Features

Short Stories

Afterlife

The airport bus lumbered along pot-holed streets lined with flimsy huts and gawping villagers. Judith shrank from the window, glancing warily at her fellow travellers. ‘Sunny Singles Solutions’, the…

4 min read

The Farewell

The traffic was bad. Of course the traffic was bad – a Friday on the M4 – what had she expected? Louise gripped the steering wheel. Max, tired from his business trip, would be irritated if she was…

4 min read

The House Sitter

The house was even bigger than Shirley remembered; bigger, grander, more beautiful. There were eight broad stone steps up to the front door. At the top she paused before slipping the key into the lock…

8 min read

The Lunch

The kite hung in the air, wings hunched, head down, its beak a dagger aimed for the plunge. Connie let her gaze linger, too numb to care about the potential peril of keeping her focus off the road…

15 min read

The Stranger

It began on the train. The sudden extraordinary intimacy of eye contact. His eye-lashes were a feathery brown, the irises they guarded greeny-blue pools. Eyes you could dive into. Oh-oh, Maggie…

8 min read

The Treat

Celine wore a coat of her mother’s for her walk to the park that day, a classic purple one of which she had always been rather fond, with large gold buttons and wide velvet lapels. The velvet was dull…

6 min read

The Crossing

It was blowy on deck but Bella was in the mood for it. She held the railings and watched the chop of the water, the tears arriving, as they had every day for five weeks. Susie and Rick. Her Rick. She…

2 min read

Physics and Chemistry

The restaurant looked busy. Tanya hovered at the entrance, recalling the details of Mike Halford’s profile. Fair-hair, blue eyes, athletic build. Aged thirty. A teacher. Shy. Steady. Single. In search…

4 min read

Guardian Angel

Love at first sight. It’s supposed to exist isn’t it? Eyes locking across a crowded room, wafting invisible chemicals, instant soul-mates and all that twaddle. When Brian and I decided to get married…

4 min read