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THE TOTHILL REVIEW
CREATIVE WRITING SUBMISSIONS
Editor: Sophia Verai

Harbour | Anonymous
The howling wind had shred my sails And the waves, tremendous and menacing had Battered my hull to its breaking point. The carcass of my...
22 hours ago2 min read


Reflecting | Sophia Verai
He looks up when he thinks aloud. What is he looking for? She sees the light above them leap into his mirroring eyes until like two moons...
Feb 121 min read


Sitting Down to Write Once Again | Sophia Verai
It's a restless sort of feeling, one which you might have been carrying around all day or which sprung up with insufferable urgency...
Feb 12 min read

The Texture of Vulnerability | Anonymous
Some of us hide parts of who we are, because the glamour of secrecy is too much to give up. It’s too sensual, it’s too sensitive. Secrecy...
Jan 262 min read

Beholder | Danny Andrews
The stem stands tall, A pillar of stability. Of sustenance. Reliable, trustworthy, Vital. To the flower, at least. To the gardener it is...
Sep 20, 20242 min read

Admiration into Nothing | Anonymous
Another night with no objective. Another night with nothing, not even sleep on my mind. On this very familiar night I gazed upon the...
Sep 16, 20243 min read


Sonder (Commuting) | Sophia Verai
Sonder: (neologism) The profound feeling of realising that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, has a life as complex as...
Sep 12, 20242 min read

Coalescence | Danny Andrews
Light. Weightlessness. The doors of the train spring open and I leap aboard. It seems even the commuters are living brighter days: one...
Sep 6, 20241 min read

Changing Seasons | Sophia Verai
As golden days begin to wane And dim their laughing light The yawning Summer, ripe with grain Lies down and fades from sight The skies...
Sep 2, 20241 min read

Surface | Douceur
Gliding softly on the surface of things And not really letting anyone in Diving deep into a web of blue dreams With only brightness for...
May 25, 20241 min read


Pomegranate: The Story of Persephone Retold | Chadae Labeach
[content warning: references to abuse] I ran. I ran until my feet bled and my vision blurred. I ran from my mother's home where love was...
May 19, 20244 min read

The Old Mossy Staircase | Jack Morhen-Romero
2nd place for Prose category in the school creative writing competition in October 2023 The old mossy staircase was a relic of forgotten...
May 12, 20242 min read

Defining Love | Douceur
Ambitious task, isn't it? I don't presume to have the answer. If anything I have the question. What is that thing that happens when I...
Apr 22, 20241 min read

Tangents Meet | Sophia Verai
(written with the narrative voices of 'The Gun' by Vicki Weaver and 'Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass' by Simon Armitage in mind) A...
Apr 20, 20241 min read


The Vessel | Danny Andrews
It’s been thirty days since the attack. I have not left the reactor core since then, but every morning I awake to the thrumming of...
Mar 12, 20244 min read


How Do You Spend the Last Morning of Your Life? | Danny Andrews
Dawn rose slowly that morning. The violet Sun shone across the desert, the sands shining bright with the purple light of a dying star....
Feb 27, 20246 min read


Power in The Tongue | Chadae Labeach
Her eyes were a love letter. Their sweet chocolate encapsulated everything that I loved about her. That passion that somehow never...
Feb 5, 20242 min read


In the Eyes of a Beholder | Sophia Verai
I'd draw him if I knew how - Trace the line of his back and his brow Touch him lightly with a pencil Frame him by a windowsill...
Jan 22, 20241 min read


Misleading Pleasantries | Sophia Verai
With her clear gaze and soft little smile she shows you the same good-natured indifference she'd show everyone in the world. She's...
Dec 12, 20231 min read


Ageing Beside Stones in Bloom | Milo Ghandai
O soft speaking stones frustrated by time, Show me the gentle hand encased in frigid stone. O Green-plagued, yellow-speckled face, your...
Dec 5, 20232 min read


Staircase | Sophia Verai
You’ve found your way up, now find it back down. Turn to see what’s gone before The light behind a closing door A newly pressed footprint...
Dec 5, 20231 min read


Hands Shaking with Adrenaline | Eve Franklin
Hands shaking with adrenaline, I turned the page. Halfway down, below a regimented paragraph of words in Calibri and a short, instructive...
Dec 5, 20232 min read


Whispers in the Abyss: Embracing Life's Paradox | Kayleigh Coulibaly
Each step a sigh, a fleeting breath, In the spiral's dance, where life meets death. Pointless whispers in the cosmic air, As we move...
Dec 5, 20231 min read


Temple | Hasan Jubril Alao
Nestled amidst a thick enigmatic forest were the remnants of an antiquated temple, a testament to the bygone eras of old. Its strange...
Dec 5, 20232 min read


Changes | Shaheera Kuchai
In the heart of the tower, where plants held sway, A father and daughter, in their own special way. Amidst the greenery, in that secret...
Dec 5, 20231 min read

Silver | Melodi Dogru
It was the day the Moon fell. He started down in haste as if the scale had been tipped off by the flick of a finger. The clouds moved...
Feb 23, 20235 min read

The Teary Eyed Boy | Milo Ghiandai
There is a teary eyed boy, they're big and brown they taste, lick and breathe the watery sigh of the world. He lives for autumn orange...
Feb 4, 20231 min read


The Linoleum Headquarters | Mia Spiller
Straight backed and tight lipped, She commands her office. Constant ringing, conversing on the Kremlin-Whitehouse hotline Seeping through...
Jan 24, 20231 min read


The Baby (Celia) | Willow Jopp
How does such a simple, innocent face Paint one thousand colours with a smile? She had as well a smile to be seen: Soft as a willow tree,...
Dec 7, 20221 min read


A Man and a Woman | Melodi Dogru
Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful man and a handsome woman. They had not known each other for long but had already developed a...
Dec 7, 20227 min read


The Unavoidable Walk | Melodi Dogru
He began climbing the steps of the escalator. There seemed to be so many at first, but he took his time with them. The upside was that...
Nov 20, 20225 min read


Prayer of Absolution | Yolanda Trujillo Rodriguez De Ledesma
I wish I could write, but the obscenity of that deed forbids me to do so. My inexperience, weakened by my distaste for condolences, puts...
Nov 20, 20224 min read


The Underground | Zoe Fernandes-Beepat
the overground may be fine everything’s functioning life keeps going time’s still changing the overground may be fine but what about the...
Nov 6, 20221 min read


Porcelain | Harland Cossons
« Those who sharpen the tooth of the dog, meaning Death Those who glitter with the glory of the hummingbird, meaning Death Those who sit...
May 8, 202219 min read
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