Archive for November, 2009

Hub 12

11.27.09

Posted by mazzz in Leeds  |  34 Comments »

I have only been dead for a week and already I’ve been summoned to see the Beast. Woodhouse shakes his head in that despairing way of his.
“I’ve been here for two years and he’s not asked to see me once”, he says, in his best underdog voice. Woodhouse is such a likeable fellow that no one can figure out why he hasn’t been moved up a long time ago, let alone why he was sent to a hub as low as Hub 12 in the first instance. We can’t ask him what he did to be brought here, of course – it is not the done thing. In prison, everyone may be innocent, but here we all know better. Nevertheless, in Woodhouse’s case one cannot help but think that he might be an anomaly. Even the Beast himself is perplexed by the chap’s presence, as I am about to find out.
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Tableau

11.25.09

Posted by mazzz in Leeds  |  10 Comments »

I will never forget how she looked when I saw her, on that morning as I was jogging in the woods: the dappled light dancing on her face, dark hair caressing her shoulders in the gentle breeze, full lips slightly parted, eyes bulging and feet still twitching a little as she hung from the tree.

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A Brush With Death

11.20.09

Posted by mazzz in Leeds  |  30 Comments »

The combination of 4 inch stiletto heels, cobblestone pavement and an attempt to fish out a cigarette packet from an overflowing handbag proved too much for her inner ear; she toppled over and felt the sharp pain of a twisted ankle. When she looked up and saw Death standing over her with his hand outstretched, she nearly had a heart attack.
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The Hatching

11.13.09

Posted by mazzz in Leeds  |  25 Comments »

Rothbert Spires, current Scholar of the Court, put on his ceremonial robes and strode to the workroom. After ten years of believing those cursed birds had become extinct, he now found himself having to perfom a Tallid reading; if the reading turned out to be a bad one, it was very likely he would be beheaded before the day was out. He wanted to make sure everything was set up properly. He would be presenting his findings in front of the most exalted of audiences for the first time. He had prepared for it as much as was possible, but some things were after all out of his control, and science alone could not be relied upon; he prayed for a little luck.
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First Place

11.05.09

Posted by mazzz in Leeds  |  27 Comments »

I have been preparing for this day for a year, but it feels like a lifetime. Ever since the prize for first place was announced, I knew I would have to not only enter the race, but also win it; all year I have been training for it, to the exclusion of almost all other activity. I whisper a prayer to the Great Lady of the Eastern Plains and look into my beast’s eyes.
“We can do it, Squibs.” She flaps her ears and smiles at me as only an elephant can, and I feel bolstered. We make a strong team – the bookmakers have declared our odds to be astronomical, but I believe we can prove them wrong. Squibs knows what is at stake: the prize is a dance with the Princess Alita, the brightest jewel in the kingdom’s crown. I am only a cobbler’s son, but tonight I have the chance of holding in my arms the most beautiful girl in the land.
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