JOHN-J ANDERSON

  A Brief Account of an Unfortunate Packet of Crisps Whatever really happened didn’t matter in the end, not in the great scheme of things. Daily life went on before, and it certainly went on after – albeit a tad more fantastical. But whether the story you are about to read seems strange, I must inform you with the utmost sincerity that despite one death, one thrown out police report and a burial of a story from all government bodies, a day like the day a packet of crisps became sentient will never be seen again. Did the crinkling of the shiny greasy foil make enough noise to wake them up, perhaps it was the chemicals being tested in the new formula for preparing the potato products. One thing was evident though as the first individual crisp woke from non-existence into complete sentience, the world got just a pinch weirder. “Where am I?” One crisp asked. “Who said that?” another answered. This went back and forth between the thirty or so dried snacks for a while longer than i...

ORGAN "It begins in our familiar flesh. Soft, raw and unseen, the rot threading through our organs like whispered sin.  But it never stays buried. It creeps outward, into voices, into glances, into the dreams of those we love, until their hearts pulse with the same quiet corruption." - Unknown Chapter One Oscar Rubens lived alone with his mother, Mary. She idolised her precious little man as her only child. Overbearing at times, but loving, nonetheless. They had lost their father, Marys husband, when Oscar was a vulnerable toddler. Ever since then her son has been the rock that kept Mary tethered to the home and away from the waves that tried to drag her away into guzzling pits of sorrow. “Oscar are you going for a shower?” Mary called up the stairs, her voice carried and sounded clear through closed doors. “I will in a bit, just doing something on the computer really quick” Oscar called back, hearing her footsteps already making their way up the stairs as his voi...