Small Gregarious Fiction Volume 2

By Chris Chinchilla

Chinchilla tales presents a collection of flash fiction full of short tales full of strange worlds, worlds slight recognisable if you squint, and characters undertaking the unexpected.

This book includes the following flashes:

Return of Spirit
Return of body
Elemental spirit intrudes
Powers of darkness
Doors mysteriously open and shut
Odd nocturnal ritual
A very ancient colossus in a very ancient desert
Dream of ancient castle stairs
Special beings with special senses
Dreams of falling
Person followed by invisible thing
Lingering influence in house
House of horror in old city
Interference with time
Abnormal vision into future
Unnatural life in a picture
Dreams of flying over city
Determinism and prophecy
Transposition of identity
Visit to someone in the wild
Steepled town seen from afar at sunset
Vague lights and geometrical figures seen when eyes are closed
Moving away from earth more swiftly than light
Enchanted garden where moon casts shadow of object or ghost invisible to the human eye
Person makes appointment with old enemies
Happenings in interval between preliminary sound and striking of clock
The Italians call Fear La Figlia della Morte — the daughter of Death
Museum of antiquities

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chris Chinchilla
• Release date: Mar 3, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224588657

Chris Chinchilla

aduki independent press is a small press based in Melbourne, Australia.Our focus is non-fiction books, essays and magazines with particular interest in: community, environment, food, migration, politics, social justice and travel.We publish work by emerging and established authors and cover topics and issues that are often overlooked in mainstream media.You can expect titles from aduki independent press to provoke discussion and debate and be a source of learning and entertainment.

Book preview

RETURN OF SPIRIT

JUST REMEMBER WHAT happened last time, is all I ask? Barja said to me, rolling his eyes in his typical manner.

I knew what had happened the last time we tried this experiment. I had read extensive and tedious reports. But I had a feeling that this time, it would be different. After all, the last time was so long ago, and the Secret Service was so short on quality recruits. And, well, ghosts, they had certain useful qualities that were hard to ignore.

I’m sorry, Barja, but I’ve made up my mind. As of next week, we will start allowing ghosts to join the service again. We need their help. I caught him sighing with disapproval, Now, if that’s everything, I have work to do. Please close the door on your way out.

Barja muttered a yes, mam under his breath and left, closing the door a little too loudly for my tastes on his way out.

The following Monday and my head was spinning. Too many brandies at the club last night celebrating (that was definitely the right word, as he was a cantankerous old buzzard) Gilliard’s retirement. I steadied myself and entered the training room.

I counted four spirits wafting in front of me. There was one missing.

Where’s Lee? I asked.

Two of the spirits shrugged, or at least I think they did. It was sometimes hard to focus on the exact motions of these wispy, wafting outlines.

She’s running a little late… Rasped Jenkins. At least, I think it was Jenkins, their voice undulating between whatever lack of organs that they conjured sound out of and my ears. Late? What did a ghost have to do that would delay them? Did they have unlives? A schedule to keep? Things to do? My mental tangent was interrupted by Lee suddenly appearing in the room through the wall, which was disconcerting, to say the least, but one of the many reasons we were employing them.

I cleared my throat. Now that you’re all here, I’d like to welcome you back to the service. You’ll find that many things have changed since you were all working here before, before–

We died? Offered Froam.

Quite, I replied. I would need to think of some better terms for all of this.

For a start, there would never have been a woman in charge. Wheezed Blake. Obviously, the afterlife hadn’t taught him anything new, and he was still as misogynistic as in his day.

I fixed him with a frosty stare and felt a chill down my spine.

OK, all of you. Your first trial mission is to gather intelligence on an enemy spy posing as a priest for cover. We need you to discretely monitor their church for potential–

A church? Asked Lee, her face frozen in fear.

Yes. Why is there a problem?

That’s hallowed ground. We can’t go there, and if we do, we’ll be dismissed. Responded Lee, hovering awkwardly on the spot, rattling her chains behind her.

I sighed. I was starting to understand what Barja meant.

RETURN OF BODY

YOU’LL BRING IT back by the end of the day, yeah? I asked nervously. This wasn’t my first time, but the last time had left me with a queasy feeling, rough around the edges, and not quite myself.

The rich teenager in front of me nodded casually, sniffing and tapping away absentmindedly at their smartphone. I wasn’t convinced by their answer, but I needed the money, and well, they needed to get into a nightclub for some reason I’d forgotten.

I talked them through the procedure, which was far more work and pain for me than the customer, but hey, I was making good money here. I had to be willing to put up with some pain and effort. The procedure involved a dash of science, a splash of magic, and a generous pinch of hocus pocus stagecraft. Then, voila, roughly ten minutes later a full consciousness body swap. There was always that tricky moment where the customer’s conscious thoughts and experiences entered my body towards the end of the procedure, and they had no idea what was supposed to happen next. But after years on