Ben Hudson

Only fifty one more miles until the junction. Fifty eight until the church. Ninety minutes until the ceremony began. Steven was closing in on the wedding. He fidgeted nervously as he drove, paying little attention to the road, and was now…

“Wakey wakey!” sang Holly as she walked across the dark room towards the curtains. Freya followed her in, but stumbled on the empty bottle on the floor. “Goodness me Suze, you’ve made a bit of a mess!” The curtains opening slowly revealed…

Steven sat silent in the driver’s seat, watching the small droplets of rain gather on the windscreen. He had to stop the wedding. The more he thought about it, the better the idea seemed, more fully formed, and less likely to fail. He would…

Regret. Such a futile feeling, yet one so strong. If I hadn’t drunk the final can, then would I be here right now? Lying awake in my sleeping bag at four in the morning, desperate for the toilet, yet so dizzyingly tired and hopelessly lazy.…

The grey clouds flew high in the sky, not threatening rain, just offering respite from the sharp beams of light which theatrically burst onto the cobbles to illuminate the villagers. Manual labourers sat laughing in the beer gardens,…

It was said that they were so deeply in love, that they were about to drown. This is not unusual, in fact it is the nature of love, for two people to drown, and fall into each other’s arms on the ocean floor. The problem is when one such…

“So, in a show of hands, who hasn’t read the chapter?” Four naively honest hands go up, but I can tell from the nervous glances darting around the room that maybe as few as four have indeed read it. “So could someone who has read it please…

The dense heat of summer in the city left it deserted by day, but a crowded euphoria in the cool of the night. Those who held lodgings in the city would escape on a train in the early morning and pass the day in the cool of the mountains,…

“I guess I’ll never get that fiver back but it doesn't matter. I’ll consider it a parting gift. I barely knew her, and only leant it her because she was pretty, and I just crumble at a pretty smile. Knowing so little about her was the main…

I had been working in the town for almost a year, but I had chosen not to renew my contract, as I missed the low hum of the big city. Scores of winter mornings had passed, and on each one I had rushed across the small central square towards…

Clarissa gave a loud and overly theatrical laugh, as a gravy soaked potato fell from Sebastian's fork into his lap. She had brought the six of us together this evening, and we all admitted that her hostessing skills were excellent. It was…

Gil’s entire demeanour sang of overconfident charm. His broad, well held shoulders, his wide toothy smile and his expectant eyes made him simply perfect at his job. He shook the heavy red container up and down, and smiled even wider at the…

We had left for the concert in the early afternoon. My torrid poverty was such that I clearly could not afford it, but at times in one’s life one realises that one is barely living, and that measures need to be taken. We had crossed the…

“This is it. It’s finally here. Everything thus far has been leading up to this moment, all the smiles, all the joking, all the heart-wrenching farewells have been building towards this. All my torrid despair has been working up to this…

11 October Dear Fiona, I start this letter, simply by saying I love you, and that I miss you. If time heals all wounds, then the distance between us continues to scar me daily, and there is never any time to recover. Next Tuesday it will…

As the train pulled in, though desperate to climb down and deny his fate, James knew deep down that it was sealed. The door slowly drew open, he dashed to the screen showing the timetable, and sighed heavily as he proved his negativity…

Most high earning professionals chose to take holidays in far flung paradises, but Peter Harris always returned to his home town. The lure of the Caribbean was stale to him compared to the simple Mediterranean charm of the town where he…

The panicked hustle and bustle of the breakfast table was enough to overcome the gentle sound of the morning post dropping onto the soft, royal red carpet. There were five letters all together, three addressed to Levi Faulk, one to his…

The young man let out a little yelp as hot soup trickled down his chin onto his collar. He placed the mug on the floor, put down the tatty paperback within which he was engrossed, and began to dab at the greenish stain on his off-white…

I check the time on my phone once again. Almost 10 pm, and the train now hasn’t moved for over 6 minutes. I turn to the window, and squint to try and see out, but aside from a metre high bank of snow I cannot see anything, and soon my…