Short fiction challenge
In my series of short fiction challenges, I post short pieces I wrote for my Masters in Science Fiction and Fantasy at Anglia Ruskin University. We were set a challenge every fortnight, to practise writing in a particular style or genre, and (with permission from my tutor) I’ve decided to share them here.
This week’s challenge was to write a scene set in a world where children have the ability to read other people’s thoughts until they are 8 years old.
‘Sam! Hurry up! It’s nearly seven-thirty – Jem and Nick will be here soon,’ Suzie called to her son.
‘Stop stressing,’ said her husband Ben, spooning cereal into his mouth. ‘He’ll be ready when he’s ready. It’s a big day for him; for all of them. Don’t fuss.’
‘I can’t help it. I’m worried. Not about him, but the others. Especially Nick… Like father, like son, they say. What if Nick goes off the rails too? I don’t want to be getting a phone call saying they’ve all been gunned down by a rogue kid who couldn’t adjust to life without Thought.’
Ben sighed, and put down his spoon. ‘You know Jem didn’t “gun everyone down”. I was there, remember? He was – is – my best friend. He just got a little… angsty, that’s all; and anyway, Bonding is meant to be challenging. Kids have to learn how to relate differently to people once they’ve lost Thought, so we pack all the new eight-year-olds off for a week in the woods together and let them figure it out. Of course they don’t all like it, but that’s the way it is.’
Their five-year-old daughter Maddie looked up from the TV and said, ‘It’s all right, Daddy. Mummy’s just remembering her own Bonding and feeling old.’
‘Out of the mouths of babes!’ chortled Ben, and continued to shovel cereal into his mouth.
‘That’s enough! Maddie, go and get your things ready for school. And,’ Suzie added as her daughter disappeared up the stairs, ‘don’t read your brother’s thoughts while you’re up there!’
Ben continued to snicker, as Suzie threw him a fierce glance and said, ‘I seem to recall there were a few issues with your own Bonding too.’
‘Oh, come on, with Jem there going rogue, as you put it, I was a positive darling.’
‘I’m sure that’s not how Rhona McKenzie saw it. Or Sally Connolly. Or Laura Hastings. Or…’
Ben looked up. ‘I thought my charm was one of the things you loved about me?’
Suzie shrugged.
‘For heaven’s sake, Suzie, I thought we’d got past this. You know none of that meant anything. Their families were just overreacting. I mean, if you’re going to send boys and girls off into the woods together, you’ve got to expect a little… fooling around.’
‘Fooling around? Is that what you call it? Jesus, Ben, you were eight years old! Just because you couldn’t hear girls’ thoughts any more didn’t give you the right to start pushing your luck with them. You know they only swept it under the carpet because Jem was the bigger problem.’
Ben opened his mouth to speak, but a knock on the door cut him off. Pushing back his chair in frustration, he went to answer it. ‘Jem! How you doing, mate? And Nick: looking forward to Bonding?’
At the sound of their voices, Sam came scuttling down the stairs, hefting a huge backpack, Maddie following adoringly in his wake.
‘Ready to go, Sammy boy?’ said Jem, clapping him on the shoulder.
‘Yes! He is!’ said Maddie, excitedly. ‘He can’t wait to see everyone!’
‘Popular chap, eh?’ winked Jem.
They turned out of the door and headed down the path, as Maddie bounced around excitedly, singing, ‘A little bit of Monica in my life, a little bit of Erica by my side, a little bit of Rita’s all I need, a little bit of Tina’s what I see…’
Jem threw his head back and laughed. ‘Like father, like son.’
© Gwyneth Marshman 2018.