The old-fashioned but always reliable travel alarm clock woke  Sarah Morris on schedule. She immediately double-checked the time with her wristwatch, then stretched and looked over at her fiance, Frankie Deangelo still sleeping soundly beside her. They had been dating since the summer before her senior year in high school. While their ‘make-out’ sessions back then had quickly reached the steamy ‘heading for third base' st...

The jungle was a living, breathing, heartbeat that pulsed in his ears and slicked his skin with fine blood-filled scratches. Ben Collins batted at a slithering tendril of a vine that skimmed his cheek, ever cautious of the snakes that filled both the air above, and the ground beneath his feet. Glancing up into the canopy of leaves and creatures overhead he could still feel the eyes. He was being watched. He had known for...

The noise was coming from the front bedroom again. The squeaking sound. Sidney was awake and he wondered what time it was. He looked at the alarm clock. It was about 4:30 in the morning. He listened hard, but he only heard a murmur of voices. He really wanted to know what Debby and Fred, his foster parents, were doing this early in the morning.     He was not covered by his sheet because it was hot outside. All of the win...

It was a hot, August day in 1979 when I first saw her. We had just finished surfing at C Street in Ventura, and we were headed home. I was walking along with my best friend Tom, on the boardwalk in front of the Holiday Inn. We weaved our way through the crowd carrying our surfboards, following closely behind two bikini clad girls, and taking no opportunity to pass. Have you ever seen someone from behind, and then were dis...

After the revelations of the last couple of hours I felt quite exhausted. The grandfather clock in the corner chimed the half hour and Lady Helen and myself both looked at it. “Good heavens!” she exclaimed. “Is that the time already?” I looked over at the now cold teapot and the still untouched toast on the table beside me. She saw where my attention was focused. “I think this would be a good time to break from our chat,...

I remained seated whilst Aunt Helen went to the desk and poured tea. She brought me one cup and placed it on the small table beside the chair then returned and brought me a plate with some butter and jam and a silver knife along with a rack of half slices of toast which she also placed on the table. I waited whilst she then went to get her own tea and returned to her chair. I put butter on a half slice and raised it to my...

Once dried and our hair brushed, Bethany and I got into the big bed. I lay back, my head resting on the soft pillows. Once again, I was trembling inside. I wondered if this was what a wedding night would feel like. I was still afraid. What happened in the bathtub was just a preliminary I was sure, but now I was ready to give myself entirely to her, as a wife to her husband for the first time. Bethany drew back the covers...

I led Bethany by the hand through the front door where she released me and returned to the kitchen, using the door further down the hall. I stood for a moment and watched her then opened the door and went back into the dining room. I stopped dead when I saw her! Marjory was sitting where I had left her, but now she was slumped forward on the table, her head resting on her arms, a pool of thick blood spreading across the d...

Doctor Harris looked at my wrist. The pain had eased a little in the time it took to walk around to his office and I could move it again. “I don't think it is broken,” he said. “Just strained and bruised. I will bandage it tightly and in a few days it should be all right.” I thanked him and together Bethany and I walked slowly back to the East Wing. As we went, I wondered about Thomas. I resolved to visit him after dinner...

The door from the kitchen opened and Bethany put her head around the edge. “Oh, oi'm sorry Mistress, oi 'eard voices. Oi din't know it were you.” She caught sight of the dishevelled form of Charlie Manston sitting at the table and she straightened up in sheer panic. "Whoi's 'e 'ere?" she asked, her voice shaky. I went quickly to her side, put my arm around her and told her not to be afraid. "Sergeant Morgan will be here s...