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...

Archie stared at the equipment and apparatus before him. Something simply wasn’t connecting, literally, as what lay on the table was his prototype, his robot. With synthetic skin peeled back around the humanoid form before him, he was attempting to create a human-like automaton, but it was failing. He knew he had all the parts; there was nothing to salvage, buy, or bribe from anybody. The basement of the house was where h...

"....well my chaffinch has been looking rather off-colour lately, I'm sure it's caught a bug. The other day I saw a fly buzzing near the cage, and you know how many diseases they have". "Millions. Well, a lot. I'd get it checked. Take it the vet soon as you can". "Yes, I think I will". I listen with interest to the bird-fanciers around the tables that have been pushed together in a large rectangle, and can’t help but hate...

He was deep in thought, contemplating the dilemma before him. He walked back and forth, trying to figure out how he could light five fireworks without the first one exploding before he could light the fifth. These fireworks, or bangers, made in Japan, were not average bangers. Each one was like a miniature bomb. These ones were strapped around the head of Carl Gershan, who was tied to a chair, barely able to move, near a...

He hated his boss, ‘hated’ her. He always felt oppressed in his job, psychologically bullied because she simply took a dislike to him. He seemed to be the type of person whom, to her, was instantly dislikeable. It was not her who had hired him, so she had no choice but to accept him as an employee. He wondered if she was trying to find a way to dismiss him but then thought that perhaps she enjoyed tormenting him because h...

"I still don’t see why it takes two of us to stand here. I mean, it’s not as if they’re queuing up to get in, and it’s only half eleven. Another three hours of this? And I’m bloody roasting. Why I have to wear a suit I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll stick this out for much longer" Lee Griffiths said, sighing in frustration and looking along the pavement in both directions as if contemplating his chances of simply making a...

The word 'divorce' was becoming more and more frequent in his mind, as though pervading his consciousness like an unwelcome image, which to Neil Parker, it was. He had just ended a phone conversation with his wife. It was an argument over how much she was spending. It was quite petty really, considering it was simply about buying extra food for their dog. Neil had said they didn’t need it, as there was plenty to last unti...

My name is Sharon Hazel. I am 25 years old, a student of fashion design at Tameside College. I am five feet two inches, and whilst I am no glamorous model I do consider myself to be at least halfway attractive. I enjoy rhythm and blues music, and once a week attend a line-dancing class. I like romantic comedy films, but I also like the occasional horror. I don’t read books but read gossip magazines. I live with my boyfrie...

A weekend in the Lake District sounded like a reasonable suggestion, but James Morton and his wife, along with their two daughters found it to be quite an ordeal, as their simmering, disordered marriage had only lasted for four months, and already the cracks were beginning to show. They had been together for eight years. Throughout that time had split up five times, yet, somehow they ended up together. A whole year had pa...

It’s a demon, he thought. It has to be. For the past week, he had had migraine-like headaches which he believed was a supernatural occurrence. This spirit had gained entry to his mind, and now it wanted to get out, but it couldn’t, so banged away at his skull in an attempt to find an exit, rather like a spider in a bath, unaware of the plughole from which it came. He took all the pills he could without overdosing, but the...

The bus came to a halt and Bob Clement stepped off, nodded an acknowledgment to the driver who drove away, leaving him with a light breeze under the bright sun and cloudless sky. He was in unfamiliar territory, so he had no idea where to go first, and thought he would find a local pub or café as the locals there might know where to find who he was looking for. After around ten minutes, he was sat outside a café, drinking...

When he heard a loud, sharp crack, he instantly knew what it was. He checked the sole of his sandal and saw that he had stood on a cockroach, one of its legs still twitching. It didn’t matter. He was always standing on them, most of the time on purpose. Stanley Marwood was on his way to the fridge to retrieve milk. Upon opening it, the sudden light sent more cockroaches scuttling around, trying to find some form of darkne...

He could only stop and stare. There was nothing else he could do at that moment. He’d skidded to a halt on his bike, nearly going over the handlebars, as he saw the abandoned house on one of his familiar trails. For 15 years, he had ridden along this pathway, twice a week, and not once during that time had he seen the semi-detached, set back from the path, surrounded by the trees the route cut through. A well trodden path...

Once again she had awoken late, which was unlike her, and in her dressing gown and slippers, surveyed her living room, surprised at what she saw. It wasn’t as she knew it, and what she was used to. It was different. It was tidy. Margaret Hayes was 65, and had lived on her own for twenty-one years. She looked at the spotless carpet, the polished ornaments on all shelves, and could detect an odour of marine scented air fres...