Stop

The policeman stood in the middle of the road waving his arms.
The motorist slowed down, stopping a few feet from the officer.
The policeman gestured that the man should wind down his window, even though the car had electric windows.
"Can I help you, officer?" he asked.
The policeman pulled out a gun and shot him in the face.
He opened the door and pulled the man from his vehicle.
He drove off, throwing his fake badge out of the window as he did so.

The Horror

A green blur streaked past the windows on both sides of the train. He sat and sipped his coffee, looking forward to being in Scotland in just a few hours.
The green became less blurry as the train slowed. It wasn't scheduled to stop anywhere for another forty minutes.
The train's public address system crackled to life.
"Hi folks," said the overly-familiar train manager. "We're having some technical difficulties and this train is going to have to be taken out of service. We'll be terminating this service at Doncaster."
A woman screamed.

Pain

It had started as a dull throb in his shin and had worsened to the point where he could no longer sleep.
Doctors were baffled and had offered no solution to the pain or any kind of explanation for what was causing it.
Now he was taking matters into his own hands.
He bit into the piece of wood and picked up the saw.

Closed

He walked up to the shop and pushed the door. It was locked.
He stuck his face against the glass and squinted into the darkness. There was nothing there.
There was no sign yesterday that it was closing.
The last shop in town was gone.

The Prince

He looked out of the window at the ordinary people passing by the palace, wishing he could live a normal life like them.
That would never happen, he knew.
He removed the crown from his head and slipped the noose around his neck.

Breadfan

"You're here again!" laughed the baker.
"I just love this bread you bake," said the woman, picking up two freshly-baked loaves from the basket on the counter.
"Always glad to see a happy customer!" smiled the baker as he placed each loaf in a paper bag and handed them to the woman.
She paid and left the shop.
Once outside she walked briskly to her car, before driving to the baker's house.
She parked around the corner, walked around to the rear of the house and expertly picked the lock on the back door.
Once inside she headed to the attic where she would wait for the baker to come home and then observe him sleeping through the inconspicuous holes she had made in his bedroom ceiling.

Blitzkreig

He sat in the tank awaiting his call. The horrors of war were all around him and it would soon be his turn. He had no idea if he'd survive.
He snapped out of the daydream and swam beneath the bridge.
Where am I? he thought.
He looked up and saw flakes of food at the surface. He swam upwards, remembering.

Am I Evil?

"Watch this!" he said as he held the rocket launcher against his shoulder.
A loud whoosh and a blast of smoke and the next thing the house on the other side of the river was a ball of flames.
"What did you do that for?"
"Just for fun!"
"There's no fun in destroying someone's house."
"Of course there is."
He laughed maniacally as sirens could be heard in the distance.

Green Hell

They had somehow got separated from the rest of the group and without the aid of a map decided that they could take a short cut through the forest to get back to the village.
Now they were surrounded by green and virtually no daylight with absolutely no idea which direction they should be heading in or which direction they had come from.
They continued to walk in total silence.
A smoky smell filled the air and it began to become lighter around them. The temperature began to rise.

Last Caress

"What is your dying wish?"
The old man was hooked up to all kinds of machines and there wasn't long left now. The private medical facility wanted to do everything to please their patients right up until their last breath.
He looked at the young nurse who was busy on the other side of the room and nodded towards her.
"Her," he said.
The young man went over to the nurse and said something before giving a thumbs up sign and leaving the room. The nurse walked over.
"What can I do for you?" she asked.
"You can unhook me from these machines and let me die with some dignity," he said.

Crash Course in Brain Surgery

"What is it, doctor?"
He just stood and stared at the patient's open skull, the brain within pulsing like a fat slug.
"Doctor?"
He turned and looked at the nurse.
"Bring me a computer," he said.
She nodded and left the room, returning minutes later with a laptop.
"What do you want me to do, doctor?"
"Go on to YouTube," he replied.
"YouTube?"
"There's got to be a video on there of how to do this."

