Peter Watts

“The Watchmaker’s Daughter ” by Peter Watts

'Time is relative'     My Dad would always say this to me.     He never professed to be a student of Einstein and for the longest time I felt that he simply said it to fit his character. A cliche of a sentence from the man who spent his life stooped over a desk, eye glass in hand; A Master Watchmaker squinting at the vast array of cogs, each refusing to move until he worked his magic.      And now he's gone. Leaving me to keep the business going. The skills he spent a...

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“Searching for Someone” by Peter Watts

Submitted to Contest #79

How can she do this to me? I don’t want to be alone again. I’ve spent my whole life trying to find a partner, not just the romantic kind, but my chosen partner always left me. For the longest time I did not want children in my life. The thought of being tied down and woken up early filled me with dread. Over time those reservations melted away and the idea of pouring my love into a small creation of my own became insatiable, but like most things in life I left it too late: the biological bus had left the station before I found someone I was ...

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“Halloween Unseen” by Peter Watts

Submitted to Contest #65

A young boy with smudged face paint and dressed in a skeleton suit jogs along the sidewalk and runs straight through me. He stops a few feet in front of me and turns around, the beaming smile on his face has slipped, replaced by a quizzical look. He reaches towards me and I flinch when the touch of his hand slides into my shoulder joint and back out the other side. I will never get used to that feeling. Two other children: a superhero and a zombie; call out to the boy who is looking at me. His head snaps round to find his friends, ...

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“The Duck Pond” by Peter Watts

Submitted to Contest #55

The pond shimmered and sparkled beneath the setting sun. A mother duck glided across the water, followed in tow by a string of ducklings; each one keeping pace with the sibling in front. The mother reached the sloped embankment, hopped from the water onto the muddied grass and began walking towards the dusty path that encircled the small pond, glancing back only once to check on her trailing infants.   A car containing two people was parked beside the path. The dull hum of the engine continued to whir as the passengers sat in silen...

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“No Place Like Home” by Peter Watts

Submitted to Contest #42

I don’t like it here, but they say I can’t leave. Last night one of the bigger girls hit me. I think her name is Jo, not sure though? I don’t really know anyone’s name; it’s not the kind of place you go around introducing yourself. I still don’t really know why she did it? Emily said it was because I looked at her funny, Jo that is. Emily is my only friend in here, she shared her pudding with me on the first night. She’s been here a really long time and says she can’t remember living anywhere else. I often hear her screaming in the night and...

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“The Sidekick” by Peter Watts

Submitted to Contest #40

I should have known it would end like this. People always told me that he was bad for me, that he would lead me astray and not consider the consequences. Looking back over all the years we stood side by side, or more accurately I stood by his side, shrouded in his shadow, it was inevitable I would be betrayed. I guess I thought I was special, that somehow he saw me in a different light to the way he saw everyone else: I guess I thought I was his companion and not another one of his victims.    We met back in school, when ...

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“The Girl That Fell From Heaven” by Peter Watts

Submitted to Contest #39

The stars hang over me from their lofty vantage, peeping out through the blackened sky. I look at each one in turn. Wondering where she is? Wondering if she if staring up into her sky, trying to find me? Wondering if I will ever hold the ‘girl that fell from heaven’ in my arms again?  It had been an evening not unlike like this one, when she appeared before me. My marathon shift had ended and my bed was calling out to me. The journey home had taken me down an old country lane: shrouded in darkness, with ancient crumbling walls enca...

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