Just Below the Surface – Part I

JustBelowTheSurface_Part1_Pic1JustBelowTheSurface_Part1_Pic2

Summer was here and school was finally over! As the bell rang at the end of the last hour of class, the building vibrated with the ecstasy of newfound freedom. Excited school kids were running all over the place. Some were hugging and kissing, wishing each other great holidays. Others were hastily checking some last minute summer class information on the downstairs’ noticeboard. In a few hours, the building would be deserted for two whole months. The buzzing energy would leave place to a silence that would only be broken one last time by the cleaning team when it came in later to erase all traces of another vanished school year.

Continue reading

Posted in Gaelle | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Perdues à Ruisbroek ou Retour à Bruxelles

Picture Ruisbroek V

La Blonde imagine les pires scénarios. Et si la Brune avait raison et que le jeune homme était effectivement un loup ? Dans ce cas-là, il a pu dévorer son amie et elle-même était peut-être en danger. Le matin, avant de prendre son café, la Blonde réfléchit rarement avec lucidité. Elle est même prête à croire n’importe quoi, y compris les contes de fées.

Continue reading

Posted in Veronika | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Brussels remembered – again?

Rue de la Loi

An acrid, metallic, thin-hazy smoke was tingling in my nose, itching in my eyes. Beads of bright red lights appeared like balls bouncing in front of me. A line of white light spots, shining from the top of what looked like steel tree trunks, was receding into the distance. My first feeling was that of being in a tunnel, enclosed on each side by walls of tessellated concrete, metal and glass with a dark velvet blue, almost black, ceiling.

Continue reading

Posted in Mark | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Love Letter to Brussels

Brussels Parc

(by Christina Terle)

When my friends told me stories about you they always concluded with the same statement: “Well, you either like it or hate it”. Their stories left me unimpressed, as if to say: My mind is made up, do not confuse me with the facts. Indeed, my mind was made up. I wanted to visit you and if somehow possible stay with you for a little while.

Continue reading

Posted in Guests | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Aeropuerto de Zaventem

aerodromo

Me he sentado en el escritorio y procuro no mirar a la abertura entre las cortinas que deja pasar la luz azulada. Mis manos crean sombras movedizas cuando abro el cuaderno por la primera página. No recuerdo cuando empecé a escribir y anoto a lápiz en una esquina la fecha del día que llegué el hotel, el siete de diciembre. Las líneas escritas no son rectas, sino ascendentes y a veces curvas. El cuaderno que encontré en el hotel tenía las hojas en blanco y siempre he sido incapaz de escribir derecho. Los que compré después están lineados. Mi escritura parecerá adulta y no la de un niño de diez años.

Continue reading

Posted in Eva, Hotel | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment