The Journey and other Short Stories: a debut collection of tales with a science-fiction twist

By EJ Jackson

'The Journey' – young widow Eva King is trying to rebuild her life following the death of her husband and infant son when the train she and fellow traveler Tom are travelling on derails. When Eva and Tom make their escape from the wreck, they discover that London has been attacked, and that Tom’s wife and two young children are missing. But all is not as it seems...

'Gideon’s Road' – a man wakes up to find himself lying in a cold country lane. He has no memory of who he is, where he is - or why he cannot remember what happened to him.Taken in by elderly widow Alice, he learns that the world around him has been devastated by a deadly virus, and that very few people have survived. But why can't he remember?

'I Think You Knew My Father' – Journalist Marc Harrison gets more than he bargained for when he takes the place of an indisposed rival on the first manned mission to Mars.

cover art by Harry Saxon

• Language: English
• Publisher: EJ Jackson
• Release date: Jul 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311805348

EJ Jackson

A native of Hampshire, I now live in Surrey with my husband and son. To date I have published four books: The Journey & Other Short Stories, The Methuselah Paradox (both science-fiction), A New Leaf (contemporary romance) and Minding Mama & Other Short Stories. In addtion to writing, I enjoy researching my family history.As of Autumn 2020, I am working on a post-apocalyptic graphic novel, Minding Mama, with illustrator Dan Schaefer (who has worked for Marvel, DC and Dark Horse Comics, and more recently was a storyboard artist for NBC's Grimm and The Librarians)."Imagination is the highest kite one can fly" - Lauren Bacall

Book preview

The Journey

And other short stories

EJ Jackson

The Journey and other Short Stories

EJ Jackson

Copyright EJ Jackson 2014

Published by Neon Sky Books Publishing at Smashwords

Cover art by Harry Saxon

Ebook formatting by Jesse Gordon

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

Neon Sky Books

53 Rivermead Road

Camberley, Surrey, GU15 2SD

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sol or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

The Journey and other short stories/ EJ Jackson. -- 1st ed.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

{ 1 } The Journey

{ 2 } Gideon’s Road

{ 3 } I Think You Knew My Father

About the Author

He only earns his freedom and existence

who daily conquers them anew.

—JOHAN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE (1749-1832)

Acknowledgements

I always said I’d keep this short and sweet – but the truth is, since I first put finger to keyboard and wrote the first draft of ‘The Journey’ sometime in 2011, many people have helped me on my journey as a writer. And although in my opinion these stories are hopefully not the pinnacle of my writing, they are ready to go out into the world, where hopefully they will soon be joined by bigger (wordier) and more complicated siblings, the two full-length novels I have in the pipeline.

So thank you, in vague chronological order, to Barbara Rogan, Eloise Millar, Harry Bingham, Debi Alper, Emma Darwin, Ray Grewal and the lovely people at the Writer’s Workshop, the generous and talented ‘Cloudies’ I met on the Writer’s Workshop community and at the 2013 Festival of Writing *waves*; Faber Academy (Helen Shipman, Kris Kenway, and all my fellow participants there – you know who you are and I hope to see you on the shelves of WH Smith very soon), David Corbett at LitReactor, Gary Gibson, Angel61, Harry Saxon for his amazing cover artwork, and especially Jinxed, and my fellow writer, BillieG, whose talent, generosity and humour has helped me more than she will ever know.

Finally thank you to Graham and Sam for not minding that the house looks like a tip and that I disappear for hours on end. And I’m sorry for forgetting to drink all those mugs of tea you so lovingly provided… I’ll try to do better.

Elaine Jackson

Camberley, July 2014

{ 1 }

The Journey

Weary bodies jammed together, an aura of suppressed frustration building as the tube train slowed yet again. Swaying gently with the movement, Eva King settled against the back wall of the carriage, resigned herself to standing. Interpol’s ‘Pioneer to the Falls’ filled the tiny headphones, carrying her away from the daily commute to a job she still wasn’t sure she wanted, to a miserable and lonely room she was meant to call home, to a life she definitely didn’t want but had little choice about anymore. She would have –unless the delays continued- roughly until ‘The Lighthouse’ before she got to her stop. East Finchley was a far cry from the familiar and genteel - but too reminiscent of Bad Things- town of Farnham, Surrey. She pushed the memory away.

By ‘Rest My Chemistry’ they were at Archway, two stops from ‘home’, and the crowd had dispersed. Eva had been seated since Kentish Town. She felt weary, but was unable to relax. It was always like this when she remembered Farnham; what she’d had there, what she didn’t have anymore. Then her determination to accept this new life would waver. But she couldn’t go back - forward was the only way.

There were just two of them in the carriage now; Eva, and a slim man of roughly similar age, sitting at the other end of the carriage. He had looked up just once, wary eyes sliding over Eva then back to the book resting on the black leather briefcase on his lap. It matched the smart wool coat. He must be baking in that thing…she was too far away to tell if he might be sweating, and she wondered what he did for a living; a banker, perhaps, or a salesman…something about him struck her as familiar. Her curiosity brought a surge of guilt to her throat – she swallowed it, and looked away. She told herself that she was not sufficiently interested to give him any further thought; and besides, it didn’t pay to study other passengers too closely. She had witnessed a stabbing on the tube in her teens, when boundaries had not been observed; she had no plans to risk the life she had, even if she had not yet decided whether to endure it for very much longer. Two pointless deaths had brought her to this place, to this miserable existence…she wasn’t certain if she had the nerve for another.

The train shuddered and slowed beneath her and she blinked, grateful for the distraction. The lights went down then up again, and she knew a moment of fear – but risking a glance in the direction of her fellow traveller, she was barely comforted; he didn’t seem concerned, but was still reading in a determined manner which Eva suddenly felt convinced was forced. She looked away, her mouth suddenly dry.

Although a native of the suburbs – her father George (stubbornly living hand-to-mouth in the face of more enthusiastic competition) still ran the same corner-shop-come-hardware-store near Putney Bridge where Eva had grown up – it had been several years since