OUTSURANCE

If I’d known that today would be the last normal day in my life for many months to come, I might have made more effort to stop and smell the roses.

It was near 3:00 p.m. when my secretary came into my office to say there was a man to see me. I stood and walked around my desk as she led him in, but he ignored my outstretched hand. Well, ignored it for a handshake. He took advantage of my stance to thrust an A4 envelope into it with the words, ‘You’ve been served’.
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COMPULSION – THE EXTENDED VERSION

SPECIAL NOTE: This extended version, adding approximately 3000 words, is thanks to the constructive feedback offered by low8option. Van1 and CTC love constructive criticism and questions. Thank you, low8option, for making us dig deeper on this story. Read More …

COMPULSION

BROOKE REGARDED HERSELF in the bathroom mirror. She was flushed and dishevelled. She held her breath and stood perfectly still. She knew that the smallest movement, even the merest thought, and the zing in her belly, the nerves strung so tight they were like a corset, would twang. Read More …

GAZUMPED

My mind is still split on whether or not I have it in me to inflict the amount of pain I know I’m about to on an innocent party who in no way deserves what is about to go down in the next half-an-hour or so. But I look at the poster-sized photograph of me and Dave on our wedding day hanging above the mantlepiece, through eyes that have shed their last tear over the decline of my mostly happy twenty-eight-year marriage. Those tears happened the whole time I was debating whether or not to go through with this conversation. The conclusion is yes, but I’m still fighting the urge to flee. Dave is going to be devastated. Read More …