Amber Sampson walked along the river at about eight in the morning. Mud slowly crept up the soles of her shoes. She carefully aimed each step to avoid deeper patches of mud brought by yesterday’s appearance of autumn rains. The sun shone but had none of its summery warmth left. She had walked this path countless times in every season…

chappow Finals were three weeks away. The library was crowded. In spite of this, the seats on either side of him were empty. Several times, he’d watched students climb the stairs to the mezzanine and spy the vacant desks, only to veer off at the last second. chaprassi Chris Fletcher, nineteen years and three hundred and sixty-four days old, was…

Not long after dawn and already the cottage was a hive of activity. Only fools or those with no choice would venture outside, for torrents of rain hit the windows every which way. Gutters overflowed. Water accumulated in dips on the path. Dwarf camellias drooped and daphne flowers were pushed from their twigs. High above, on the ridgeline overlooking the…

Katherine Mansfield Sparkling Prose 2023 – 3rd Place hybrid   I saw you again last night. It was the summer holidays and we were playing on the beach. “Katie – bullrush! Tagged – you’re it!” I took in your panting, gasping face, ruddy-cheeked from the strain of chasing – your eyes of that marvellous transparent blue, flecked with silver straight…

In the village, everybody called him Motherland. No one even remembered his real name. It seemed that he’d always been Motherland. This nickname stuck to his small personality after he came from serving in the army. Then, telling his Afghanistan stories, after every second phrase, he would add, “Fucking motherland!” At first, everyone laughed at his habit, but then they…

Jenna Heller is the winner of the inaugural AT THE BAY | I TE KOKORU manuscript competition, launched in 2023, for a manuscript of flash fiction. Jenna’s collection, ‘The End of the Beginning’ – her first – will be published later this year. We share Jenna’s NFFD 2020 winning story ‘Best friends’, included in her forthcoming collection, and we link…