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 …

BITCH SLAPPED

Damn the police!

What did they expect? A full physical description? My attacker was female, mid-thirties… probably. She wore a hat and dark glasses. You try guessing age behind those two things. That description was the best I could do. Read More …

F#$K YOU!

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I shushed Michael to silence when I saw my home number come up as the incoming caller on my cell and lay back near naked on our hotel room bed. He gave me a little-boy-denied-a-sweetie look.

“Dave, darling, I was just about to ring you. I got into bed and just had to hear your voice again before I went to sleep.” Read More …

CURIOSITY KILLED THE CATH

IF YOU KNOW how to, all the technology available to the average Josie in the twenty-first century makes private investigators and high-priced surveillance equipment somewhat redundant, especially if your husband, like mine, still lives in the twentieth. Read More …

ZOOMED OUT OF A MARRIAGE

Could life get any better than this? I thought to myself, as I stretched out luxuriously on the king-size bed and glanced at the clock on the bedside table of the five-star hotel I was staying in. I yawned. Read More …

TICK… TICK… TICK…

I thought I was arriving early at the lawyer’s office but by the time my attorney turned up and we were led into the conference room, Dave and his lady advocate were already there. This prompted the jealous reaction that always consumed me when I saw him interact in any way with a beautiful woman. I suspected that deep down I’d always felt a little inferior to him. He was a brilliant catch for any woman. At forty-eight, he was more handsome than he’d been at twenty, tall and muscular, owned his own successful business, and headed the local chamber of commerce. I shuddered at the thought that if today didn’t go well, I might never feel his big, comforting arms around me ever again. Read More …

The Snow Came Down

THE CRASH OF thunder shocked me from sleep. It rolled around the mountains well after rousing me, leaving me in no doubt as to why I was awake. Everything else was hazy though; afternoon naps do that to me. They leave me groggy and disorientated. Slowly, as the thunder rumbled, it all came back. Read More …

THE LATE MRS. CARTER

POLICE LIEUTENANT COSGROVE INTERVIEWS MRS. WESTON

“Thank you for coming in again, Mrs. Weston. I just wanted to go over your statement of yesterday. Just to clear up a few inconsistencies if that’s alright?” Read More …