Instinct Stories

Jordan raises his hand and points. Long fingers with manicured nails. Liv holds the hand and smells it. With eyes closed, she smells it, a sweet odor on her husband's black fingers. A characteristic, soft aroma. Known smell. There is shock on the man's face, the laughter of who has no words. He knows that she knows. "Vicky?" "Liv, course not! I've never... cheated on you." She kisses her husband's fingers. "Never?" "Don't...

It had been two weeks since I made my mind up to visit Jen and Doug before I actually did it. Logistics got in the way. I needed transport and that meant a horse. Fortunately, one was on hand; loaned to me by a neighbouring farmer. I was not sure what they thought they were going to get for it in return, but I promised to bring it back in one piece and thanked them kindly. Directions were the next thing I needed and Emily...

Our time with Jeff and Emily Warren was wonderful. They made us feel as if we were part of their family. We had to work, to earn our keep, and it was hard work on the farm. We often ended up completely knackered in the evenings and we would all be glad to get to bed and sleep. Each of us occupied a separate room with a single bed and a shared bathroom. We couldn’t believe it at first; the least we expected was for us girl...

We approached upwind of the cottage in case there were any animals in the near vicinity. That was Mark’s contribution which was very sensible; I hadn’t thought that animals may be present but Mark reckoned on dogs and possibly horses this high up, and their sense of smell and hearing would have given us away in seconds. Sarah suggested we be quiet; which was a given as far as I was concerned and my contribution was that w...

That evening, we cooked rice for three people. We sat at the table, ate and talked. Mark filled us in on his journey to this shack and we offered as little information as we could get away with in return. Deep down, we didn’t really trust him, but he seemed as anxious as us to get across the mountain, to safety. Mark had been in the house for three days before we turned up. He was sitting on the porch when we stumbled int...

We ran and ran and ran, uphill, downhill, through tall trees and thickets, over boulders and scree; one foot forward, three slides back. Our breath rasping and our throats dry. We kept running, but not really looking as to where we were going. I had taken a side path from the main forestry road and Sarah blindly followed me; tall pines surrounded us and the floor was covered in brown tinder; it was full of material waitin...