what was on telly that night, or what film they should go see at the weekend. Nothing changed. It never changed.

It’d been ten years since the incident, ten years since they died. The car went under. She was the only one to get out. Why couldn’t she save them? Why didn’t they let her die too? Because she’s a survivor, that’s why. She had always been a survivor – when her parents died, when her husband and child died… funnily enough in the same way.

Or maybe that was the point – that she was meant to be alone – that they were all meant to die, and she was meant to survive? But what kind of survival is this? Living in the past, believing they are still alive, believing that they will one day be home for dinner.

Because that’s why she sets the table, you know, not because she doesn’t know they’re dead. Of course she knows. But because she believes that one day they will return, and be home at 7.24 pm for dinner. And maybe they will bring mum and dad too… maybe she needs a bigger table.

by Colette

The Tawarkelion

Ankou

Ankou ‘The Legend of Death’ – his presence is near.

Written by Eruantien 

Within Arachnos does darkness rise
And Ankou shall watch as hope dies
For in his lands his power shall fall
And lo they shall roam, not one but all

No more shall light the dark hold back
And no safety shall be on the track
Five shall leave to tread on wood and stone
With one to pass through fire alone

Now on the fields shall they be arrayed
With the hosts of hate against them played
Arms of steel to their aid shall come
Yet through pain of loss are lips struck dumb Continue reading →

by Colette

Alex

Written by Dice

multiverse_2-660x266

Time. A tricky topic for sure, but incredibly intriguing.

Alex was your average mid-twenties young professional. He was tall, slim with short brown hair and blue eyes. He worked nine to five every weekday before returning home to his one bedroom flat to watch TV or browse the internet.

Today was different, lo and behold he had turned off the TV, finally bored of watching the same old rubbish. He sat for a while staring at the black screen, glancing occasionally at the remote which sat within easy grasping distance. He glanced at his watch: 9:58pm, that new comedy would be starting soon…

Alex was brought out of his battle of will by a knock on the door. Confused at who would visit at this hour, but glad of the distraction, Alex peeled himself from the sofa and made his way to the door. He stopped at the sound of another knock. The knocking wasn’t coming from the front door, but the door to his bathroom. He sighed, clearly he’d left bathroom window open.

“Come in,” called Alex joking to himself. His laughter was cut short when the bathroom door opened and a man who, in nearly every way, looked exactly like him. Apart from the clothes, the Alex doppelgänger wore an expensive grey suit which fitted to this man’s clearly more toned body.

“Thanks,” replied the doppelgänger whose voice was also exactly the same as Alex’s. Alex stood perfectly stunned, after a short silence the new Alex held out his hand and spoke, “I’m Alexander, good to meet me again.”

Alex fainted. Continue reading →

by Colette

It’s July And Inkblots Is Back!

july

Happy 4th July Everyone!

Hey Inkblotters, we’re finally back from our two-month break, have you missed us? Well, we’ve certainly missed giving you great content on a weekly basis to read, that’s for sure. And as July is setting up to be an absolute scorcher for a month – if the start of this weekend is anything to go by – then we’ve got some hot, hot, hot material to feast your eyes on. But before I get to the good part, there’s a few (possibly quite boring) bits the Inkblots team need to address first.

There’s been a few changes to the administration and editing team for our website, and as sad as we were to see Sparky go, he’s gone off to pursue his dream as a Maths teacher and will be starting his PGCE in September. He’ll still be around, but only as a writer not an editor. With Sparky gone, the position needed to be filled, and luckily Doishy was up to the job. He’ll be starting this month to upload and edit Inkblots’ content, and we’re sure he’s going to do a cracking job.

Another slight change to our regular content is with regards to The Friday Frenzy – although very successful, our writers also have very busy lives and sometimes a night out on the town is just too hard to resist! But the Frenzy hasn’t disappeared – we recognise a great concept, after all – so it’s had a bit of a name change and is now The Fiction Frenzy! The competition and its rules have changed somewhat as it’s now taking place either quarterly or tri-annually throughout the year – we haven’t decided yet! When The Fiction Frenzy does take place, however, it will be over the course of the third or fourth month, so you’ve got a bunch more time to send in those entries. We’ll update those details in a blog post further down the line.

We also have a new event taking place this weekend – short notice, we know – but if you remember back to our two-month breather post, we mentioned that a Review Day would be taking place in the summer. Well, summer is here and so is SWORD (Summer Writing Open Review Day) which will take place on Saturday 6th July, midnight to midnight. The aim of this event is to encourage writers to submit their work for review and return the reviews (or critiques) to other writers who have also submitted work for SWORD. This event is strictly happening on The Inkwell, so if you’d like to read more about it, you can do so here.

