short Stories
Dante Gabriel Rossetti slumped in the corner of a deserted first-class railway carriage. In his youth, he had been as beautiful as the women he painted. The soft-pencilled self-portrait he had drawn in 1847 showed a young man with deep-lidded eyes, well-defined features and romantically long, curling hair. But now, at fifty, he was a half-bald, thickset man whose features had smudged into premature age. At intervals he patted his waistcoat pocket with trembling fingers, checking for the bottle of chloral he carried with him. Its reassuring shape was always there. Outside, on the platform, the porters were loading trunks and travelling cases. Rosetti’s eyes quartered the platform with swift darting movements looking for the person who was following him. 
Shadows crawled in corners. His fear pressed him back into the upholstery and he wished he were not alone. Caged behind Rossetti’s eyes a saner part of him, conscious that his uneasiness was unfounded, twitched spasmodically in the dark, but it was overrun by waves of panic. He began to pant and his heart outpaced his breath as he fought for control. The train would carry him back to London, to an empty house in Cheyne Walk. The prospect of the utter solitude that awaited him at Tudor House appalled him. But he must see Janey before she left for Italy. He felt it might be his only opportunity. He had dreaded this journey and dreaded most the thought that he might be too sick and too fearful to travel. It would be so easy, even now, to leave the train and go back to the familiarity and safety of the cottage at Hunter’s Forestall. But he must not allow himself to think of that. Lines from a sonnet he had written long ago floated into his head: Stand still, fond fettered wretch! while Memory’s art Parades the Past before thy face
The excerpt above is from this months short story winner, Lesley Mace with "The Final Stunner". Second place this month goes to Patricia Kent and third place goes to Gail Whiteley. To enter the Short Story Contest download an entry form here.