He stared out from behind the glass of a small frame, the picture taken 22 years ago as he stood on a beach, the sea behind him beneath a cloudless sky. She wanted to feel emotion at his passing, wanted to shed a tear, but couldn’t. He hadn’t been a bad h...
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...
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 st...
We all make poor life choices. Mine just happens to be pizza. You’d think working at the nostalgia-laden Wally World would be a dream come true. Maybe for kid me, with all the arcade games that spat out tickets like confetti, ball pits, and colorful chara...
The light in the tavern is dim. 14th century Britains don't expect any better. Gobbo peers at Zoppo, not minding that he can't see him well. “So,” asks Gobbo, “is this the Great Plague or the Black Death?” “Who gives a swive,” says Zoppo. “Some historians...
In retrospect, it wasn't the wisest final sentence to yell at my boyfriend as I kicked him out of the flat: "If I ever see you or that…" I floundered for the right word, "hussy again, I'll kill you both." The front door slammed behind him, a whirlwind of...
“I really despise this couch. Everything about it. You need to get a new one, or I’ll stop coming to these little chats.” “Focus, Daniella,” the therapist’s voice is low and colorless, like a forced kind of calming. “You were going to tell me about that n...
To everyone in the room, she seemed like just a normal girl wearing Vans, bluejeans, and a red hoodie. But looks can be deceptive; the clothes chosen deliberately to conjure up that very word—normal. The volunteers saw only what they expected to see; what...
They say that war is hell, it is. It’s a hell I unwittingly chose. I was fifteen at the time. I lived in a little known northern town in England. Not much happened in my town. The men went to work down the mines, the women stayed at home. It was all quite...
The killer looks down the scope at his target. He neither knows nor cares why The Boss wants this woman dead. That is not the killer's problem. The woman is undressing. Her dress slips to the floor, then her underwear. The killer watches with delight. The...
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 th...
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 strange...
He watched as the blood ran its small river, falling off her chin to cascade onto her chest as the gentle rise and fall of her bosom ceased. This was not what he expected. This was not how this day was supposed to end. Ben stepped into the bright sunshine...
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 thou...
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...
