Philippa Hibberd

“The Witch's Assistant” by Philippa Hibberd

Submitted to Contest #193

(CW: Mention of a manipulative parent)On the morning of her twenty-first birthday, Rosemary woke to find herself staring into a pair of purple eyes.She bit back a sigh. She’d expected this – after all, she’d reached the age that every witch received their familiar – yet she couldn’t say she’d been looking forward to it. During the span of just over two decades, she’d learned to be wary of helpers. In her experience, they were unwittingly counterproductive at best, self-serving at worst.A paw batted at her nose. Just her luck that a cat had c...

20 likes 11 comments 11

Read story

“The Kittens and the Cardboard Box (or Why Cats Can't Have Nice Things)” by Philippa Hibberd

Submitted to Contest #193

Once there were two kittens, a sister and brother named Licorice and Allsort. They lived in a comfortable little house with their pet human James, who doted on them, lavishing them with cuddles and kitty treats when they were good, yet also being firm and telling them off when they caused trouble. Since they knew of their cuteness and its effect on him, with their fluffy black-and-white fur as well as their large innocent eyes, they'd frequently use this to their advantage. When they knocked down houseplants, scratched the furniture, or got ...

18 likes 13 comments 13

Read story

“The Mountain Guardian” by Philippa Hibberd

Submitted to Contest #191

When Sota asked Hisa to venture into the forest with him, she didn’t dare refuse.Snow crunched under her shuffling steps. The cold stiffened her joints through the thin cotton of her kimono. Still, she trudged up the slope after Sota, for if she slowed down, who knew what he’d do. The person she feared most, more than the yokai rumoured to live in these mountains, was her own son.At least this meant, for the time being, he wouldn’t hurt Megumi. She pictured her granddaughter in the hut, alone, taking care of household chores, or venturing ou...

9 likes 4 comments 4

Read story

“How To Defeat The Oven Gremlins” by Philippa Hibberd

Submitted to Contest #190

(CW: Anxiety, mentions of abuse, alcoholism and biphobia) The smoke alarm was blaring through the apartment. Again. In between coughs, Lauren let out a string of expletives that would make Gordon Ramsay blush as she frantically turned all the stove’s dials to zero. How ironic for a professional chef like her, she thought as she removed the pan of burnt leeks and somehow still undercooked carrots from the heat, that there was that one meal she could never get right. The family heirloom recipe, no less. She flung open the window and waft...

9 likes 4 comments 4

Read story

“The Little Hellfire Girl” by Philippa Hibberd

(CW: Mentions of social inequality, abuse and violence)It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, and it was almost dark.It was a good thing, the child who wasn’t a child thought as she wandered hatless and shoeless down the street, that the cold couldn’t do her any major harm. She felt its chill, but not the level of pain or numbness a human would experience. Deliberately, she shivered and hunched, the illusion she put up turning her feet purplish-red. Her fingers, the same colour, clenched around bundles of matches pilfered from a shop.The...

1 like 2 comments 2

Read story

“Tulikettu” by Philippa Hibberd

As dusk dimmed the sky, light flickered through the forest. It swelled, reflecting off of frosted grass, making the shadows of the trees stretch and dance around the sprinting creature. The fox’s coat remained mostly black, but the faster he moved and the deeper the sun set, the more sparks shot from his tail, the fur of which steadily took on an iridescent sheen. Energised by the thrill of his nightly run, and the crisp wind against his face, he bounded up crags and over logs. A river coursed across his path, wide enough to stop a regul...

2 likes 3 comments 3

Read story

“Miscom-mew-nication” by Philippa Hibberd

Submitted to Contest #187

Great, just great. A mere misunderstanding, and now I was here of all places. “You say Artemis isn’t settling in well?” Strong hands gripped me, stopping my bid for escape off of the table. I wriggled and hissed, letting both people present know in no uncertain terms what I thought of this entire farce. “Easy there, poppet, nobody’s going to hurt you.” Poppet? I flattened my ears. How dare that strange-smelling lady call such a majestic being as myself by a name so demeaning? And nobody was going to hurt me? Like I hadn’t heard that one ...

15 likes 5 comments 5

Read story