Open House 6

By Storm Cloud Publishing

It’s Open House in the Butterfly House, where the tiniest flutterings of ideas take flight and spread their wings into the world.
Whether you lose your true love in a swamp or find it in a hot air balloon, drift about in dark places, or take solace in a famous person, favourite movie or a game with friends, there’s much to explore in our latest anthology.
With stories from: Lucy Marbelone, Carole Lander, Garrett Wilder, Peter Considine, Elizabeth Klein, Karleen Peters, Ebony Whitelaw, Pete Galea and Eddie Long.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Storm Cloud Publishing
• Release date: Aug 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781925285567

Book preview

Open House 6

Short Story Collection

Open House 6

Copyright remains with the individual authors

Published by Storm Cloud Publishing (2022)

ISBN: 978-1-925285-56-7 Smashwords Edition

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold 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 did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please go to Smashwords.com or any online bookstore and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the authors.

Fiction: Short Story collection

Contents

Love at First Flight

Lucy Marbelone

Royal Magic

Carole Lander

Never Have I Ever…

Garrett Wilder

Messages

Peter Considine

Heart’s Joy

Elizabeth Klein

Sliding Door Moments

Karleen Peters

Welcome

Ebony Whitelaw

Rain

Pete Galea

Who Am I?

Eddie Long

About the Authors

Storm Cloud ebooks

Love at First Flight

Lucy Marbelone

Jess had never done anything so ridiculous. A hot air balloon ride – what was she thinking? And not for any special occasion. Just because.

Because she was getting older.

Because she felt her life was slipping away.

Because she’d never done anything like it before.

Because she’d never had anyone to do it with.

Because, because, because, because, because.

So, here she was, getting up before the crack of dawn. Still getting older, still no one to do it with, still never done anything like it before.

She dressed warmly. Despite what the weather forecast had said for the day, it was still cold and would be for several hours yet. And drifting about in the near to dark skies as the sun rose wasn’t going to be any warmer. Not until that glowing yellow ball passed the horizon and spread its joyful rays about.

Dressed, rugged up and into the car for the hour long drive to the balloon site. There had been the chance of an overnight stay in a cabin in the nearby town, but she’d declined that. The finances were stretched to the limit as it was. Besides, a 4am checkout was hardly spending the night.

As she pulled into the car park – more like a pitted gravel paddock – the headlights sprayed across other cars and the silhouettes of rugged up bodies and a massive cane picnic basket lying on its side in the paddock a hundred yards further on.

Out of the car with a bound and a pretence of loving such an early start (isn’t this how we start every day?), she locked the car, tossed the end of her scarf across her throat and over her shoulder, shoved her hands deep into her coat pockets and clumped across the grass towards the gang.

The silky thing which was attached by thick ropes to the picnic basket – which she found out was the basket they would be riding in – was spread for miles across the grass.

Everyone spread out and grab an edge of balloon, the pilot instructed. We need to get some air into it.

Gathering around it and grabbing a piece of edge, they waved it up and down in huge motions, driving air beneath it. Almost like a Mexican wave, Jess giggled quietly.

It began to fill, its bulk rising a few feet from the grass.

Hi, I’m Jack, the man beside her introduced himself.

Jess, she answered.

That’s a pretty name.

The heckles went up. Er, thank you.

Moving away from Jack seemed to be a priority but the balloon was taking forever to fill.

The pilot turned on the gas burner, sending a noisy flame of heat into the balloon. It began to fill and rise even quicker. The ropes rose with it, tilting the basket right way up. And within what seemed like an hour, the balloon was high above their heads, anxiously trying to lift the basket into the sky. The basket wanted to go with it, pulling and dancing against the guy ropes that were tied to sturdy pegs in the