SEVEN DEADLY SINS: SLOTH

Jane lay there as Peter pounded into her from above, pretending, for his sake, and hers, to enjoy what he was doing. ‘Thrash your head from side to side, girl, that’s what you normally do’, she said to herself. She normally loved what they did together but today was different. How different was demonstrated clearly to her when on one of her head turns she spied her husband’s side of the bed. The familiar sight of Dave’s bedside table, complete with his dress watch and other paraphernalia, caused her to freeze. Read More …

CLICHE #4

So much has happened in a few short months that it’s now hard to remember how my doubts started. Let me think back to what happened on that extraordinary, ordinary day.

I remember it was a Wednesday, a Wednesday that started like every other ordinary work day. I left for work at seven-thirty after kissing my wife Julie and giving my two teen sons, Pete and Mick, a squeeze on the shoulder because, apparently, they weren’t babies anymore and therefore were too old for a kiss – their words, not mine – goodbye. Read More …

CLICHE # 3 – THE JUDGE REYNOLDS SAGA CONTINUES

I finished reading the note my lawyer had just passed me and smiled, then glanced over to the other side of the courtroom. There was Laura, my hopefully soon-to-be ex-wife, with her lawyer. She glanced over and gave me a nervous but confident smile. Read More …

CLICHE #2 – FIVE STAR RESTAURANT

I’d never been to a five-star restaurant before and I gotta say it felt like alien territory to a panel beater tradie like me. Give me a small family diner every day of the week. I was damned lucky to get a table, but, apparently, the five-star hotel hosting the five-star restaurant reserved tables for house guest walk-ins. The fact it was a Monday night in mid-winter helped as well, of course. Read More …

AT LEAST I STILL HAVE MY BALLS

“But at least I still have my balls, Your Honor.”

I heard my lawyer emit a low hiss and out of the corner of my eye saw his glare directed at me. I thought a guy on an hourly rate as huge as his would have a little more self-control than that. He’d warned, or rather, begged me to stop saying that phrase, citing that we risked losing public sympathy. Public sympathy, apparently, sways judges into handing out shorter sentences.
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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 …