Valerie Preston

“My Baby Brother Runs Away From Me and I Chase Him Laughing and Falling Over in the Grass” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #134

Like a reel of film playing in my mind, it just goes on and on. It seems to be in sequence but not everything is showing on screen. I’m back to being a little girl and my whole life is before me – like a story book where only the first few pages have been read. I had a good childhood. My baby brother runs away from me and I chase him laughing and falling over in the grass. “Come on you two” mother shouts “tea time” and I pick myself up, grab Tommy by the arm and we go inside the house. The aroma of dinner makes me feel really hungry and afte...

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“Are You Listening to Me God” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #132

“Are you there God? It’s me Jo. I need your help and I’ve asked you so many times. Do you hear me now, do you ever hear me? Or do you just ignore me like everyone else?” She sat upright on the old wooden pew. The familiar smell of wood somehow seemed to settle her. It reminded her of childhood times when she would go over to see her Grandma, the only person she could truly trust and open up to.  Walking in through the front door she smelt the old wooden furniture, the beeswax pungent. As always the warm chubby arms would hug her tigh...

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“What IS in a name AND a little box” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #130

I couldn’t wait to escape from the office. I watched the big hand hit the twelve; the small hand was between the five and six. I almost sprinted towards the door. Shouting goodbye to the only person I really connected to in the building I rushed through the double glass doors – spotlessly sparkling as usual – and reached my car in record time. As I went to shut the car door I looked down as something caught my eye. A small box sat on the ground, all on its own with nothing next to it. It looked as if it was made of tin or some sort of metal ...

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“It Could of Been a Lot Worse” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #129

“I can’t hear you” I yelled as loud as I could, his words echoing along the line but drowned out by the howling wind. “He said there is a chalet not far from here and we should head towards that” was the relayed message from the person at the front of our group to me at the back. It was hard to walk into the blizzard and took all of my strength to push forward. The backpack I had on weighed enough without the thick layer of snow added on to it and I could feel my shoulders sagging and aching. The snow smacked into my face with vengeance feel...

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“Maybe I Was Punished” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #127

Maybe I Was Punished I’m sitting in the high-backed seat – the cover a shiny material laced with some kind of sheer fabric. Gold brocade cushions are under my backside  – but they are certainly only for the look, (Middle Eastern and mysterious) as it’s like sitting on a square brick, and the seat of the chair is so high I have a small box underneath my feet so they don’t ‘dangle’ in the air! My brother said it is like walking into the reception of a ‘high class brothel’ (I wonder how he knows that?) The tent is quite warm but I can feel...

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“A Not So Happy New Year” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #126

The rain sounded as if it were rocks hitting the roof of the bus stop and a small waterfall rushed down over the corrugated tin roof towards the ground. She stood underneath her umbrella, white with coloured love hearts scattered on it, but it didn’t protect her feet or legs as torrents of water tumbled down, hitting the pavement with such force that some of the splashes reached the bottom of her rain coat. “Sometimes I hate the rain! Other times I just love it - usually when I’m sitting curled up on the couch watching through the window” sh...

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“I Wish I Never Knew” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #125

“You will always be mum and dad to me but I have to do this” she told them. “We know love; it’s silly but your dad and I want you to come home afterwards”. “Are you kidding Mum? Why wouldn’t I come back? This is my home you daft thing. I just need to do this, find out who gave birth to me when she was just sixteen and gave me away. Anyway it might not happen – people don’t always find their birth parents”. She walked around the table and put her arms around Jenny, her mother since she was six weeks old. This kind lady, soft skin, salt and pe...

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“It's Hard To Take The Mask Off” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #123

He could taste the salty blood as he lifted his fit but large frame from off the ropes in the corner of the ring and shake his arms about, trying to get the strength he needed to finish his opponent off. His legs felt like jelly but taking a few deep breaths while the referee held his opponent back he got a second wind and knew what he would do. Dancing around on tiptoes like a nimble gymnast he went in hard with an uppercut to the right side of the other guys face. He could tell that it was a perfect punch, it felt smooth on his glove and t...

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“So Much To Be Grateful For” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #121

“I hate winter” I said aloud and sighed as I put the key in the rusty lock and turned it. I could get from my car to the door, put the key in, and walk into the dark cold shop with my eyes shut – I had done it so many times, a bit monotonous really. There were some big tree roots which I knew to step over, a prickly bush I steered clear of and then the three steps to climb up to reach the entrance – where I never felt like being initially especially on a cold morning. Winding my scarf around my neck one more time I switched the light on...

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“Time To Break The Silence” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #119

What is silence? Is it a soft monotonous drone, a subtle buzzing - a swarm of bees discussing things in whispers? ‘This seems like silence – but not complete - I can hear something. Is this what ‘nothing’ sounds like?’ and she closed her eyes. ‘Closing my eyes seems to make the emptiness, nothingness louder’ she mused. ‘I wonder if this is the sound you hear if you are deaf, like Grandma was? She liked the quiet at the moment – needed it. She didn’t miss all the voices that were once in her head, - loud, insistent cruel voices. ‘I...

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“I Will Do It One Day” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #118

How many times have I heard those words ‘Today is the day I change?’ They haven’t always been said in just that particular way….there’s been ‘It’s ‘D’ day for me today’ or “This has to end and today it will’ or ‘I will really try hard this time and succeed’ or ‘I’m in a good head space now so today I start!’ It has been said so many times and in so many different way and for so long. It hasn’t worked. To be honest I don’t believe it any more. Everyone knows it has failed, or rather SHE has failed. She knows, I know, the children know, every...

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“A Shocking Surprise” by Valerie Preston

The old house stood out like a beacon, fairy lights marking out the perimeter and twinkling against the back drop of a dark and cloudy sky. Silhouettes of trees like wild animals moving in the wind, yet rooted to the spot, surrounded the brick building. A cavernous mouth stood wide open and people in fancy dress, some looking quite grotesque streamed through, walking into the throat of the mansion. This used to be where the gentry danced and ate copious amounts of rich food washed down with the finest of red wines, until too full and drunk ...

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“Too Late To Forgive Now” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #116

I pulled back the curtains an inch or so and peeped out into the darkness. I then ran quickly to the front door and checked it again. The silence of the night was broken only by Bobby snoring on the couch. Kneeling down I stroked his brown coat and he shook his head, opened one eye and then the other. “Hello boy. Come on out the back”. I rued the fact that I gave him so many titbits because he was now too fat to get in and out through the dog flap – ‘I really must get a bigger one soon ‘I thought. Before going outside I looked furtively out ...

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“Lost Connection” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #115

“Things will get better Julie. I promise you. Please just tell me where you are and I’ll come and get you”. There was a pleading tone to my voice that matched the desperation in hers. “I don’t want you to find me. I don’t want anyone to find me. My life isn’t worth living” she sobbed. In between the crying and the sniffing she lamented on her life and what a mess she had made of it, as if she needed to torture herself. My best friend was suicidal and I was trying to find out where she was, but even though her mind was in a dark place and co...

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“Cool Gang” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #114

It began when I was about five years of age. I think it was five, well close enough. I was at pre-primary school and the teacher was choosing students for the end of year play, the nativity scene where Mary and Joseph were riding into Bethlehem on a donkey and then having baby Jesus in the manger. “Johnny would you like to play the part of Joseph?” the teacher asked. “Oh yes I would” he answered really excited. (Always excited and super enthusiastic!) “Let me see who I can choose to be Mary” said Miss Johnstone scanning the mass of raised ar...

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