Cell Bitch – Flash fiction short story

Another little taster from my up-coming under 1000 word flash fiction stories, Flashbulb Moments …

 

Cell Bitch

 

Luke Thompson was as nice a young man as you could ever hope to meet, the sort of boy parents hoped their daughter would bring home to meet them. In Luke’s case though, it was correctional officer Vince Zackery introducing Luke to his parents. It was okay though; Vince’s parents took to Luke the moment they met him. And likewise, when Luke introduced Vince to his own family, they were delighted Luke had found himself a boyfriend who obviously adored him, and given Vince’s 6’3” height and build, one they knew he’d be in safe hands with.

It was an unlikely pairing; they’d met and fell in love during Luke’s monthly visits to his older brother serving a seventy-five-year sentence for armed robbery at the penitentiary where Vince was an officer.

 

Luke was attending a staff Christmas dinner and dance night. He had thought about not going what with Vince working nights, but Vince had told him to go and enjoy himself, and besides, Luke would have felt guilty letting Kathryn down. Being a popular guy, Luke had no shortage of girls happy to dance with him, which was more than could be said for Nathan Morrison. Nathan was your stereotypical homophobic racist, and a jealous one to boot, given that the girl he fancied, Kathryn, was more interested in limp-wristed Luke, as Nathan called him. Luke and Kathryn were best friends in a brother and sister sort of way. All night the girl whose knickers Nathan wanted to get into had spurned him, preferring to chat and dance … with some nancy boy … instead. Afterwards, Luke and Kathryn left together, Luke insisting on walking her the half-mile to her house.

Along with two of his knuckle-dragging mates, Nathan followed at a discreet distance before taking a shortcut in readiness to confront the pair …

 

“So, what’s girly little Luke got that I ain’t?” Nathan demanded to know as he stepped out from the shadows.

“Maybe she’s a dyke and reckons on Luke providing some girl on girl action,” one of the other Neanderthals suggested. Had it just been Nathan on his own, Luke would have taken his chances and struck out at him, but he had Kathryn to consider, and was fearful of what they might do to her if he angered them in any way? In that respect, he needn’t have worried; the three Neanderthals had no intention of raping or hurting Kathryn, knowing full-well what the consequences of that might be. But Luke was another matter – they figured he’d be too ashamed to complain given just what they had in mind for him, and even if he did, they’d say he tried to touch one of them up, that they were fearful of his homosexual advances … sadly, it was a defence that was often successful in some of the ‘less than liberal’ states of America.

Nathan and another of the trio slammed Luke up against the wall, unbuckling his pants at the same time, while the third one kept hold of Kathryn, making her watch. Nathan then produced a bicycle pump he’d stolen from a bike while following them.

“I bet this is what you want, I mean, a hole’s a hole, and you want it, don’t ya?” Nathan whispered, “and if ya scream out, ya little girlfriend here will be getting the real thing from all three of us,” he added, knowing Luke wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise Kathryn’s safety.

 

Nathan had been right in assuming they wouldn’t report the assault, though not because Luke was ashamed. Luke was worried what the others might do to Kathryn if Nathan went to prison. Nonetheless, Kathryn pleaded with Luke to go to the police, but ultimately, she respected his wishes not to.

*

A month later, Nathan was convicted of a similar assault against a young girl. Hearing the news, Kathryn finally told her father, who just happened to be the judge trying Nathan’s case, what had happened. She also told Luke’s partner, correctional officer, Vince Zackery … 

Nathan Morrison entered the three-man cell somewhat nervously to begin the first day of his ten-year prison sentence for sexual assault. He nodded to the two man-mountain sized figures looking across at him from their bunks, one from a single bed, and the other the lower one of a set of bunk beds.

 

“What’s ya name, boy?” asked one of them while the other returned to flipping the pages of his porn mag.

“It’s Na … Nathan … Nathan Morrison,” he finally managed to blurt out.

“Well young … Nathan … your pit will be on the top bunk above me, though most of the time you’ll down here keeping me happy … oh, and it’ll be me on top.”

“Don’t be greedy, Jim, there’s more ‘n’ enough of that sweet little ass ta go around.” The two cellmates both laughed. Unsurprisingly, Nathan didn’t see the funny side of the crude interjection.

