A Friend to the End
In ‘Pretty Lies: Blow This Candle Out’ by Mel Anastasiou, we return once again to the golden summer of 1974 in Bowen Island, BC.
Inspired by the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, Jenny Riley tries to bring her dead boyfriend Joey back from the ghost world, but gives him up when he proves intent instead upon bringing her into the ghost world to stay. Meanwhile, Moira drags Jenny into her own perilous agenda for life after death.
And now, the final installment of Pretty Lies: A Ghost Story, excerpted here from Issue 37, Winter 2023.
Blow This Candle Out
Chief Layton had trained most of the young fellows directing the cars on the bottom deck of the ferry, and there was nothing more he could tell them. He propped himself against the Sunshine Deck bulkhead and reflected that responsibility without control over outcomes had long been the curse of his professional and personal lives.
Foot passengers clanged up the metal steps towards him, passed him by, and walked out into the sunshine. Nobody asked him whether he was ill; a man in uniform was expected to take care of them, not the other way around. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain to come again.
Two hands took him by the shoulders, and a young man’s voice spoke urgently.
“Sir. Sir! Open your eyes, please.”
The hands dropped away, and Chief Layton opened his eyes. Staring back at him was the Chinese fellow who’d brought the injured child on board the ferry earlier that day.
Chief said, “The purser is trained in first aid.” As expected, his pain deepened and travelled outwards from his centre like light from the Christmas star.
“I don’t need first aid,” the young man answered. “I need somebody to look at my tongue.”
Find out what happens next in ‘Blow This Candle Out’! Pick up your copy of Issue 37, Winter 2023.
Need a little more mystery in your life? We’ve got a free mystery novella for you!
Mel Anastasiou is a novel acquisitions and story editor with Pulp Literature Press, and she co-founded Pulp Literature magazine in 2013. Mel also helps writers develop through her structural editing, her popular ‘Writing Muse’ Twitter feed, and two workbooks, The Writer’s Boon Companion: Thirty Days Towards an Extraordinary Manuscript and The Writer’s Friend and Confidante: Thirty Days of Narrative Achievement. Her fiction includes the Hertfordshire Pub Mysteries, the Monument Studio Mysteries, and also the Stella Ryman Mysteries, longlisted for the Leacock Medal. Meanwhile, you can find illustrations, writing tips, and news about Mel’s books and novellas at melanastasiou.wordpress.com, or visit her on Twitter.
Want more mystery from Mel? Check out her latest release, The Extra: A Monument Studios Mystery, starring the indomitable Frankie Ray!
Discover more from PULP Literature
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Leave a Reply