Catherine shovlin
Founding member
Stories (8/0)
Stranger Danger
There weren't always dragons in the Valley. It seems inconceivable now that things weren’t always this way, but some of the elders could still remember the early days of their arrival. Rumours in the queue at the butcher’s. Reported glimpses in the Dark Forest to the north. A flurry of fear through the town. The confusion and terror of the early days.
By Catherine shovlin2 years ago in Fiction
Iceberg
My ancient bones creak gently with the slight ebb and flow of the Atlantic Ocean. I shiver with pleasure as a rattle of hailstones tickles my back. What wouldn’t I give for a hearty scratch. You know the kind I mean. The perfect amount of pressure, the sort that hits the spot exactly. Oh it almost makes me shudder just thinking about it.
By Catherine shovlin2 years ago in Fiction
Labyrinth
She finishes the glass of wine. Faster than usual. Still needing, wanting, desiring, keening for more. Already? How has it happened already? Of course, she has known it was coming. They both have. For 14 months now. Yet still, still it seems too sudden, too abrupt. She wanders in this maze of uncertainty. How is this done?
By Catherine shovlin2 years ago in Humans
Doomsday Diary
Doomsday Diary It catches my eye. Glinting in the dust and rubble. With a quick glance over my shoulder to check nobody is in sight I snatch it up, tucking it into my jeans pocket to look at later. Maybe it will be a clue. Or, at least something I could trade. Sorry Granny. I know that’s a bit of an unglamorous end for your precious locket. The one I fingered so many times as a child. Sitting on your lap, looking into that craggy face full of stories, feeling like you had all the answers but you wanted me to find them out for myself.
By Catherine shovlin3 years ago in Fiction
Patchwork commuters
Of course the norm on the London Underground is to stoically pretend that you are not there. And nor is anybody else. Stare straight ahead (or at your phone) and maintain a mental bubble around you that denies the obvious and unsavoury fact of being jammed in a metal tube with a bunch of complete strangers. Cope with that crush of humanity by blocking it out.
By Catherine shovlin3 years ago in Humans
Christmas morning
For the 26 years I have been a mother so far, Christmas stockings have been the lynchpin of our family event. Even now, four young adults bigger than me pile onto my bed first thing on Christmas morning clutching their bulging stockings. It's the only day of the year the dogs are allowed upstairs and they scoot frantically around my room, thrilled by the unfamiliar smells and presence of all of their favourite people in one place.
By Catherine shovlin3 years ago in Families
Sundae Girl
"No, it wasn't like that," she repeats quietly. He doesn't even seem to notice that she has spoken as he leans against the back of the booth, spreading his arms wide across the top of the padded vinyl with a self-satisfied sigh. Supremely confident that his version of events is the only correct one.
By Catherine shovlin4 years ago in Families