Photo Source: Pixabay Her head is on the pillow, but her neck is rigid with fear. She is trying to ignore the dark and the feeling of unpredictability that it brings. The moon is trying to help, but it does not reach the recess where the shape sometimes appears. For endless hours, she plays in this little room. And when the sunlight filters through the lace curtains and across the face of her plastic animals, it momentarily brings them to life. Her sanctuary by day, so warm and...

Photo Source: Flickr “Face your fears, Jim,” my dad used to say. But he was a brave bastard, nurtured on porridge and discipline. Cancer got him in the end though, unconquerable with bravado alone. I was eleven when he died, but even back then I knew he was something special, and over the years, I would feel the pressure from everyone that knew him to be the ‘idea’ of his son. After guiding my foot into the next crease, I pull myself up using the tenuous grip on the rock above...

Photo Source: PxHere The music from my phone suddenly stops feeding through the stereo, and as I open my eyes and reach out for it on the passenger seat, there is a sudden and painful tightening across my chest. Something feels wrong. The field is in complete darkness—and empty, aside from half a dozen footballs scattered across the pitch. The hell? There must have been sixty kids on that pitch when we arrived, not to mention the parents and coaches. 7:01 reads the clock....