The Small Hours

He cracked open another can of lager, the last one he had. He was so tired, but he was determined to finish the full case he'd bought.
He took a swig as he watched some late night/early morning infomercial bullshit.
He heard a noise from the garden.
Was the fox going through the bins again?
He stood up and lurched drunkenly towards the window. He tore open the curtains and saw a gang of twenty or so people in his garden. Beyond them his car was on fire.
They'd finally found him.

The Wait

He looked at his watch.
It should have been here 22 minutes ago and there had been no announcement.
More and more people had joined the platform as the next one would be due in 10 minutes.
The little speaker at the end of the platform crackled and a voice whispered: "no more today."
The waiting passengers looked at each other.
The speaker crackled once more.
"Go home. Leave while you still can," whispered the voice.

Helpless

She swam out to the middle of the lake. Early mornings were great for this, before the tourists in their boats turned up, drawn to the lake by the legend of the huge beast which lurked beneath the surface. Total codswallop, of course.
She felt something brush against her foot and gasped. She knew it was only a fish or something.
Or something.
Her foot was grabbed and she was pulled under.
She thrashed around, but there was no escaping the thing which had her in its grasp.
Before she passed out she caught a glimpse of a huge, green, amorphous blob.

Phlegm

He didn't know what was wrong with him, but he was producing a lot of phlegm. It had been going on for weeks and he now had a bucket next to his armchair to spit in while he sat and watched TV.
He heard the glass in the back door smash and heard someone reach in and undo the bolt. The door creaked open.
He sat in his chair, frozen.
There were footsteps through the kitchen and into the living room.
The would-be burglar tripped over the bucket and several litres of green paste spilled on to the carpet, sticking his foot to the pile.
"What the?"
The intruder vomited as the man stood and reached for the phone.

Nobody's Listening

He went out into his field every single night to scream his thoughts across the valley.
Nobody ever answered him.
He discovered Twitter and realised he could save his voice.

Surgery

The doctor cut into the patient on the table. Several others in masks were watching him.
Blood sprayed out of the incision. He'd gone too deep.
Attempts to stop the bleeding seemed to be futile and the blood continued to spray across the operating theatre. The others stared at him. He'd made a very costly mistake
The doctor stepped back, scalpel in his hand. He waved it around in front of himself and backed towards the door.

Referee

He blew the whistle and pulled a yellow card from his pocket.
The player looked shocked that this had happened, despite the fact that the tackle he'd just performed on the opposition's midfielder would probably have carried a jail sentence if he'd performed it anywhere but on a football pitch.
The player began to protest. The referee shook his head.
The player continued to remonstrate. The referee put his hand in his pocket.
Fearing the card wuld be upgraded to a red, the player began to protest even more.
The referee pulled a knife from his pocket and sank it into the player's neck.

Winning Ticket

The numbers were shown on the screen.
1, 14, 22, 23, 36 and 38.
He looked at his ticket.
His numbers were 1, 14, 22, 23, 36 and 37.
He was one number away, but was certain that there would be a decent prize for having five right.
"And now the prize breakdown," said the smooth-voiced presenter.
He waited as the smaller prize amounts were read out, anticipating a windfall of thousands.
"Five numbers this week is a record."
The man felt his heart speed up.
"Never before have so many people had the combination of five correct numbers. There are 26,189 altogether."
The man felt like he'd been punched in the stomach.
"This week's payout for five is £1.26."
He turned off the TV and tore up his ticket.

Machine

She pressed play. Nothing happened.
She swung the hammer into the machine and smashed it into two equal-sized pieces. A thick tar ran from the machine and it emitted a scream.
There was a knock at the door.

Lobsters

He sat on the beach and he saw them arrive.
It was dusk and the tide was on its way in. He thought at first that the water was black, but it wasn't water. The black wave scuttled up the beach, towards the town.
He went to raise the alarm, but nobody believed him.
Several were torn apart by pincers as they slept.

