June 13, 2015
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The Voyage
140 Characters, Drabble, Nelson, The Voyage
A dozen meters below them, a young man lay on a railing, sketching a propeller. He moved his pencil lightly but with precision, absorbed in his work.
“Aren’t you cold?” A voice asked. making him jump and drop his tools. He managed to grab the notebook, but the pencil slipped over the side and tumbled end over end to the ground far below. He rose and turned to see a beautiful girl of his own age wrapped in a shawl. “Oh, dear. I apologize,” she said. He smiled.
“I have others. I’m Nelson Pembrooke.”
“Penelope Hamilton.” She smiled dazzlingly back.
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June 12, 2015
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The Voyage
140 Characters, Drabble, Hedwig, The Voyage
“Well I will have you know that there is a,” Hedwig paused for effect. “Resonance. I felt it the moment I stepped on board. There’s a doom about this ship.” Arthur scoffed.
“I’ll have you know my cousin is a very talented medium. We are traveling to London for the exhibition,” Lula said.
“As entertainers?” He was a skeptic, a man of reason. But they were the most fun to reel in, and she had a week. Business was waiting for her in England, but this would be for pleasure. She dismissed the itch at the back of her skull.
June 11, 2015
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The Voyage
140 Characters, Arthur, Drabble, The Voyage
Arthur shrugged. “Stuff and nonsense,” he said, but Lula shook her head, vehemently.
“The stone has been nothing but trouble since it came out of the ground. It was mined out west, and it left a trail of death and tragedy all the way to York! Poor Lady Hamilton lost her son and daughter in a fire, and I heard the man who mined it out was crippled in a collapse!”
“I heard about the first. They caught the fever as I recall. Certainly tragic, but hardly supernatural. As for mining, it’s a dangerous profession.” He was a serious man.
June 10, 2015
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The Voyage
140 Characters, Drabble, Lula, The Voyage
Lula watched the man get up, rattle the door, and pace the aisle of the windowless room. “Poor sod,” she whispered to her traveling companion, her cousin Hedwig “Still I’d rather be locked safe in here than down at the bottom of the ship with that thing.” Her mouth twisted like a corkscrew at the last word. “Whatever are you talking about?” she asked. “I saw her coming aboard. The Lady Hamilton and her granddaughter. I bet you anything they brought that cursed jewel of theirs with them!” “Cursed jewel?” A man behind them interrupted. “The Wendigo Diamond, of course!” Start from the beginning! Support Hugh on Patreon!
June 9, 2015
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The Voyage
140 Characters, Drabble, Raymond, The Voyage
Raymond sat in his seat and scowled at his weak tea. He hated the voyage already and they had barely left the ground. He could feel the massive turbines spinning through the thin plates of the deck and up his feet. The vibration was driving him mad. He had to get out for a bit of air. The little theatre was too close, too full. Even if he wasn’t a rich man, he refused to travel to England packed in like a canned sardine. He drained the tin cup and rose. When he reached the door he found it locked.
June 8, 2015
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The Voyage
140 Characters, Drabble, Magda, The Voyage
Magda thought of The Indomitable as a sort of colossal, unpleasant sandwich. All of the beautiful parts were either on the top or the bottom. Above her there was the majestic bulk of the envelope. Below were the first class accommodations of polished metal and spotless glass.
She was here in the middle, serving watery tea and biscuits in the Third Class Sitting Room. The low, windowless room somewhat resembled a theatre, which it occasionally became in the evenings. The First Class passengers had the run of their decks, but the cheaper births were confined during ascension, ‘for their safety.’
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May 31, 2015
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The Voyage
140 Characters, Drabble, Lucien, The Voyage
The girl looked at him like he was an insect she’d found in her flute of champagne.
“Perpetually,” she said. She didn’t upset by this.
Lucien found this intolerable. Women were soft, vulnerable creatures He couldn’t bear to see one like her, solitary, independent and standing apart. It was a waste.
“How tragic.” He said, and sipped his own drink. “You are surely in need of a knight to protect you.”
“I don’t think so,” she said, looping her arm through the safety strap. The ship bumped, and Lucien spilled his drink across his shirt and face as he stumbled.
May 30, 2015
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The Voyage
140 Characters, Drabble, Garnet, The Voyage
An elegantly dressed woman sauntered over and took a glass of champagne. She barely looked at it, or him. The bubbly was merely ceremonial, in any case. It was barely morning, after all. But the transatlantic voyage took six days, and this was a part of beginning properly. She stood to one side as Trevor bustled about, taking glasses. She seemed to be taking in the guests as much as the view from behind smoke-lensed glasses. A man, in his forties and thus at least a decade older than her, leaned in close.
“Are you here alone?” he asked
May 29, 2015
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The Voyage
140 Characters, Clyde, Drabble, The Voyage
Clyde poured champagne and watched the upper crust file in. It was nearly cosmopolitan mix of those who earned their fortunes through the blood and sweat of their employees’ brows and those who inherited their money. They all looked so carefree in their finery, spending their money, but he could see that they merely wore masks.
Bartenders like him knew the truth, usually after the third or fourth double. Men were destroyed by money and power, and it did worse to women. Every one of them was doomed to despair. And before The HMS Indomitable landed, he’d hear their stories.
May 28, 2015
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The Voyage
140 Characters, Drabble, Etta, The Voyage
As she slid demurely into the room behind the first-class passengers, Etta allowed herself a hint of a smile. It was satisfying to see Lord Wentworth jam his cigar case back into his jacket pocket. Solid gold, of course.
Her smile faded when she noticed him admire the curves of her dress while his wife was taken in by the view. Wentworth had expensive taste, but he liked to slum it when he philandered. She sat primly at the piano and began a concerto for launch.
She prayed Trevor would keep the Lord occupied. She’d deal with him later.
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