Idle Pixels

"Your education didn't literally cost you an arm and a leg," laughed Jane. "There's barely a scratch on your body."

He could see it cowering in the corner as the load increased, and Jim felt his tendons snap. His world plunged into pain and darkness.

Perseverance's audio transmission. A scramble to decode. Blinding night lights.

Sat at the corner of the river, watching a random assortment of whales, dolphins, and squid heading upstream. They pondered if this had something to do with the residents of Innsmouth vanishing last week.

All he'd wanted was for her to curtail her whining about his shoddy work-ethic. She stood before him, shaking off the soil, and he knew burying her alive was a bit too mean of a reaction.

All the lost lives, where so many spoke no goodbyes, blinked out in the last mistake humans would make. The dust settled, rad storms rumbled, and it still lived.

"Friends to the end," said Ava.

She slid further under her duvet as a candy-coloured sandman placed a sugar reed on her dresser. She hoped to wake up from this absurd dream, this nightmare.

Last seen walking the halls of Westminster, hugging the Union Jack. Muttering, "it'll be a fantastic year for Britain." The Prime Minister. The last Brit witnessed alive.

She knew something was amiss during the external examination. Peeling back the skin and finding nothing but straw, it dawned on her why nobody checked the pulse on Westminsters retired residents.

She did like a man who cooked for lunch. Forty-five minutes at a hundred and eighty degrees was usually enough for smaller portions.

"So our first songs a remake of Butterly by Crazytown," said Sparra.

"He ran up the hill and left all that bread behind?" gasped Crane.

"I lost all of my money at the craps tables," cried Sparra.

"I'm not telepathic," sighed Magpie. "But I'm sure I can read my neighbour's lips... Well, beak, from here."

"Sorry, I keep asking you to repeat yourself," said Crow. "My ears are playing up again."

"I wanted to be like my influencer idols," cried Sparra, "but now I'm addicted to Twitter."