“Too sweet an ass t’be called ‘Nathan,’ that’s for sure … I think we’ll call him Natalie instead.”

“Look guys, I mean …” Nathan began, “I’m … I’m not gay or anything, not that I got owt against anyone who is or anything …”

“Neither are we, but unless you’re hiding a pair of tits and a pussy under that jumpsuit, you’re all we’ve got … and besides, what was it you said … A hole’s a hole?” Nathan didn’t know what to say, too terrified to even notice the flow of urine soaking the front of his prisoner jumpsuit.

“Luke Thompson’s my kid brother … and if you’re thinking of yelling out to the guards, ya know that mean looking muthafucka of an officer that’s in charge of out wing, his name’s Vince,” Jim revealed, brandishing an officer’s nightstick in a somewhat obscene manner before adding: “… and he’s Luke’s partner.”

It was going to be a long ten years was all Nathan could think … that’s if he even survived the night?

***

 

If you enjoyed this story and would like to read many more like it, please stay tuned for my up-coming anthology later this year, with guest stories from an additional six authors (3 more still to be confirmed)

Book Review -Deadly Secrets

Gordon Bickerstaff was born and raised in Glasgow, spending his student years in Edinburgh. On summer vacations, he learned plumbing, garden maintenance, and cut the grass in the Meadows.

*If he ran the lawnmower over your toes, he says … “sorry.” 

He learned some biochemistry and taught it for a while before retiring to write fiction. He lives with his wife in Scotland, where in his own words  … “corrupt academics, mystery, murder and intrigue exists mostly in my mind.” 

Gordon Bickerstaff writes the Gavin Shawlens series of thrillers: Deadly Secrets, Everything To Lose, The Black Fox, Toxic Minds and Tabula Rasa. They feature special investigators Zoe and Gavin. More will come in due course.

In addition to the above, Gordon is a valued member and contributor to the IASD writing group and an avid supporter of other authors. 

Gordon’s social media:

TWITTER:  @ADpase – BLOG: https://gordonbickerstaff.blogspot.com/

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Deadly Secrets

Hints of Michael Crichton with lots of blood and gore … what more could you ask?

Deadly Secrets is the first in an ongoing book series numbering five to date. It’s a fast-paced thriller that blends lots of blood and gory violence with an intriguing story. It kicks off with the central character, Gavin Shawlens, being called to the suspicious death of a dog being housed at some kennels. The case is a mystery to him, and the story quickly takes a different direction before he makes the connection

I won’t give any of the plot away but will say it has all the elements that, say, a Michael Crichton fan would expect in a book: a secret government investigatory organisation, the accidental discovery of a ‘flawed’ process for a revolutionary new food ingredient, various international parties willing to stop at nothing to get their hands on, and political and corporate intrigue. Alongside the main story, there’s also some gruesome nasty side-lines of a corporate mogul’s business that could almost warrant a whole new book in their own right. There’s a fair sprinkling of science and biochemistry littered throughout to give the main story credibility, but not so much as to leave the average reader overwhelmed or baffled by it all, with lots of easy to read analogies to clarify things.

It was good to have a central character/hero type character that wasn’t the stereotypical action man, but one with all the more usual frailties and fears that most of us might feel in the same situation. There were lots of unexpected twists and turns in the characters’ personal lives that fitted the story perfectly but all totally believable.  

The ending is clearly designed to intrigue the reader as to future stories, leaving hints of unfinished business which I’ll be reading up on in the near future. Great book!

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See here for Gordon Bickerstaff’s Amazon author page and other books …

A Taste of Honey – Book Review

This is the latest book by author and fellow blogger, Tom Benson, whose own blog features high in my list of ‘follows.’ Although only recently published, A Taste of Honey has already received a number of very favourable reviews and is proving to be Tom Benson’s most successful work to date. Coinciding with this latest success, the author has also been featured in the latest edition of the UK nationally available Writing Magazine.

Tom is a prolific writer of short stories, flash fiction, novels, and a number of poetry books. In addition to being a great writer and author, he also takes the time to offer advice and support to fellow writers and bloggers. He also contributes to numerous online writing groups, and is one of the founder members of the Indie Author Review Exchange Fb group.

