Category: Fantasy

He woke up gradually, his eyes half lidded, unable to focus. They felt like they’d been washed in sand. He moved his head slowly from side to side, a pain shooting through his neck. His throat was raw, and his mouth was parched, like an arid desert. His tongue felt swollen, a tight fit in

Rudi Fischer didn’t think of himself as a coward, but maybe he was. Otherwise, why would he still be sitting there in the mess hall, weighing up the options? Surely there was only one option? Speak up. Try and prevent a massacre. Even if that meant telling the camp guards what he knew: that the

It was a Sunday morning and when Maddie went into the kitchen, she found a gaggle of excited ATS girls gathered around Betty Wooten. Betty was a kind of unofficial den mother. Some of the younger girls went to her with their problems for she was much older than the others. Exactly how old was

Maddie had settled into a routine. And routine was always good to hold on to. To stop her mind lingering over the bad stuff. But mostly things were good. Decent food, which might have been strange, had they not been serving in a posh mess where the cooks sometimes gave them illicit titbits to take

‘So, what did you do wrong?’ ‘Wrong?’ asked Maddie. ‘I don’t follow.’ She looked at the young woman beside her, who was also on her knees scrubbing the barrack room floor. Déjà vu for Maddie. It didn’t seem that long ago since she’d been on her knees scrubbing another flagstone floor. ‘You and me. Like

It had been a special day for Maddie. The rekindling of her optimism. The reason was simple, not profound: one kind gesture on the part of the ward sister and the staff at Redruth hospital that morning, as she picked up her suitcase and waved them goodbye. A card wishing her good luck, and the

Had they forgotten her? Maddie had been left in the lying-in room for hours now. Just her and the black cloud of despair that hovered around her. One of the girls had smuggled a little food into her: brittle toast with a scrape of jam. Hard, unappetising food that stuck in your throat. When what

Although the journey back was downhill, it was harder than the outward one. If it hadn’t been for them practically dragging her, Maddie might not have made it. Not on her own. Her saviour was Alice, who chivvied her along. This was Alice Wainwright’s second baby, and she had a straightforward way of explaining the

Her uniform was lying on the bed. The on-duty nurse had brought it, told her to change into it quickly. The jacket wouldn’t pull together, and Maddie had had to pin the blouse where her bountiful bust had threatened to rip it asunder. The skirt had always been a generous fit, but even it was

They found Rudi’s photograph under her mattress. That was the lowest point of her stay, the day they took him away from her. There was the promise that she would have it back when she left, along with her uniform. She didn’t believe it. Because the nurse who’d found it had searched the bedding on