Birds circled overhead and sharks circled underneath.

Jake and I looked at each other, and shuffled closer. The boat creaked as something bumped against the keel sending a shudder through the boat and a shiver down my spine.

‘Things ain’t looking too good’ he said with a smile. The sort of resigned smile that makes light of our situation.

I pull my hip flask out and take a pull of good sweet ...

I am lost in the past with The Woodlanders and my notepad, quietly passing a half hour before my lunch break is over.

Well that is what I want the librarian to think but over the top of my book I’m watching the jewellers opposite, waiting for the delivery van. My mate Pete is in the coffee shop over the way and I see him looking out casually like any other tourist.

And Jamie will be in his tr...

Chambers, ventricles and atriums

Architectural words for organic matter

The engine room of my whole

Pumping, feeding, relentless

Giving life to my soul...

‘Hello Mrs Ogilvie I’m phoning you from The Neighbourhood Community Fund and you will be pleased to know you have won a prize’ .

I always find targeting older people is a winner for me.

‘What did you say dear?’

Clears throat and ups the volume. ‘Mrs Ogilvie it is Des from The Neighbourhood Community Fund and you are one of our prize winners’.

‘That’s nice’

She isn’t sticking to the normal ...

As the ship lurches I roll sideways into some coiled rope. The darkness is all consuming but I guess that is why they threw me down here. I push into the rope and try to stand, but with my hands tied it isn’t easy. I stumble to my feet and my head brushes the timbers above so I begin to work out the dimensions of my prison by bumping blindly into the available space.

The smell is strong in he...

'one, two, three, four not long now I'll be at your door'

The lights are going off one by one and upstairs the family are settling down to sleep. I like to wait until the breathing softens and the lines smooth away before I start my search.

'five, six, seven, eight not long now I won't be late'

They can't see me of course, no one can. Well sometimes the very young or the very old, the one's c...

My rock, my angel

Wrapping me safe in your arms

While listing my faults...

'I'm feeling a little better' were Nan's last words so it seemed fitting that they should be her epitaph in the famous graveyard of last words.

As I arrange her vase of flowers I smile, it is comforting here looking around and seeing the messages, so much humanity in those last words.

'Tell Bert I love him'

'Don't forget to feed the cat'

'Thanks my love'

Then the sad ones of those who didn't ...

The cold winds do blow

When geese get ready to go

Just like you left me...

'Poppy! Poppy! Here kitty kitty' short sighted Mrs Gould calls out into the darkness.

At first there is silence and then a shape slinks through the night towards her, the air chills around them both as a inky blackness brushes past her legs and into the house.

Mrs Gould shuts the door just as Poppy struts to the door and finds she is on the wrong side of it, plaintively she mews.

'Here you a...