Lex came back two weeks later to find his father gone and his mother smoking and drinking herself stupid. He’d seen in the newspapers that a deadly virus was sweeping the city but thought as usual that the headlines were only attention grabbing. She seemed to have resigned herself to her fate and was enjoying … Continue reading Lex – Part 4
Tag: Before the virus
Lex – Part 3
Life carried on and Lex got worse. He was getting into trouble at school and hanging out with some of the kids from the rough side of town. Tim and Rose were constantly visiting the Principal of the school. Just after Lex’s 14th birthday, Tim’s mother, Lex’s grandmother, died. Things started going down hill pretty … Continue reading Lex – Part 3
Lex – Part 2
Lex had the confidence of his father and was not at all shy. At pre-school he had all the girls wanting to be his best friend. He even had a little wedding in the sandpit to his childhood friend, Zandra. Even the teachers thought he was just such a lovely little boy. But when Lex … Continue reading Lex – Part 2
Lex – Part 1
Being an only child in a moderately wealthy family had not done Lex any harm. Well that’s the way he saw it. His father, Tim, was a professional actor and had got into the game early. He had joined a theatre when he was young and had been in countless stage shows before joining the … Continue reading Lex – Part 1
Slade – Part 5
The fight had gone out of him. He allowed himself to be dragged through the streets of the city and didn’t once try to struggle. Blindfolded, he was aware of the different smells, sounds and feelings of the city as he passed through it. There was all the usual noise of glass smashing, fires being … Continue reading Slade – Part 5
Slade – Part 4
The sound of riots ringing in his ears, Slade crouched down behind some garbage cans. He caught his breath then poked his head around one of the cans – the gangs were throwing rocks through windows, running away with TV sets and stereos, hurling abuse at the raggedy group of army cadets that were valiantly … Continue reading Slade – Part 4
Slade Part 3
Slade crumpled the letter in his hand. Another child, Angie had another child. Slade couldn’t believe it. His mother, his best friend in the entire world – she had a whole life away from him and his father. Not only a whole life but a whole separate family… A siren woke Slade from his dreams. … Continue reading Slade Part 3
Slade Part 2
It had been raining for hours. The type of rain that isn’t heavy but that drenches you to the bone. Slade felt that the rain had even gotten in to his very soul. Rain in Greendale was a rarity. The township enjoyed year round sunshine, even in the winter. So when Slade woke up to … Continue reading Slade Part 2
Slade Part 1
Slade didn’t know how long he had been there. Could have been hours could have been days. The light was always the same so it was impossible to tell whether it was day or night. Slade suspected that it was somewhere in between; that he was part of some weird twilight zone existence where reality … Continue reading Slade Part 1
Ebony, Java, Siva Part 2
From the outside, things were certainly done right. Adah and Christo threw parties regularly, some for their adult friends, and some for the girls and their school-mates, sort of debutant balls for the pre-pubescent. Java and Siva always understood that this life was the dream and that somewhere outside the estate, reality still loomed, no … Continue reading Ebony, Java, Siva Part 2