stuyounger

The sun was high in the sky over Heaton Park on the edge of town. Thomas and Cameron appeared in the distance and gradually got larger and larger, approaching the group of them sitting on a picnic rug, munching crisps and sipping wine from plastic glasses. They were far enough into the park that there was no sound of traffic, and the only distractions were the invisible buzzing crickets and three guys in shorts and nothing else, kicking around a football seductively. “I wonder how

Thomas stared into the long mirror, hanging over the sink in the dimly lit Town Hall washroom. The thick wooden door was closed behind him and the chamber reverbated with an ominous hum that rang through his ears, suffocating the rest of the world outside. His face was as blank as whitewashed brick, but behind it the cogs were whirring. All of them trying to answer one question. What the fuck am I supposed to do now? He closed his eyes and reopened them 11 days earlier.

One of the wonders of living in the centre of a huge city is the realisation that descends on you after a little while that, actually, it isn’t such a huge city after all. In fact it’s a small village. It’s just that it’s a small village that’s rammed with exciting things to do and see, and that has tens or hundreds of thousands of tourists passing through each day. But actually, like any village there are little everyday coincidences. The people you meet who know other people. Or the people you

Following Ali’s introduction, Thomas stepped out and saw a full hall before him. There had to be 200 or more people out there. His head was suddenly light and it felt like he was going to trip over with every step he took towards the centre of the stage. He managed to thank Ali, but then experienced a strange wave of panic as she headed back towards the side of the stage. He thought of his mother withdrawing, the first time she gave him a push and left him to glide along on a bike without stabil

Adam and Ryan fell back onto the bed, gazing up at the ceiling, and panting from the exertion of the last fourteen minutes. Adam’s face was flushed pink, and Ryan was whispering expletives between heavy breaths. “Fuck…FUCK!...That…was so…fucking…hot”. Adam had a grin across his face that was reaching for his ears. He waited a few seconds for his breathing to calm. “I told you it feels awesome that way up.” “You know you have to stay here and fuck all day now” Ryan said, turning

Ali pressed hard on the entrance buzzer for the third time, and pulled out her phone as she waited. She opened a text from Adam wishing her luck for today, then checked her watch. Right now he would be on his way to Shropshire, hunting down his ex-flatmate. She had followed the development of the story closely. He had received nothing back from the letter he sent down to Paul’s mum, so they were taking things into their own hands. Ali would have loved to be there for the moment Paul opened the d

James was lying on his bed, turning the page of a thriller he’d picked up the other day. His phone buzzed but he carried on reading as he reached across to the bedside chest. At the end of the page he paused, opened the text message, read it twice, and grinned. He jumped up and raced through to the lounge. Adam was lying on the sofa, his head resting in the lap of Ryan, this new guy he was dating. Adam’s cheeks were a little flushed, like they might have just been up to something, bu

After waiting a while until it reached a decent hour, Adam took the number, and borrowed Daniel’s room so he could make the call privately. The phone rang five times before it was answered. “Hello?” a deep inquisitive voice answered. “Hi”. Adam said abruptly, suddenly realising he had no plan mapped out for this conversation, and that he hadn’t slept in 24 hours. “Can I help you?” “Yes” he said confidently. “Maybe”. He was stumbling already. “Yes. I hope so”. The man on

Daniel was sitting on the balcony of his flat, staring at a luminous pink pigeon which was intermittently squawking at him as it groomed its feathers. He wasn’t feeling entirely afraid of it, but at the same time he didn’t feel quite safe enough to edge his way to the door and back into the flat. It was a strange sort of noise the bird was making too. It wasn’t a squawk actually. More like the noise from a quiz show when somebody knows the answer, or the noise you hear when something goes

Before an earthquake there is quiet. Pressure builds and builds, but the rocks don’t move. They stand their ground, trying not to shift. They close their eyes tight and try desperately to hold themselves steady under the increasing force against them. But then eventually, inevitably, a rock somewhere crumbles, and then another and then another. The quake is still a way off, but there are tremors. The week that followed the party, there were tremors. Sunday (Adam) Adam awoke t

It was 6 o’ clock on a Saturday morning, and the flat was silent. So was the building and so were the streets of the city below. All so poisonously quiet. James tried again to close his eyes and will himself to doze some more, but it was no good. He lay there for another hour, hoping in vain that the relief of sleep would come, before giving in and getting up. He slipped on some joggers and stepped silently through to the lounge, perching himself on the edge of the sofa and staring out at

Adam lay on his bed, turning his mobile slowly over and over in his hands, staring blankly out of the window as he mulled over the text message that had come through. The door to the hallway was shut, leaving him enclosed in his blank white box room. He switched the phone screen on again and read the message for the fifth time. Can you come over this evening, about seven? Now confirmed that Steve has been missing for months. We need to talk. On the other side of the closed d

Ciaran was leaning a tanned arm against the side of the jukebox, carefully avoiding the sticky patches left from spilt bottles of WKD, as Thomas scrolled through the who’s who of homo-pop caged up in the miniaturised menagerie. They were going to need some music to get through an evening with the elders gathered incongruously in this lifeless bar. Thomas stopped at the senior Minogue, and Ciaran smiled. “You know what, Confide in Me was an exceptional track, but it’s got to be said,

Daniel walked through to the lounge, threw his heavy bag of marking down and slumped onto the sofa. Ali put down the magazine she was glancing through at the table. “Good day stud?” “Ugh.” “Wow, that good?” “I’ve had better. How about you? Anything exciting?” Ali raised her eyebrows. “Well, you could say…” She spilled out the story of the missing flatmate that Adam told her over lunch. Daniel watched her eyes blaze brightly as she explained that Paul wa

Adam’s ipod was blasting out Turn Back Time as he opened up the next box and pottered around the flat unpacking his worldly belongings for the second time in six months. James was away on a training course, so he had the whole day to himself to make home. There was no internet connection yet in the flat, so he only had his mobile by way of distraction. After clearing another box he took a break and collapsed on the sofa with his phone. On the front screen an alert was showing from h