Mary Elizabeth Brooks died in the autumn months of 2010, leaving behind her a loving husband and an only daughter. Clarissa had only been sixteen at the time of her mother’s death, and the suddenness of the bereavement had left her worryingly melancholic....
"Armed police officers! We have a warrant to search the premises!" A rude awakening if ever there was one! I quickly slipped on a pair of pink polka-dot knickers that I’d discarded on the bedroom floor the night before, and pulled on my pale blue skinny f...
It was when the heel of my shoe clicked firmly against the wooden ankle of the bench for the tenth time that Mrs Hemsley, the school secretary, finally looked up at me with complete exasperation. I smiled politely, as you should, but the old woman simply...
Effortlessly, the girl pushed her feet against the wall and propelled herself through the water. Hypnotic lines of sunlight cut through the pool as she gracefully swept from one side to the other. She kicked her feet rhythmically and accelerated her motio...
“Happy Birthday, baby,” Dad whispered, planting a soft kiss on the top of my head. My cake, a pink monstrosity of gargantuan proportions, had eighteen candles. I’d counted them ten times already in my head, still not quite believing that the big day had f...
