A long, long time ago, I started writing a story on here. It was a cathartic exercise for me, one that created its own issues along the way. I wrote a semi-autobiographical tale about a young girl, caught in between abusive relationships and a potential threatening situation.
I self-published that book, but took it down almost immediately. I printed a few and gave some out at Hive Fest.
A few years passed and when I moved to France, I heard on the grapevine that certain people were worried about what I was writing and had made threats to sue me if I wrote about them.
I can wait to tell those particular stories - defamation isn't something you can sue for after you die. So, to that end, some stories, using real names will just have to wait.
However! Ash and the Favour Man was reprised. I sent the manuscript to a friend who runs a Publishing house and he liked what I'd written. He liked the story so much that not only did he publish Ash and the Favour Man, but he also entered the book into a competition.
I spent six months working on publicity for the book and the competition and eventually, when the results were announced, I was over the moon to find I'd won!
The Peoples' Book Award for Fiction 2024 - otherwise known as The Frederick Forsyth Prize for Fiction.
This morning, I sat down to write again.
Ash II - Title undecided (but possibly Ash to Ashes) is on the way and I decided to do what I did the first time - share it on Hive.Blog.
Justin sat at the table reading the newspaper. A shadow passed the back window, and he looked up to see his adopted daughter, Ashleigh. He watched as she checked her surroundings before unlocking the back door. The checks included kicking the door to the outside toilet, to make sure there were no unwelcome callers to deal with.
Justin smiled and looked down at his newspaper as though he hadn’t noticed.
Ashleigh entered the house through the back door, and he heard her click on the kettle.
“Ash?” Justin called. “That you?”
She popped her head through the door into the small but functional living room. “You know it’s me, I saw you looking,” she said.
Justin grinned. “That’s my girl,” he said to himself.
“What did you say?” Ash called from the kitchen. “I can’t hear you over the kettle.”
“Nothing,” he called back, loud enough for her to hear over the noise she created as she made his lunch.
She finally made it into the living room and placed a small plate of sandwiches and a mug of water on the table before him. She pushed her hood back off her head and stood behind the other chair at the table, opposite Justin.
“Thanks, Kid,” he said. He looked up at her at last. His sandwich forgotten, halfway to his mouth, he sat up in his chair. “Bloody Hell, Kid! What happened to your hair?”
Ash rubbed her hand over her scalp and smiled. “I like the sound it makes, listen,” she said.
“Deflecting? Justin said in a stern voice.
Ash nodded. “I’ll answer your question if you take your meds,” she said, handing him a couple of pills.
“Just happened to have them to hand, did you?”
“Yeah, you know,” she said. “I figured you’d ‘forget’ to take them if I didn’t remind you.”
He popped the pills into his mouth and lifted the mug using both hands. She nodded as he controlled the slight tremor in his hands and didn’t spill the water. He gulped at the water and struggled not to cough. Ash moved forward to help. He stopped drinking and glared at her over the lip of the mug. She backed off and stood up straight. “Ok,” she said. “I was only going to help if it looked like you were drowning.”
Justin placed the mug on the table and stretched his neck to help the tablets go down. He swallowed again.
Once he was comfortable, he leaned back in his chair and sighed. “What did you do with your hair, and why?”
Ash placed one finger to her lips and winked. “I’m in disguise,” she said.
Justin closed his eyes in a slow blink. The kind of blink a cat will make when sitting in its favourite place, warm, safe and cozy, but Justin’s slow blink conveyed everything opposite to a contented, relaxed cat. Ash’s smile wavered and disappeared.
When Justin opened his eyes, her expression had changed from cocky to contrite.
“What did you do,” he said. “And how many favours am I going to have to call in?’
Ash grinned. “None,” she said, her face brightening in a grin. “None of your favours, I have my own stash.
Justin’s expression went from weary to stern again. “You don’t use your favour stash on frivolities,” he said. “The longer you can keep them, the more valuable they become.”
“I know that,” she said. She pulled out the chair and sat down at the table. “I didn’t use any of my favours. In fact, I actually gained a few.”
Justin pinched the bridge of his nose. His eyebrows raised and he looked suddenly tired to Ash.
“Go on,” he said. “Explain it to me like I’m five years old.”
Ash shifted in her seat and was about to start talking when she heard something outside. She sat upright in her chair. “You expecting someone?” she said.
Justin shook his head ‘no’ and listened too.
A shadow passed the side window where Justin used to sit. A split second later, a figure followed the shadow and passed the window. Ash grinned and gave a little chuckle of relief. “Rob’s back!’ she said.
“Deflection again,” Justin muttered.
She scowled at him. “I may as well tell this once,” she said and waited for Rob to walk in through the door.