Pulp.net - storytxt-runners-up

GIRLFRIEND
I started seeing my dead girlfriend across the platform each morning at Mile End Station. Then by icy magic, she vanished like a desert mirage in the nine o’clock rush. At first, it was a novelty, a hangover or a bad nights sleep. Only even as I changed routine she seemed to linger on chillingly unnoticed other than by my own eyes. Her spectre stalked me in bus lanes, down frosty pavements and in the backs of taxis. Its white face, blank but screaming beyond words, beyond love, beyond forever. Asking why I cannot follow her?
by readers’ winner, Jonathan Pam

BOURNVILLE
I first met him in a park by the Bournville factory. The smell of chocolate cut through the November chill and gave everything a fragrant warmth. He was younger than I had expected, and shivered in his new coat. A clear drop hung on his nose, and his boyish eyes darted around nervously. We walked together, wordlessly, and I suddenly knew that I had to have him. I turned to him, clipped the lead to his collar, and took him home.
Victoria MacDonald

BELLA
Though older Bella did as Mol told her, Bella was the boss. She looked out for Mol, that was the way it was. Mol was leaving they said she needed more...On her last day they threw a party, there were tears, they would miss her. Mol got presents and cards from them.. Bella felt sad, sad that they said Mol needed to go. On Monday Mol would start Special School were the kids were like her - Bella would miss her..
Paul Burke

JONNY
Little Jonny found a tiny onion in his garden. He watered it, cared for it and gave it love. The tiny onion grew and grew and before he knew it, it was the size of a tennis ball, a beach ball and then a watermelon. After a month of love and care the onion had grown to the size of a house and the council deemed it a ‘nuisance’, a ‘hazard’ and then finally a ‘danger to the residents’. The firemen came and chopped it down. Everyone cried.
David Kaye

PEPSI OR COKE?
‘Mom, Pepsi or Coke? What do you think?’
‘Mom, Nike, Adidas or Reebok? What do you think?’ ‘Mom, Nokia, Samsung, Motorola? What do you think?’
‘Mom, Nissan, Vauxhall or Ford? What do you think?’
‘Mom, it's time for me to move out. What do you think?’
‘Mom, I met this gorgeous girl! She is…fantastic! Cooks just like you too. I think I should get married. What do you think?’
‘Son, you are 35 years old now! What do you think?’
So the man marries the girl of his dreams. Do they live happily ever after? What do you think?
Kesendri Chetty

GRANDFATHER
My dear sweet grandfather always had time for me. We played football and board games after everyone else became exhausted by my youthful stamina. He would look after my pet hamster during holidays, gave me money for its cage and never had a bad word to say about anyone my family disliked. On his deathbed he confided in me that he’d killed three men fighting. With tears in his eyes he told me of his days as a dancer in a burlesque nightclub in Denmark. With his final breath he whispered to me his life had been a lie.
Neil Dickson

These writers each win copies of the books shortlisted for this year’s Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction, and tickets to a literary event at the SouthBankCentre. Thanks everyone who entered, to judges Gautam Malkani and Lottie Moggach of The London Paper, Orange, and Arts Council England for making the competition a success.