TALES FOR A QUICK READ

A collection of short stories that are quick and easy to read...

BLACK TRAP

A black hat sat in the middle of a dark and gloomy forest without a head and without an owner. Not that the hat was ownerless, in fact, it had a very caring owner but he was nowhere to be seen.

From deep in the ground came a cute red squirrel, angulating across the luscious grass to the centre of the clearing. Here it perched, sniffing the strange rounded object that had a coloured band around its body and above its rim. Inside the hat was a hollow pit to which the squirrel climbed in curiously before the hat snapped down engulfing the animal.

“This little pest got caught in a trap and this little pest heard the hat snap,” a voice sang out from behind one of the trees. A man stepped forward wearing a black suit with a blood red scarf hanging around his neck. His eyes were a dark green accentuated by the onyx eyeliner he wore and he had curly dark brown hair sat atop his head.

The squirrel called out desperately and the man laughed to himself hysterically, “This little pest did loudly squeak out and this little pest tried to run about.” He continued watching the bowler hat move about frantically as the animal panicked within.

The man knelt down next to the hat where he placed a steady hand upon its top. Once the hat had stopped fidgeting, the man situated his other hand near the ground and snatched the squirrel immediately as he lifted the trap expertly.

“But this little pest couldn’t fly…” he sang to himself as he rested the bowler hat on his dirty brown curly locks. Then within one quick and easy movement, the strange man took the squirrel in both hands and twisted its neck until it cracked. “And so the little pest was destined to die.”

Breaking down into laughter, the man flung the squirrel over his shoulder and raised his head to look into the blinding light of the sun. As he did so, the man smiled mischievously with his green eyes shining wickedly…

LOVE LETTER

Dear Reader,

I didn’t think I’d write a letter. I’ve always wanted to because I’ve seen the women in films do it. It always looked so romantic as they gazed off lovingly into the distance. I knew that they were thinking about their loved ones and that this sparked so many ideas of how they could describe the way their crushes looked at them or how captivating their eyes were. I look off into the distance and get distracted by a small dog I see, wagging its tail happily as it walks by their owner's side. Is that what love is? Perhaps to them.

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I don’t know how the women come up with such vivid imagery or such beautiful prose. I understand that it isn’t real. That Hollywood made it so big, so bold, so perfect. But somewhen in the past, women didn’t have phones or social media. They had a pen and paper...

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Also, I know that it’s not just women that do it. Men have written letters before to those they’ve loved like in the war when they’d write home not knowing if they’d make it back to tell their partners face to face. But then that’s a different love letter. That’s a love letter with a sad meaning. A love letter that only highlights how much they love them because the recipient already knows.

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Love letters to someone that doesn’t know are terrifying. This is what Hollywood fails to show. They don’t show how anxious the person is knowing that their loved ones will read this letter and might not feel the same way back. Or how the letter might become a joke, something the other person laughs at behind the senders back. Or even how difficult it is to write something that actually and truly represents how one feels.

I realise that I’m already halfway through and haven’t actually written a love letter so maybe I should start… But where? Everything I think of is cliché having been done before in varying forms of media. So how do I make it unique? Compare your eyes to a galaxy in space? Done before. Compare your smile to a sunrise flooding through a gap in the curtain? Done before. Now you see my struggles.

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It doesn’t help that, in all my life, all I’ve ever known about love was what was shown to me. Films, Tv, books. They all gave me perspectives of love. Of how it “should” be. They never show you what truly goes on. Neither did anyone else. Sure I was surrounded by my parents and their love but I never understood it. I could see what it was but I couldn’t see what it was. I couldn’t see the feelings that they had towards each other. I couldn’t see how they acted towards each other when they weren’t putting on a mask for their daughter. I couldn’t see them.

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Love to me is complicated. It shouldn’t be, but it is. I’ve felt love before in my family, my friends, my pets, my work. Love for someone else has never knocked on my door and asked for my hand. The closest I’ve come was nowhere near what it’s like. Although, I wouldn’t know that either.

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I’m going to end this letter here because I realise that I cannot tell you what I need to. The feelings I have for you aren’t what I know. So I don’t know if it’s love or a crush or maybe even just that I like the attention you give me. While you might think that this is what love is and I’ve got it bang on, I shall rewrite my earlier claim: I didn’t think I’d write a letter. I’ve always wanted to.

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Now you see my problem. I don’t know what love is because I’m too busy being in love with the idea of love...