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Mrs Grantham did not find the recorder. I am hopeful, lying here on firm oak boards, penned in with steel wire, that I left it running; and I am hopeful that it can still find a signal, and transmit. I am hopeful that someone in the office will notice that I have not returned, and will send someone, soon, to collect me, before it is too late. Because more than anything, I hope – as I lie here, fed and watered, safe within my oak and steel space, and cosseted by the most glorious and radiating warmth – that when they drag me yowling from this place, they can take a scratch or two.
Sam Derby lives and works in Oxford, United Kingdom. He’s had his writing published in Storgy, Horla, Coffin Bell Journal, Schlock; been placed in competition in the UK (Manchester Fiction Prize 2019 HC, Bath Short Story LL 2019, ChipLitFest 2019 3rd) and is a regular member of the Oxford Writing Circle critique group, and has been featured twice in their anthologies.