Selfie

She held the phone in her hand and angled it to get the perfect shot. She pouted, but something was wrong. The view in the background wasn't really quite right.
She took a couple of steps back and tried again. Still not right.
She took two further steps backwards.
The phone fell from her hand as she tripped over the low fence at the cliff's edge.

Sacrifice

The phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out and looked at it.
He'd received the text that he'd always dreaded.
The reactor was melting down and he was going to have to do what they paid him for.
He went home to quickly write a will before heading to work.

Rudeness

"Hello, could I have a large latte please?"
"Certainly, sir. That will be £2.80."
He handed over the cash and smiled. It was the right change. The barista took it without a word.
"I'm sorry?" said the man.
"I didn't say anything," said the barista.
"I know."
The barista looked confused.
"You are supposed to say 'thank you', you fucking piece of shit."
He swept his hand across the counter and scattered packets of sugar and stirrers everywhere.

Evangelical

"WE MUST ALL REPENT FOR OUR SINS! HE HAS SPOKEN! IT IS HIS WORD!"
The man with the Bible in his hand paced up and down outside the shopping centre. Everyone gave him a wide berth.
"HE IS THE LORD AND WE MUST LISTEN AND OBEY!"
Nobody was listening or obeying.
He stopped pacing, realising his audience was a very tough one.
He tossed his Bible in the bin and went for a coffee.

Brothers

The phone rang. He didn't answer it.
The machine beeped.
"John? Are you there, John? Pick up!"
This was why he never answered the phone.
"John? Come on, John. I need your help. I'm in serious trouble."
Again? When wasn't his brother in trouble?
"Please John. They say they're going to hurt me."
He wasn't falling for this ruse again.
His brother screamed in agony and the line went dead.

Tickets

"One, please."
"But there are two of you."
"One, please."
"Are you paying separately?"
"One, please."
He took the man's money and gave him a ticket.
The two men walked in.
"Wait a minute, you've only paid for one."
The man turned and pointed a gun in his face. He pulled the trigger.
"One, please."

Toilet

He had sat on the toilet so long that he couldn't feel his legs. This was why he should never take his phone with him.
It was starting to smell a bit in there and he decided a flush was in order.
He turned around and grabbed the handle on the cistern. He thrust it down.
A strange noise came from beneath him and he was sucked into the bowl and round the U-bend. He was carried through a series of pipes and into the sewer.
He still held his phone.

Fish and Chips

"Have you got a fork?" asked the woman.
The man behind the counter arched an eyebrow.
"A fork?"
"Yes, a fork."
"What for?"
"I want to eat my fish and chips."
"Yes?"
"And I need a fork."
"Why?"
"Because I'm not going to eat them with my fingers, am I?"
"Why not?"
"Look, have you got a fork or not?"
There was a very obvious box full of plastic forks on the rear counter.
"I can see them there, just give me one of them."
"No can do."
"Why not?"
"They're five pounds each."
"Five pounds?"
"Actually, they've just gone up to ten."
The woman picked up the plastic vinegar bottle from the counter and squirted it in the man's eyes.

Airport

He sat waiting for the gate number to be announced. It was only 45 minutes until the flight was scheduled to depart.
BING BONG
"The flight you are waiting for has been cancelled."
Which flight? There were lots of flights.
BING BONG
"You there, sitting on the bench in the blue suit."
The man looked around.
"Yes, you."
He pointed at himself.
"Yes, thats right, Einstein. Your flight is cancelled."
"But why?" yelled the man.
Passers by stared at him, the crazy man shouting to himself.

Traffic Lights

The lights changed to green and he began to move forward slowly. No sooner had the car started to move when the lights changed back to red.
He hit the brakes.
The lights changed to green again.
The car moved forward slowly.
Red.
Brake.
Green.
Move forward an inch.
Red.
The motorist got out of the car and walked up to the lights, perplexed.
Having forgotten to apply the handbrake, the car rolled forwards and knocked him on to the asphalt before crushing his skull.