The house was of no significance, and would barely warrant a second glance, nestled as it was a mile from the nearest town on a country lane leading into cloudy valleys. As Daniel Carter drove past, he slowed down, then halted the Volkswagen Passat and stared at the decrepit detached abode, with its flaking front door, grimy windows, and missing roof tiles. He pulled the car onto the verge and left the vehicle. At forty-o...

I don’t know why I am apprehensive, I must have interviewed hundreds of people, but this person for some reason causes fear to flow through me. I am Duncan Clifford, 47, a journalist working for a local free newspaper, and I am to interview Edward Mills, a famous recluse. I’ve never understood that, why celebrities shun the limelight. You’d think most people would crave it, yet some simply become famous without asking, wh...

Time for work, even though I’d rather stay here, sitting in my chalet, in my armchair. I only work down the road in the greenhouses, so there’s no rush, just another few minutes to observe my abode where I have lived for five months. I really do like it, even though it’s nothing more than a bedsit. Below the main windows is a maple sideboard upon which are three vases, no plants in them yet, and a cream coloured dial tele...

He squeezed his eyes tight and placed his palm over his ear in a vain attempt to shut out the noise that felt like a hammer blow to his brain each time it ricocheted into the bedroom. He lay in his bed, in the darkness, facing the window, the warmth of the duvet cocooning him like a caterpillar. Rain lashed the window, and thunder rumbled away in the distance, but the shed door continued to bang away in the wind, and his...

When he pulled up his Honda Civic in the village, he noticed that there seemed to be an air of trepidation, of suspicion. It would not have surprised him if the locals were watching him from behind their curtains. Especially with him being a total stranger, and the first time he had ever been there, or been so far out of his area. As a reporter for the Lincoln Chronicle, he had been sent here to investigate the ongoing st...

As the wind carved its way swiftly across the sand and rocks of the Wirral side of the River Dee, seagulls tried desperately to maintain some sort of stability as they circled in the air, and a few dogs that were out still played and jumped around as though not affected. One of those dogs, ‘Baron’, a three-year-old border-collie sniffed around the rocks and pebbles for nothing in particular, its owner near the shoreline,...

The book on speaking Italian was of no interest to him, despite looking at it with apparent interest. He was in fact, surreptitiously looking through the shelves of books in the library at the computers where he had a good view of what people were looking at on the internet or just in general. Michael Booth was 62 years of age, and looked quite a few years older. He had grey, wavy hair, and was fairly plump. His belt was...

It was brilliant. In fact, it was genius. He surprised himself at just how great his idea actually was, and it led him to ponder whether or not all great ideas came from the murky depths of a mind fuelled by alcohol. He was fast on the way to becoming drunk, as he certainly wasn’t sober. Did all great philosophers and inventors get their ideas from the shadowy realms of the subconscious? he wondered, presented to them in...

What would you do, if you found a time-machine? Yes, that's right. You would keep it for yourself, which is exactly what Geoffrey Maitland did up in the far north of Scotland, when he was recceing a walk from Shegra to Keoldale across the rocky mountainous regions where it was easy to get lost.  Well, it wasn't exactly a machine, more of a swirling void. Trouble was, he was an experienced hiker and rambler of thirty plus...

Immortality. That was the reward, that was the promise, and he knew it was his. Soon he would live forever. Nobody would have taken it seriously. Nobody who thought rationally that is. He knew that should he have told anybody of this belief, then they would either have laughed at him, or politely made their excuses and left. Yet, he was convinced that it would happen, and soon he would no longer fear death. Kenneth Ambros...

As they drove away, the expression on their faces darkened and became serious. In the rear-view mirror, they watched as the Riordan country stately home slowly became smaller, until a turn on the path took it from their sight.  The party continued there, but other people had left, and some were getting ready to leave as Mr and Mrs Stockton approached the open gates to leave the estate.  “Why didn’t you stick up for me?” s...

I can't believe the cheek of him, bold as anything, staring out at me with his stupid face. Well, there's no way I'm putting up with this. No way. I've never liked him, never trusted him. He's smarmy and sly, and now here he is, a face on a poster outside the small Shaftsbury theatre, in the town where I live. He's appearing in a pantomime in a kid's play for God's sake. This man killed an old woman in a drunken hit and r...

The letter-box slammed shut, the sound reverberating throughout the road, and inside the houses in the vicinity. Geoff Howell turned and stalked back along the path to the gate, not bothering to close it behind him. He walked to the next house, angrily posting their mail, and rummaging in his bag for more.  He was 46 years old, lived alone in a third floor flat, was five feet six inches tall, and sported jet black wavy ha...

My name is Dominic Melvyn, and I am a criminal psychologist. Today, I am at a criminal medical institution where of five patients I was scheduled to meet, I have seen three of them. All the inmates are, I suppose insane. They are in here for their own good, kept away from society as they pose a danger. I am helping in their reformation, pointing them in the right direction until they are able to walk amongst the public as...

I have become suspicious of everyone. It is not something I particularly wanted, but it has become this way. I’m an inventor, you see, and I have invented a machine that everybody wants, especially corrupt, paranoid governments and dictators. They all know about it, and all want what I’ve got. Even normal people want it, from teenagers to the elderly. It can make me rich if I knew how to market it properly. If I knew what...