I realise this post is now becoming extremely long, and if you’re still with me, I’ve got to thank you with a virtual cupcake: *hands through the screen*. While you’re chomping that down, and before I finish my tea, Inkblots has seven posts scheduled this month. From some incredibly deep and emotional poetry from Lost in a Dream and Dizzy Dazzle, to some great and dark short fiction from both Fantasy Girl and Lumberjacktom. And last but not least, the HHC theme for this month is SERENDIPITY – as always, if you wish to enter this month just send your entries into creativewritinginkwell@hotmail.com. Remember, you only have half an hour!

Thanks for sticking with us Inkblotters, and we hope you enjoy our content this month.

– Silver, Inkblots Editor

by Colette

Two-Month Breather for Inkblots

keyboards_wallpapers_39.jpgHey Inkblotters,

We’ve got some disappointing news to share today as myself and Lilith have decided to take a two-month break from uploading content to Inkblots. This is not to say that we will be staying away indefinitely – in fact, it means quite the opposite. We’ll be back in July to schedule content once more and you’ll be able to feast your eyes on inspirational fiction and poetry.

We’ve been uploading content for almost a year to this website, and although we love it, we’ve decided it’s high-time we take a break. Our personal and work lives are starting to increase on our free-time day by day, and it’s just not fair to our readers when you get sloppy content. We want to rectify this in our time off, so we’ll be sorting out and reviewing The Friday Frenzy as a monthly competition. No details have been set for the Frenzy yet, but we’re looking to hold it quarterly throughout the year. Continue reading →

by Colette

Friday Frenzy – “The Orient”

The Orient is a spectacular and fascinating topic just waiting to be explored! Image Courtesy of http://www.sewandso.co.uk

Look at that Inkblotters, it’s our fourth Friday Frenzy! The monthly challenge has taken off with tremendous success and it’s all thanks to our writers that participate each month. We love reading your submissions and oh boy, do you make it hard for us to separate you all to choose a winner. So keep your entries coming in – details of how you can enter can be found here, or at the end of this post.

So, what’s in store this month?

Friday Frenzy Theme – The Orient

 April’s theme is considerably different to the ones we’ve had before (and even our half hour challenges). The Orient is something that I, in particular, find fascinating and I’ve never seen it fully explored within any of The Inkwell’s members’ writing. The East is exotic, intoxicating and completely foreign to our Western Culture. Continue reading →

by Colette

Three-Minute Reads: Haiku Selection IV

green-tea

Here’s some green tea to accompany this month’s Haiku Selection.

We are nearing the end of April, and also the end of the day, so what better way to spend your time than reading Haiku while drinking a hot cup of tea? And it doesn’t just have to be Yorkshire Tea or Earl Grey Tea or the classic English Tea, it could just as easily be some green tea – we like to keep our options open at Inkblots.

As always, we’ve picked an absolute stellar of a selection for all your Haiku needs, and we’ve even picked three that work together as a whole as well as individually. Can you spot the recurring theme or ongoing narrative within this selection?

So, without further adieu, you have one minute to read, another to ponder and one extra to decipher. Continue reading →

by Colette

Bernard the Dormouse

Written by Silver

Just havin’ a kip. Image Courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk

Comfortable in my teacup house – that’s me;
sleeping and breathing,
breathing and sleeping.
Comfortable in my teacup house – that’s me:
The Dormouse.

On my left sits the fidgeting March Hare;
clawing and gnawing
gnawing and clawing.
On my left sits the fidgeting March Hare,
terribly adoring the tea-party air.
Continue reading →

by marleylilith

It Was a Rainy March Day

Written by lost in a dream.

This beautiful rainy day in Paris is very different from lost in a dream’s rainy garden! Image courtesy of visualise.us.

It was a rainy March day when I found him.

The first time I saw him, he was looking up at me from the floor. His unruly white hair soaked with rain, his eyes darting from side to side. Someone must be missing him, he needed to go home. I didn’t know what to do.

I walked back towards the house, I would ring the police, yes, that’s what I would do. I made it to the patio, then I got the biggest shock of my life. There he was staring at me from patio door. How did he overtake me? Never mind how, he was coming straight towards me. He looked terrified. His eyes were wide and childlike in aged face and his body was shaking. He kept coming towards me until we were centimetres apart. That’s when I saw it.

Continue reading →

by marleylilith

Minor Wounds

Written by x3naurus

Memories, all drained in vain…

Few enclose my sight to words
in sync with silence, as night occurs
to send me in a wind of ice.
Light betrays, shadows suffice

Memories, all drained in vain.
Hidden smiles keep me insane.
Not with sight I cannot see,
but watching what’s in front of me.

A simple circle, falling fast;
The seeds inside all watch the past
disappear, and sing with fear
to die in light, and live in tears.

Continue reading →