Boys walk over to the public pool because of the giggling and stay because of the girls. A youngster with auburn hair bursts into tears as he watches the tantalizing pink dip under the surface. Unable to move away from the edge of chlorinated blue he grabs his crotch for comfort. ‘It’s our tails,’ Madison […]
The Quarry Journal
A journal of creative writing by students at Macquarie University
The Course of Empire, Mischa Parkee
Part One: The Savage State Thomas Cole, The Savage State. Oil on canvas, 1834 This is the savage state. You are the savage that charges down into the wilderness; a hunter with only eyes for your prey. This is your basic human instinct, yet you are susceptible to the expectations of consummating an empire. The […]
Wednesday, Bridget Corke
Bing bong. I look up from where I am crouching on the floor, legs tucked under me and a wine bottle in each hand as I restock the shelves. A face with more wrinkles than my shirt peers down at me through square metal-framed glasses that magnify the eyes to alien-like proportions. Those same eyes […]
Harēna, Nicole Crichton
Harēna (Latin) Sand Sandy desert, waste A sanded place, ground marked off for combat, amphitheatre or arena. Dearest Aemilius, The wine here is most comparable to your family’s orchards. Who would have believed that grapes from Syria would taste as good as grapes from Rome? The Roman army too is thriving in the desert […]
Morgan, Kimberley Milton
Creak. I pull my blankets up to my chin and listen to the Milkman’s symphony. The gate strains as he makes his way into their front yard, trundling up the steps of their veranda to leave four glass bottles of milk. He stomps back down to close the white picket gate behind him, careful not […]
Live a Little, Laura Schwebel
When I stumbled upon Mr Simmons, on the office rooftop, standing on the ledge that wrapped around the building, I thought two things. Firstly, I was not convinced it was a suicide attempt and the second was, ‘Bullshit!’ ‘Aha! Annabel! Glad you could make it’ Mr Simmons remarked, as if he’d been expecting me to […]
Portrait of a Life in Watercolour, Daniel Bingham
He wakes up to the sound of rain and grey light seeping in around the curtains. His covers have been thrown off in the night, and the wide mattress stretches away empty on all sides. He was woken by a dream, and in the moments before his alarm rings he tries to remember what it […]
Black Sandman, Chelsea Ainsworth
Shadows swept across the room like wild beasts. They wound over walls and threatened to gnaw off any limb that dared protrude over the safety of the bed. Snickering, they rattled closet doors and mocked the weak ward of the nightlight’s glow. ‘Sssh…’ A hand caressed the cheek of the terrified youth, whose hair was […]
Andromeda Bounty Crew, Rhiannon Heggie
In the year 2516, there are 389 billion galaxies in the Galactic Register. In Caldwell 5 – a dwarf galaxy just outside of the Local Group and the newly emerged Milky Way – lies a glowing emerald planet almost completely covered by water. The planets’ most evolved inhabitants are The Eight [ѶΙΙΙ], a race of […]
Vainthrow, Nicolas Fuentes
The takeover was swift and precise. It only took three days for the Liberstats government to impose their rule over the citizens of Vainthrow. All it took was a firing of flares and the power fetish of one man, the ruthless dictator President Kithgo. October 28th of 2057 marked day one, the beginning of a […]