“ if I do this, do you swear my debt will be cleared.”

“Of course, Maggie. But only if it works.”

“How will we know if it does?”

“That’s easy. It’s when she leaves the bastard and comes back to me.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

“… Just do it, Maggie.”

Marjorie Barnes stared down at the recording device and was split. Should she do what was right, or do what was easy?

After a moment of thought, she...

Never in my thousands of lives did I ever expect to owe a debt like this.

This was never in the handbook and it was never told to me when I assumed the role.

They said my time here would be nothing more than just recording the day to day.

They never once gave me any kind of warning that something as serious as this would happen.

As soon as the giant rubbed the magic lamp three times, forci...

That recording. That stupid recording. Why did I ever keep that tape?

Ten years later and it ruined my marriage.

I wish she never found it. I wish she would have stopped snooping through my shit.

She had no idea how much debt I had been in when I made that tape.

When we got married, I thought we would never split.

Who knew my past would so easily resurface after my wife found the tape in the g...

It’s time.

Luke looked up at the man in the hat, briefly illuminated by a passing car. He owed this man a great debt - the man in the hat had, after all, saved his life - but he was about to pay it off. He wordlessly handed over the recording, in the form of a USB. The man in the hat took a moment to plug it into a laptop - a new one by the looks of it - before nodding once and pocketing the drive...

Purr, my cat, stared at me as I ran across the hall in my socks to get the mail. I hoped it would be exciting, like a 25 percent off coupon or something.

I opened the mailbox and reached inside, only to find out my electricity bill was overdue. I was in debt, but I honestly didn’t care. My life is as boring as it gets. I walked back inside with my wet slippers and plopped myself upon the couch. ...

Divorce...

“You are here because you owe a debt to society.”

The lineup glared at the parole officer with the fervour of a full-blown storm, our canary yellow overalls radiating against the drab, concrete walls of the community centre—some would say we looked like supermodels, moody, gorgeous and wearing outfits nobody else would be seen dead in—but to most, we were just a bunch of scummy ASBO’s who would'v...

She watched him come back into the ballroom after another cigarette outside. Even two hours in, the wedding guests still followed his blue hair with pursed lips. His face was stone as he stood at the edge of the dance floor, looking for her and it didn’t soften when he found her. She owed him for this.

They’d been half-heartedly dating for about a month and would probably wind up half-hearted fr...

“It is a debt, my child, a debt that must be repaid.”

The recording spluttered and died, tape unspooling like ribbons from the deck.

Sarah felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise - her muscles tensing in anticipation. For a moment she hardly dared to breathe.

It was so quiet. The air split in two in the small space in which she stood, staring at the broken deck-player.

And the bony hand...

The moon split in two like a badly cracked egg. There was no one there to see it. Well, not quite.

Just an ordinary girl who couldn't sleep, she sat by her window recording it all with a phone in need of charging. In truth, Kara thought herself still dreaming. Yet, one little girl's actions helped settle a debt for us all, as somebody else was watching the tears fall from her eyes. This was payme...