1. EXT. STREET PATH. DAY Rushing rain hits the pavement. Dark clouds cast a shadow over the entire suburb.At first, the street seems desolate. A bicycle light fading on and off can be seen making its way up from the distance of the footpath. NORA, a sixteen year old girl, breathes heavily as she pedals […]
The Quarry Journal
A journal of creative writing by students at Macquarie University
Fallibility, Benjamin Hutton
1. INT. PRESENT DAY ROGER’S HOUSE. LIVING ROOM. NIGHT The living room is dark with intermittent light from the old CRT television showing THE TIME MACHINE. Dust covers old family PHOTOS that line the walls. They feature a young man with his wife by his side and daughter on his shoulders. Another photo is of […]
Learning and unlearning songs, Liz Hughes
F R E E D O M when I go I’ll go alone/ he will be free/ give me to the father sun/ the weight of heat upon my back/ when I work I’ll work alone/ he will be free/ give me to the mother earth/ the weight of wheat upon my back/ when I […]
The Problem with Lily, Monica Purcell
Jo took Lilly’s hand and pulled her across the dance floor. The bodies of dancers, clasped
Storm Sounds, Alexandra Bodnaruk
Suzy is woken by hands shaking her shoulders. ‘There’s something wrong with the roof.’ Her little sister’s voice digs into the space behind Suzy’s eyes and twists like a knife in her ears. Suzy kicks the blanket away from her legs and winces as loose threads cut into the fine skin between her toes. Anna’s […]
Mourning Sickness, Andie Ryan
Mary’s collar was tight around her throat. She hadn’t worn this dress in almost a decade. It was her mourning dress; black lace and buttons. It usually sat, forgotten, at the back of her wardrobe. The collar had been much looser around her neck ten years ago. Funerals had never been easy. Her first had […]
Strawberries in Africa, Rebecca Dawborn
1. Mix together one cup of flour, three tablespoons of water and half a teaspoon of salt. I didn’t just fall in love, I fell in love in Africa. And not with a man, but with what really was the most extraordinary, homemade, oven baked, hand perfected, glossy, shiny, tasty strawberry pie. 2. Roll the […]
Apples & Old Spice, Joseph Sheehan
‘I’m sorry Claire, we’re going to have to let you go.’ I wasn’t sure how I was expected to react to this. ‘The thing is, we had to make some cuts,’ Charlie said, loosening his collar. A bead of sweat moved down the pink rolls of his neck and disappeared under his shirt. ‘The economy […]
Helike, Claire Catacouzinos
The gods are amaranthine, and so is their wrath. They are the controllers and doers of the land, they know their place, and the mortals know theirs. They decide when to thread life with a needle through their canvas, to place a stitch here and another over there, when to sail horizontally, travel diagonally, to […]
Weight in Gold, Illya Lugovoy
Had he not been so intent on discovering what were to become the Lost Statues of Frunzenskaya, had he instead made his way out of the station like all the others, had he not dared to venture forth along dark corridors that led to machine gun-toting revolutionaries, his life might have continued on amicably for […]