David McClenaghan

Joined June 2021

9 stories

Bio

UK-based daydreamer and fiction writer.

Stories (9)

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The Boy Beyond
There was only one rule on Home Farm: never go beyond the fence at the foot of the garden. Lily did her best to be good, although she could never really see the point. It was just a fence, much the same as all the others on the farm, half falling apart with wear and tear. There were just a few wooden posts and broken coils of wire, half lost in the rising tangles of branches and ivy from the field on the other side.
By David McClenaghan4 years ago in Fiction
Elixir
The first thing Ethan noticed was the light. He could barely open his eyes it was so bright. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was the living room, and that had been in almost total darkness.
By David McClenaghan4 years ago in Fiction
The Wanderer Returns
They had many names for him. Heathen. Trickster. Even witch. Woodwal didn't mind though. He even leaned into it a little, wearing a long black cloak and hood, and encouraging any of the stories he heard that entertained him. Some he started himself.
By David McClenaghan4 years ago in Fiction
The beast on the hill
They told me he was mad. Everyone did. As far back as I can remember, people would point out the beast at the top of the hill and say ‘watch out for that one’.
By David McClenaghan4 years ago in Fiction
The second smile in eternity
They’d have called it a desert, if there had been anyone to call it anything. It was a desolate plain of rock and dust, stretching endlessly in every direction. There was no life. Not an animal, not an insect, not a tiny green shoot, not even the skeletal remains of some ancient creature long since dead. Nothing could exist here. Nothing ever had.
By David McClenaghan4 years ago in Fiction
His reckoning
The knock, when it comes, is timed to the very second. It's 11.53pm on Tuesday evening, exactly ten years since my first encounter.
By David McClenaghan4 years ago in Fiction
Left behind
Hello? Is everything okay? Here’s another slice of cake. One of those chocolate ones you loved so much last time – the really decadent ones with the fudge frosting and the melt in the middle ganache.
By David McClenaghan5 years ago in Fiction
Millie with all the freckles
It’s the smell that finally breaks me. I could handle seeing the old place again, and the creak of the ancient hinges as I forced open the doors – I could even handle stepping inside. But one deep breath is enough to bring it all back.
By David McClenaghan5 years ago in Fiction
Moving on
My eyes are stinging already. It’s happening sooner every day. The gasmask’s so battered now that it barely protects me from the outside air at all, but I keep wearing it for April’s sake. She’s got enough to worry about already.
By David McClenaghan5 years ago in Fiction