Stories

One-off stories and stories which were not explicitly serialized.

abigail's mothers

Abigail’s Mothers

“Just try your best, okay dear? It’s fine if it takes a few tries.”

Abigail’s eyes jump between the cleaver Cloth Mother has just wrapped her fingers around and the too-small body spread out on the table. Outside the pool of light, Wire Mother grins and blows smoke into the air.

“Don’t waste time, dear.” Wire Mother draws the word out, makes it into an insult as it hisses between its glass-shard teeth. “It needs to die.”

Read on … ( ~5 Min.)

driftwood

Necessary Repairs

“Hey babe”, said the witch, “mind helping me with this? I think I cracked a bone the other day.”

The doll looked up from her book. “Sure, but isn’t that the third this month?”

“… yeah.”

“Shouldn’t you have someone look at your spells? Wood should last longer, even without plasticizing it.”

“No, I’m fine. I just … look, give me a hand? It’s one of the supports in my chest, I’ve already got the replacement out.”

Read on … ( ~3 Min.)

A Flower in the Silence

Someone has left a flower in the silence between moments, that secret place where you long ago learned to go to hide from the world. A place which you had always thought only you could access.

Because, well. It’s inside your mind. Right?

The flower is pale, almost immaterial. It looks like a pencil sketch.

You gingerly pick it up and sniff.

It doesn’t smell like anything. Which does make sense—smells have always been the hardest things to imagine with any sort of accuracy—but it’s still a bit disappointing.

Read on … ( ~6 Min.)