John sits on the bench overlooking the churning battleship-grey sea below.

“It’s hard sometimes,” he says. “You are my only true friend. “

Kipper whines. Perhaps in agreement, more likely because he wants to walk or play ball.

John hasn’t heard from Janey for months.

She’s not returning his calls.

…

This is the forty-sixth story in the series of Humpbuckle Tales. Each story is precisely 50 words long. They are meant to be independent stories, but if you read them all you will find each one adds another piece to the puzzle – there is a bigger story that is being told.

This story was first published on my Hive blog (@felt.buzz) and you can find all the stories on the @humbuckletales Hive account – at the time of posting this I have just published Tale number 99. On Hive I publish 12 stories per week (Monday to Saturday one story per day and then six 50-word stories in one post on a Sunday).

You can watch the author read the first 22 Humpbuckle Tales on YouTube or you can listen to it as a podcast.

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