Extra by Chris Green How do they know there are only thirteen days left? How can anyone be so precise? And what exactly is the nature of the emergency? Why does no one appear to know? Or if they do know, why are they reluctant to tell us? Not that I can do much about … Continue reading Extra
Tag: thriller
(NOT) BEING DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
(Not) Being Dmitri Shostakovich by Chris Green The knock on the door at 3 a.m. wakes me with a jolt. At first I think I must have imagined it, but there it is again. Not just a friendly tap like you might get from a neighbour to tell you that you have left your car … Continue reading (NOT) BEING DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Call Wyatt on the Western Front
Call Wyatt On The Western Front by Chris Green Penny hits the button on the bedside clock. 4:33 AM. What the f...? We’re hardly going to get up and answer the door at this unearthly hour, she thinks. No matter what is going on. She tries to drift back off, but again the doorbell rings. Why … Continue reading Call Wyatt on the Western Front
Home Alone Too
Home Alone Too by Chris Green Was it a knock that had woken her? Anna doesn’t like being alone in the big house at the best of times and knowing Shaun is on the other side of the world makes her more edgy. The clock says 3:13. Much too late for anyone to be calling, … Continue reading Home Alone Too
Noir
NOIR by Chris Green It’s early evening. It is getting dark and the street lights are coming on. Apart from a middle-aged man dressed in black sitting near the door, Stacey is the only customer in Café Noir. She is uncomfortable because the man keeps staring at her. She doesn’t often stop off on her … Continue reading Noir
That Other Place
That Other Place by Chris Green I am awoken by a knock on the door. The display on my smartwatch says it’s 3 a.m. Who could be calling at this hour? If Elin were here, she would insist I answer it because it must be important. But she is spending a few days at her … Continue reading That Other Place
Red
Red by Chris Green The best way to predict the future is to create it, Brett Doobie is fond of saying. It is a good line to come out with at dinner parties. Abraham Lincoln, he might add, after a suitable pause while fellow guests wonder who he is quoting. Brett could not possibly imagine … Continue reading Red
Friday
Friday by Chris Green I am walking through a churchyard in rural Devon when I come across a plain gravestone which simply reads, Mark Friday, 1952- 2020. While you do not often get a lot of detail on headstones, it strikes me that although Mark Friday seems an interesting name, here we are told nothing … Continue reading Friday
Odyssey
Odyssey by Chris Green The huge red and green trucks thunder along the carriageways in both directions. There is something both hostile and haphazard about the way they cross from lane to lane, throwing up dense clouds of dust from the parched road surface. The trucks are military in design with names like KRAZ … Continue reading Odyssey
Cover Story
Cover Story by Chris Green A vermilion memo is circulating at the research establishment, one down from red. Red means evacuate. Tension levels are rising. I am glad it is time for my shift to end. I keep my head down at work, but I have suspected for a long time something weird is going … Continue reading Cover Story
How the Light Gets In
How the Light Gets In by Chris Green The sign ought to have been enough to trigger alarm bells. Zitt – Twinned with Area 51, it said. But at the time, it didn’t make an impression. Area 51 was just a remote place in the US that I had heard referenced in random conversations. I … Continue reading How the Light Gets In
Bougainvillea Heights
Bougainvillea Heights by Chris Green As she opens the front door, Angel hears the shower running in the upstairs bathroom. That’s odd, she thinks as she unzips her boots. Jason is never home at this time of day. Still, it is a pleasant surprise. Since he took up his post as CEO of Dozier and … Continue reading Bougainvillea Heights
No Windows
No Windows by Chris Green Pablo Picasso said, if I don’t have red paint, I use blue. You have to be able to adapt to changes of fortune. I did not plan my early retirement, but here I am on a Tuesday morning sitting in my recliner with a toasted teacake and a cup of … Continue reading No Windows
Ideas
IDEAS by Chris Green ‘The guy was a complete stranger,’ says Laura. ‘He just walked up to me and handed me the bag.’ ‘And you didn’t think to say what are you doing or who are you?’ says Matt. ‘There wasn’t time. It all happened so quickly. I was taken completely off guard.’ ‘And he … Continue reading Ideas
South
SOUTH by Chris Green On occasions, just for a moment, everything seems in place. For this brief spell of time, a supernatural force seems to be at work. There is equilibrium in the universe. It might be referred to by some as an epiphany, an insight through the divine. Here at the top of the … Continue reading South
Altavista
Altavista by Chris Green Magenta does not enjoy riding the elevator to Red’s nineteenth-floor apartment in Altavista. It moves so slowly that it doesn’t seem to be moving at all. But security is tight. The chance of encountering an assailant in Altavista is small. The building has a uniformed concierge to vet unwanted visitors. The … Continue reading Altavista
Lenticular Clouds
Lenticular Clouds by Chris Green Lenticular clouds hang over Mount Dante in the distance. Disc-shaped and silver, they have an air of the surreal about them. You expect clouds to move across the sky with the wind, but these are stationary. Here in the town below, the inhabitants are … Continue reading Lenticular Clouds
Wish You Were Here
Wish You Were Here by Chris Green The huge red and green trucks thunder along the carriageways of the two-lane motorway in both directions. There is something both hostile and haphazard about the way they cross from lane to lane, throwing up dense clouds of dust from the parched road surface. The trucks are military … Continue reading Wish You Were Here
Magic and Loss
Magic and Loss by Chris Green Let me introduce myself. I’m Miles London. I am a collector of specialist celebrity memorabilia. Primarily things that have belonged to dead A-List rock stars. I do not go for the obvious trophies like guitars or jackets. Nor do autographed photos interest me. I like items that tell a … Continue reading Magic and Loss
Everyone is Dead
Everyone is Dead by Chris Green ‘Everyone is Dead,’ the headline poster outside the newsagents reads. You can’t miss it. It is in big bold capitals. What can it mean? How can everyone be dead? I am alive for a start. The person who put the notice up could not have been dead. They must … Continue reading Everyone is Dead
Black Hats
Black Hats by Chris Green Promise and I are looking out onto a rocky outcrop in Es Calo de Sant Agustí in Formentera. We are sitting under a sun-bleached parasol outside a small café in the secluded bay. We are staying a hostal nearby. Beyond the pier, a handful of fishing boats rock gently in … Continue reading Black Hats
DARK
DARK by Chris Green I am in the garden at The Pig and Whistle on a hot August evening. About a dozen of us are sat around a table. Darkness is descending, rapidly, the way it does in mid-August. The English summer is so fleeting. Blink and it is gone. Every year it seems the … Continue reading DARK
Across The Universe
Across The Universe by Chris Green There has been a secret underground line in the south of England for years. It can be accessed through a network of tunnels originating from the basement of a former Turkish dry-cleaners in Dulwich. The line runs for sixty miles deep underneath the Weald to the coast near Newhaven. … Continue reading Across The Universe
Buy and Buy
Buy and Buy by Chris Green When did personal computers cease to be a labour saving device? Without even looking at the Spam folder, it took nearly ten minutes daily to scroll down through the garbage in my inbox, searching for the one or two messages that might have some relevance on my life, or … Continue reading Buy and Buy
FILM
FILM by Chris Green I have never watched an interactive film before. IF, as it is becoming known, is a revolutionary idea to get the audience involved in what they would like to see happen on the screen. I am watching with an open mind. I feel that democratising cinema in this way has great … Continue reading FILM
Chris Green Stories 