As well as reading this excellent novel, take a look at his blog, as there are some equally excellent short and flash fiction stories to enjoy too along with an absolute treasure trove of writing tips, and highly informative and essential self-publishing advice…

.Further links to Tom Benson’s novels and other writing can be found at:

http://www.tombensoncreative.wordpress.com

http://www.tombensonauthor.com

Tom Benson – Amazon Author page:

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A Taste of Honey

By Tom Benson

(Available as an eBook from Amazon)

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This latest book from Scottish born Tom Benson epitomises what the author does best – fast paced and hard hitting retribution themed action. On the surface this is a relatively simple story of revenge for the loss of a loved one but as the story progresses and expands, the reader is plunged into a nightmare world of unimaginable horror and brutality where the official wheels of justice just don’t suffice; there are some crimes for which the sanctions of a civilised society simply don’t bear any relation to the deserved punishment for said crimes, where the prescribed punishments available most certainly do not fit the crime, and it is in this dark place that the central character, police officer Kimberly Forest, with the help and expertise of colleagues and contacts made through here police work, emphatically redresses that problem. Rather than follow the official lines of inquiry and investigation, Kimberly Forest decides to embark on her own quest for justice, soon discovering the true extent of the horror of  what has happened – the central protagonist maybe a police officer, but she’s also a human being; whilst most people would be stricken with grief at the death of a loved one, particularly if that death was in horrific circumstances, and no doubt speculate as to what they would do were they to confront such brutal killers, for most it world remain just that, grief fuelled anger and speculation. But when such anger is combined with the requisite training and skills to carry out such thoughts of retribution, there will always exist the potential for extreme retaliation, which is what we have here…

The story gets off to a quick start, immediately alerting the reader to the tone and pace of the book; equally and as quickly apparent is the author’s trademark attention to detail and the obvious degree of research that has gone into the writing. Although born and raised in Scotland, the author has ensured that this American based thriller is wholly accurate in its portrayal: the dialogue, object nouns, and terminology – even down to the alternate American spellings – has been written from an American perspective, giving the book an added authenticity that might otherwise be missing. A particular point in mind with regards to this is where the main character thanks an ex-marine for his service to his country, a typically American characteristic.

The descriptive elements regarding the assorted weaponry that crops up in the book is both accurate and detailed, just as I would expect given the author’s own background, but what was more impressive was that these were effortlessly incorporated into the narrative without reading like a list of gun specs; likewise with other elements – at various points there are descriptive passages interwoven into the dialogue and narrative, but in such a way as to be totally relevant to the story and what the characters are doing – such as when there is a brief account of the rear seating set-up within a police custody vehicle and the reasoning for it (as some featured bad guys also learn to their cost).

Remaining with the descriptive elements though, it must be said that the level of detail in the violent aspects of the book is both full and explicit, as is the language and dialogue – this is not a book for the faint hearted or for those who prefer such detail to be left to the imagination. It could be argued that perhaps such levels of explicit detail might be construed as gratuitous, but for me personally they worked well in bringing home the levels of grief, horror, and anger it would take to drive an otherwise law abiding police officer to such drastic lengths. Such explicit detail does inevitably though raise questions of right and wrong and the morality of taking the law into your own hands, blurring as it does the fine line between justice and bloody unadulterated revenge. It’s in this one respect I would have liked to see a greater exploration of the central character’s grief and perhaps eventual reaction to it. I appreciate that she had to remain unemotional and totally focussed to carry out her plans but at times the consistency of her hard unemotional persona was slightly too much to accept given the horror of her loss.

For fans of action, violence and retribution themed justice this will be a real treat. This is more a plot and story driven book as opposed to one of literary depth and characterisation, though the characters are still believable, rising well above the clichéd level I’ve occasionally read in superficially similar books. It’s also worth mentioning there is a brief appearance of a character, and reference to a couple of other characters from one of the author’s other books, Beyond the Law, which although not essential to have read previously does give an insight into the wider framework of the characters and world in which the author’s novels take place… Overall? Absolutely loved it!

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Other titles by Tom Benson:

    

 

 

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