Beth Robertson

“Seeing the Music” by Beth Robertson

I entered through a long, dark hallway watching the colourful images slowly wash over the screens as they looped through the sequence of portraits. It began with a black and white still of a man with his cats to an astute woman sitting erect, wearing a glittering dress who I felt like was staring through me. I heard music that sounded like I was about the enter a rave and thought about how uncomfortable this experience would be if that was the soundtrack for the next hour. The techno music made my muscles tense with each pulsating ...

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“The Supernatural Supervisor” by Beth Robertson

Submitted to Contest #103

A stay-cation, that’s what I needed. I had no money for a vacation anyway and really didn’t have the drive to pack either. I could just dial back my routine and tap back into myself; reset my mind and stop feeling like I was a pile of nondescript mush moving through life. I spent the first few days watching TV and catching up on all those movies that people had recommended to me, I took aimless walks around my neighbourhood and actually saw a few things that I’m sure had been there the entire time I’d lived there but were new and d...

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“A Sinking Suspicion ” by Beth Robertson

Submitted to Contest #98

I was on the bus going home from a double shift, exhausted but excited to get away to our cottage for the weekend. As I sat in my seat listening to the intermittent ding and that voice that automatically told you the street name, I began to feel myself zone out. The wave of tiredness suddenly washed over me, I heard the rush of water and felt a wet chill. I looked around me and saw water at my feet, smelled that algae-like scent that was familiar at the lake then I blinked at few times and saw the black ribbed floor of the bus return in fron...

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“Distanced Relative” by Beth Robertson

Submitted to Contest #96

I remember being barely big enough to see over the kitchen counter at that time. My parents said that the man standing next to it was a cousin. I had asked whose cousin he was, and both had mumbled something that I didn’t understand, but what I understood was: he was there. I could barely see the box of cookies on the counter that my mom had got at the corner store and could barely sneak one as they tried to gather as much information from this stranger that they could using their limited skills in his sing-song language that didn’...

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“Hallmarked Holiday ” by Beth Robertson

Submitted to Contest #69

My dad was driving us to my mom’s house, and he had the radio blaring Christmas tunes. He was singing along to that Mariah Carey hit and it was blatantly off key. His enthusiasm at that moment did not match the feelings of my sister and I who were heading to my mom’s house for our holiday dinner with her new husband and his two children. We’d met them very quickly at the wedding in November and it had been completely awkward. For some reason, my new stepdad had invited his mother-in-law who guarded his son and daughter and whi...

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“Friends Right?” by Beth Robertson

Submitted to Contest #68

It happened when we were 7, my friend’s grandma moved into his house. I’d always treated their home like my own, walking in without knocking and yelling like nobody cared what volume came from my mouth. I remember the day because I’d come over to see if Jesse wanted to go out and ride his bike with me. It was the perfect day: not too hot, a little bit of wind so we could fly on our bikes and there were very few clouds in the sky. When I entered the house there were suitcases and an old sourpuss scowling at me. “Hello, who...

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“Dusk's Delirium ” by Beth Robertson

Submitted to Contest #68

Jacinda and I rolled towards each other and knew that our plan to sleep in had been squashed. We were still on our regular time of waking slightly before the sun rose to get in a workout before our workday began. We had both rolled over, got up and sauntered down from our room and looked at each other and laughed as I started the coffee. We grabbed our cups and headed towards the door.  I nodded towards the dock and she smiled. We sipped that luxurious liquid and took the blanket from the back of the couch and headed...

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“Coming Home” by Beth Robertson

Submitted to Contest #61

For some reason I had decided to keep in contact with the girl from my high school who had been my nerd accomplice trying to create the remedy for becoming invisible. Since those day that we had managed to keep an A average and had planned to become script writing partners to score an Oscar while also being two of the thinnest people to manage to stay grounded in a wind storm and manage to be invisible most times except when it was really necessary, we had managed to grow enough to remember the need to sidestep for survival. Sinead and ...

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“Doomsday Playlist ” by Beth Robertson

Submitted to Contest #60

To a certain extent living through the cacophony of explosions deep beneath the earth, huddled together for moral support should make you appreciate your family, but it’s a love that still ebbs and flows. Before the war to end everything, I’d gone as far away as I could from them so that I could get some piece of mind and build my self esteem instead of staying and deflecting the quips meant to keep me in that place. Once things started to get real and the carrot-toned leader with corn silk hair began to stir the masses in every wh...

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“Suspicious Minds” by Beth Robertson

Submitted to Contest #59

I arrived on a Sunday after an uneventful flight and an endless wait for the connecting train to the city that would become my home. Now that I’d settled, somewhat, and had a reasonable sleep, I rose at the crack of dawn with a little more energy than the day before I decided to explore.  The sun crested over the buildings as I looked at the map on my phone. The light shone blindingly between the peaked roofs making me squint. I took in the bitingly cold air and became alive as I descended the hill that my apartment sat on.&nb...

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“An Awkward Encounter” by Beth Robertson

Submitted to Contest #56

It was a tremendously illuminating sunrise which made me hope that the cruise that I had booked without my hungover sidekicks was going to be fantastic. Even on vacation, I couldn’t break my need for punctuality and wasn’t sure if it was irritation or excitement I was feeling as I waited for the shuttle to pick me up. It arrived a few minutes after the scheduled time with a director who wasn’t phased one bit about how the hands on my watch told me. The bus drove decisively down the street adding passengers from other hotels until it rea...

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