Karen Cave

Mary sipped her tea, which was too hot but cooling down by the minute. She sipped slowly, daintily; an unmistakably Mary thing to do.

She was sick of the rain. It ran down the window-pane in rivulets, and she watched those crazy little trails as she took a drag of her cigarette, before stubbing it out in the china teacup beside her.

The blood splashed all over the side of my face, ran down my neck and dripped onto my shoulder. I was nearly sick then and there, but I had to get moving. I didn't have any clothes on, you see, and I had to find something quickly so that I could get out of here pronto. All around me was chaos and screaming, but I had no time to get scared. I needed clothing fast, and a weapon; whatever I could get my hands on quickest.

Tekhenu: the ancient, Egyptian word for obelisk. Built many years ago, they stand tall and grand in grey stone, complete with a pyramid-shaped top. Time has not withered their majesty, nor their strange sense of foreboding.

Stan didn’t remember getting the invitation, which was strange, because the yellowing piece of paper was what he had restlessly been playing with on his way to the party. Where exactly? His body seemed to know, so he just let his feet take him, through alleyways and subways, and down staircases. He folded the invitation this way and that, between fingers which rarely kept still. Strong knuckles on clean hands. Neither could be said for his conscience or character. Stan had not lived a kind life. He liked to look out for himself, above all else. The invitation was pleasingly tactile to the touch, though he couldn’t place why. A slight shine, and a strangely soft feel to the paper. At least, he assumed it was paper. How could it be anything else?

She bathed alone in the light of the moon, basking in its glow. The power it gave her was not something that you or I would ever be able to explain, or to understand. This power enlivened her, invigorated her, made her strong. It made her fearless, able to do what she craved every time the moon was at its fullest and brightest.