Author Archives: CuriousWriter

James was sitting at a table near the window. When he turned to his right, he had a rather blurred view through the glass, which seemed to be made almost an inch thicker by the layer of dirt and general detritus that Herbert Grease never could get round to cleaning off. In front of him,Continue reading “Part 2: Chapter 1”

James Whinging crept out from his hiding place behind a large pipe in the cellar of Rowlings Manor, still covering his mouth and nose with a handkerchief; being a young man himself, he had to be careful that he would not be susceptible to any Virens Amentia fumes which could be hanging around in theContinue reading “Chapter 24: THE FINALE”

Olive was ten years old. She was back in the countryside, and she found herself staring into the green, menacing eyes of a seven-year-old girl called Lucy Waters. Lucy’s figure was set against the backdrop of the farmhouse belonging to Mr and Mrs. Baxter, and Olive could see Mabel the kitchen maid at the sink,Continue reading “Chapter 23”

Mary Maveryck was fed up.             Mary was finding her situation quite hard to understand, let alone accept. She was lying in an old sleeping bag (Olive had bagged the bed), with a hard, scratchy pillow underneath her head, and she was underneath her own double bed.             It was the day of the firstContinue reading “Chapter 22”

Albert Tarquin Rowlings was sitting in a rather lonely fashion in his local club, the Catatonic Albatross, and sipping at a wide, round glass of brandy. The guilt chair with red silk padding he was lounging on looked out through a tall, sumptuously-curtained window onto a vast, green lawn speckled with stone statues and fountainsContinue reading “Chapter 21”

Ethel was bringing someone home with her.             “I wonder what he’s really like,” Olive whispered to herself. “Raymond Calzone!”             “I wonder if he’s like a real Romeo?” Frederick wondered out loud. “As for Ethel, she could certainly be Juliet. A match made in Heaven, don’t you think, Olive?”             “Yeah, yeah,” Olive muttered.Continue reading “Chapter 20”

The space in which Olive Whinging found herself shortly after the judge had announced her sentence was a small room painted bright pink with little butterflies and bunnies and kittens with cute, cheerful faces painted here and there. One window looked out onto a beautiful back garden filled with large, colourful flowers. Inside the room,Continue reading “Chapter 19”

Olive Whinging was in her first week of her latest new job: a part-time helper at one of the bookshops on the high street. She’d had a relatively difficult time trying to convince the manager of the shop that she was genuinely interested in books, but she wouldn’t have come to work there anyway ifContinue reading “Chapter 18”

Alice Reynolds had undergone an extraordinary and sudden transformation since Olive had agreed to put her in charge of the upcoming legal case.             In the seven days leading up to the hearing, Alice woke up every morning at half past five and climbed off her bed (Mary’s pool table covered in a thin blanket)Continue reading “Chapter 17”

Reluctantly, Olive closed the large, red card folder, and placed it on the table at which she was sitting. The haunting words of Ethel’s latest essay (‘What I did in the summer holidays’) seemed imprinted on her brain. Opposite her, an overweight head mistress with fluffy yellow hair and large glasses with square frames smiledContinue reading “Chapter 16”