Sex, death and a snake in the grass: 19 linked short stories, fiction for the Internet. Read in narrative sequence using the left-hand menu or follow characters through the in-page links
1
He had his first wet dream aged 11, waking in his little bedroom to a warm, sticky feeling on his stomach and relief flooding his muscles. He would often wonder in later years why he'd been so proud about it.
His father had had a bad night. His face was dark. He lay silently on his back in the master bedroom, staring up at the ceiling. His mother spoke quickly, decisively.
'It's alright, Jake. Just take the sheets off the bed and I'll wash them first thing this morning.'
Perhaps it was just language. Maybe he said it in the wrong way, he thought. By then he was back in his room, stripping the bed, still shivering from the lukewarm shower.
The next time he came in his sleep was years later, in his 20s. The woman on the other side of the bed laughed indulgently and reached across.
He'd always regretted not seeing Laura again, but there was no help for it. There was a stain inside him and he would never get rid of it.
