Surface Tension
By Neil J
This is my first attempt at a longer story - trying to put a chapter a week up, all comments and feedback gratefully received.
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Surface Tension - Chapter 1
Chapter 1 It’s cold. Not so much that ice is beginning to form but cold enough to know that it’s heading that way. It's reached the point where your...
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Chapter 2
Chapter 2 Thursday is dull, flat, much as I feel after last night. Driving into work the blocks of flats merge into the dreary, grey skin of a sky...
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Surface Tension - Chapter 3
Chapter 3 “Bill, are you all right?” asks Liz. Bill scowls and turns. I watch her disappear round the corner towards the staff room. She's dressed in...
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Surface Tension Chapter 4
Chapter 4 The door bell wakes me. It has all the warmth of a Glasgow kiss. It rings again, harsh, abrasive, demanding. I don't want to fight...
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Surface Tension - Chapter 5
Chapter 5 It’s late. It seems to have been dark since midday. I’m alone in the library grateful to escape the collective tinnitus of the outside...
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- 562 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 6
Chapter 6 I'm balanced precariously between two worlds. As a kid on camping holidays I’d be captivated by the pond skaters. At the end of each day,...
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Surface Tension - Chapter 7
The day flows, twists and turns. We meander through the past, things of consequence and things that are not. We talk work, we reminisce, college days...
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Surface Tension - Chapter 8
Are there moments when you can feel your life changing, when you know whatever the outcome from this moment onwards it’s going to be different? I’m...
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- 530 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 9
Chapter 9 The light bleeds through from the street outside. Sealed here in the room it’s hushed. I smile at Bill's outstretched body, her skin seems...
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- 365 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 10
Chapter 10 We’re all criminals aren’t we? I’m not saying everyone’s got the potential to be a murderer, major felon. No, it’s not that but we’re all...
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Surface Tension - Chapter 11
Chapter 11 I’m awake. Through heavy eyes I try and take in the new day. I can’t remember going to sleep. I was awake, watching the digital numbers...
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- 333 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 12
Chapter 12 “You’re in early,” says James incredulously, slurping from the ubiquitous coffee mug. I glance up from the desk where gradually I've been...
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Surface Tension - Chapter 13
Chapter 13 The more I think about it the more it makes sense to me. Trust’s a membrane that covers all relationships. It lubricates, lets differences...
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- 604 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 14
Chapter 14 “What time do you call this? Where on earth have you been? Have you know idea what it’s been like. We've had the press on the phone. Admin...
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Surface Tension - Chapter 15
Chapter 15 I push through the heavy glass library doors. For a moment the residual warmth of the building hangs round me but by the time I’m half way...
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Surface Tension - Chapter 16 Part 1
Bill slowed the car and swung it round a tight bend leading into a cul-de-sac. The subdued, sophisticated lighting immediately suggested this wasn't...
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Surface Tension - Chapter 16 Part 2
She's standing in front of me, smiling, blonde hair framing her face, soft green eyes, a nose that has a kink in it, suggesting some accident, a...
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- 392 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 17
Chapter 17 For the first time in weeks the sun might break the unrelenting grey sky and provide warmth. There's a faint golden hue to the morning sky...
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Surface Tension - Chapter 18 Part 2
This morning it all seems so distant but the memory of the cold that slapped into us as we walked out makes me shiver again. I press myself up...
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- 523 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 18 Part 1
“So you going to be my guide?” “If you want Tony,” Ellen smiles and firmly takes hold of my hand. I expect her to lead me into the depths of the...
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- 351 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 19
I take the phone from my pocket. I’ve trouble pressing the right button. My hands are shaking and I nearly cut the caller off. It's not the cold, it’...
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- 346 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 20
Chapter 20 We're driving as fast as the soporific traffic will allow. I'm pushing things, turning into junctions when, perhaps, I should've waited. I...
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- 764 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 21
Chapter 21 The voice is harsh, caustic accompanied by a thin, cold smile. The casual dress has gone. Beneath his flapping grey-green trench coat is a...
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- 429 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 22
Chapter 22 The clouds are thickening, incrementally adding layers like blankets being pulled over a bed, the sickly pallor we've lived with, the half...
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- 336 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 23
Chapter 23 I'm grateful for the bed. It's soft. It engulfs me in a way mine in the flat didn't. It feels safe, a place to hunker down in. I'm lying...
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- 371 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 24
Chapter 24 Winter strips bare. As a kid I longed for the transforming snow. I’d watch weather before going to bed, then wake with baited breath. I’d...
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- 345 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 25
Chapter 25 The sleep is deep and refreshing, reaching into my bones, replenishing, revitalising. It's in the half, grey light as I leave the darkness...
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- 608 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 26
Chapter 26 Ellen left, the kiss lingering. I collapsed on the bed and woke what seemed moments later but must have been an hour plus as it was inky...
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- 377 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 27
Chapter 27 The ground's hard. The snow's melting, seeping into my trousers. Two hands reach under my armpits and swing me up. For a moment I'm...
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- 378 reads
Surface Tension - Chapter 28
Chapter 28 The touch makes me yelp. “Sorry,” Ellen exclaims, backing away. “I didn’t mean…” “That’s OK,” I lie. In the half light I see a faint smile...
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- 412 reads
Final Chapter 29 Part 1
Chapter 29 The day's crisp and clear. Fresh snow has fallen, a clean carpet that’s swept away the marks of the scuffle by my car. You'd have no idea...
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Final Chapter 29 Part 2
I pull the bedroom door closed. The house is wreathed in silence. To my ears the door’s click sounds likes a gun shot. I pause, waiting for a torrent...
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