For the first time, a month after her twenty-second birthday, Maria, shadowed by her mother, greeted guests arriving at their seaside residential compound. Year in, year out, this was the most exclusive New Year’s Eve party on Earth. Yet one so shrouded in secrecy, that whispers had never once reached the gossip columnists’ ears. Maria was dressed outrageously; if her glamourous little black outfit hadn’t been the most ex...

As he watched the football results in an electrical retailer’s window, he saw that the only goal scored in the Denwick-Whitelaw match was scored by Tristan Simian, a Swedish striker. It didn’t surprise him one iota. Tristan played for Denwick in the third division, and at his current firing rate, his team were heading for the top of the league. They were fourth. It wouldn’t have surprised him if talent scouts had already...

I wake up every morning from a total lack of sleep, soaking wet with tears and sweat from notions that I keep. I still can feel the bruises from the beating that I got, a belt to mesh with tender flesh – it happens quite a lot. My parents say they love me, but I know it isn’t true, another ruse my dad will use to beat me black and blue. When every session’s over and my blouse – a bloody mess, I try to gain composure, and...

Tina felt the bedsheet peel away from her skin as she sat up. She was covered in a sheen of sweat from head to toe. Her hair was damp and matted. Even at midnight with all the windows open and no clothing but panties, Tina could not seem to beat the heat. It was making sleep more and more difficult all the time. For days, the city had been caught in a heatwave. The temperature had cracked thirty degrees Celsius on each of...

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...

“Detective Boyle? The forensics team is here. They’re outside examining the scene now. Coroner is on their way.” The detective stood looking aside in the living room and nodded. “God, I hate days like this,” the officer sighed, then headed to the front door. Boyle remained unmoved, expressionless. She had long forgotten how that young officer felt. Today was just another day; the scene unextraordinary. Her partner was sti...

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...

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...

They all lie, you see, every last one of them. Sometimes you got to change tactics, it's all psychology at first. Some you finesse, go soft and quiet and sweet. Make them feel safe. Some you close in on, really loud and hard, scream if you have to, never break eye contact. And some, well, you have to go even harder on. Grab their elbow or neck. Slap them, hit quick while that fear is fresh, like an animal, while yelling....

(Author's Note: This piece is about an evil man. If you're offended by evil deeds, please don't read this. If you have a gentle soul, please protect it. Go read an emotionally uplifting story that will add value to your life. For me, this was cathartic to write. I don't know how long I will keep it posted. The truth-of-things is often ugly and sometimes it is better not to know the truth. But I also know that sometimes on...

  Black Birds Cold night air pinched at the darkness. Frost painted featherlike patterns on the windscreens of the parked cars along the street. Grass huddled together beneath their icing sugar coating. A neon light at the corner of the street failed to notify anyone of the great deals Joe’s Café had to offer, the street had been plunged into darkness. The power outages were getting worse, and the outlook reported was ble...

The night was sticky and hot and I was sweating plenty even though it was well past sunset. Gravel crunched beneath my shoes, echoed loud off abandoned buildings. This neighborhood wasn’t safe after dark but I was hurting and needed to be here. A five-inch blade was folded up in my pocket just in case. Manny’s black Ford sat rusting in its usual spot, five spaces over from the back door of the Skol Bar. Three men talked s...

Bishop’s Lounge was busy and loud and blue with smoke. I sat by myself back in a dark corner booth, contributing my share of smoke and watching Angela. She had come in with a group of work friends and they sat at one of the tables chattering and drinking wine but she seemed distracted and kept looking over at the bar. She had on a black dress to match her black bob. There was also a black wire in her black purse she didn'...

I watched my copper mailbox dangle from the door of my bar through the blurs of my windshield wipers. The rubber gripped the glass, not a forgotten drop or streak. They were new. The car was new. The mailbox was rusted and tarnished.      It was Sunday, I’d just gotten out of one of those fancy Catholic Cathedrals I’d found in inner-city Moscow,  and as I trudged through the rain, I begged God that the mailbox be empty. I...

She pulled from her cigarette, blew a stream of white smoke over my head, and asked: “Really John, what are you implying?”“I’m not implying anything,” I said. “I’m telling you flat-out that you killed your husband.”She blinked. There was a slight clenching of the jaw. Otherwise, her face remained careless and slack. She laughed. “You’ve seen too many movies!”“Have I?”She sighed and regarded me with disappointed eyes. “Wel...