Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #13 April 2015 | Page 49

captain of the school sport’s team, and takes every lost
or lonely child in the school under her wing. One day
she’ll have a family of her own.
She beams back at me, and gives me a high-five as she
walks past.
“Love you Seth,” she whispers to me.
“Back at ya, kiddo,” my eyes fill with water that I
hastily wipe away.
As I’m heading back to the store cupboard, I hear
raised voices coming from the girls’ toilet.
“You are NOT ALLOWED to play in our gang anymore, Lucy! And I’m going to tell everyone that
they’re not to talk to you.” I recognise the voice, Candy Hatcher. A tubby little madam with an over-inflated
sense of self-importance. I’ve had my eye on her for a
while. I could see this coming.

Candy flounces out of the toilets, and I can hear Lucy
sobbing. I take a deep breath, and call out as the little
bitch swaggers down the corridor.
“Candy?”
She stops, turns and looks at me like I’m dirt on her
shoe. “What?”
“I found something of yours, I was going to take it to
lost property later, it’s got your name on it. Do you
want to come get it?”
She shrugs, and follows me to the large stock cupboard.
“It’s just in that box, at the back.” I gesture to a large
cardboard box at the back of the cupboard, and she
enters, starts rifling through. I step in behind her, and
lock the door.

N J Crosskey is an aspiring author and mum of two
from West Sussex, UK. She writes in many genres
but has a penchant for the dark and fantastical.
Her stories can be found in several places across
the internet, and she is currently working on her
debut fantasy novel, as well as several other projects. You can follow her on Twitter: @NJCrosskey

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