Winning Ticket

"And tonight's winning numbers again: 12, 17, 26, 35, 38, 43."
He looked at the ticket in his hand.
12, 17, 26, 35, 38 and 43 were his numbers too. He'd won!
He waited to see if they announced how much he'd won. They didn't, but he knew it was going to be a big amount, life-changing even.
He went into the kitchen to check if there was some sort of alcoholic beverage with which to celebrate.
Once he'd left the room the programme announcer's voice came from his TV, unheard by the ecstatic winner.
"We're very sorry. Due to a technical error the lottery draw programme we have just shown was a repeat of the programme from a fortnight ago. Sincerest apologies."

Change

He threw the coins from his pocket into the huge bucket in the corner of the room just like he did every night when he came home.
It was nearly full now. He wondered how much money there was in there.
He took the bucket into town the next day, planning to take it to the bank.
He nearly made it. Outside the bank the plastic bucket gave way, showering coins everywhere.
Vultures descended.

Wrong Way

He drove into the side street, not noticing the no entry sign. He didn't notice that all the parked cars were facing towards him. He didn't notice the horrified expressions on pedestrians faces and the arm waving gestures of some of them. He didn't notice the bin wagon turn into the end of the road at speed as he approached the junction.
He didn't notice the ambulance that arrived too late to save him.

Away

His suitcase was packed and he waited for the taxi to the airport.
It was late.
He'd booked it the previous evening to avoid hassle and now it wasn't here. He phoned the taxi company, but there was no answer.
He phoned another taxi companty and they didn't answer either.
He had no choice.
He went outside and picked up a brick. He hurled it through the passenger side window of his neighbour's car, let himself in and popped the boot for his suitcase.
Within minutes he'd got it started and was backing out of the driveway.
As he sped down the street a taxi passed him driving in the opposite direction.

To Do

Supermarket - buy bread and lard
Butcher - buy steak
Fry steak in full pack of lard
Make steak sandwich
Eat steak sandwich
Collapse
Heart attack
Death

Let Your fingers Do the Walking

They needed an architect. He didn't know where to find one and so he reached for the Yellow Pages.
The book was thinner than he remembered; it was years since he'd used one.
He opened it and began to flick through.
There seemed to be a few entries that were a bit specialist. He passed Aardvark Breeders, Abseiling Consultants and Adrenal Gland Traders before turning the page and seeing Architects on the right hand page.
Something caught his eye on the left page though. Antichrist. There was a mobile number. He called it as dark clouds began to gather.

Battle of the Band

He woke up and looked at the clock. It was 3am. Music was playing somewhere nearby, loudly.
Who was so inconsiderate as to be doing that at this time of night?
He got out of bed and opened the window, the music becoming louder. Much louder.
There was a band playing in the street. People were watching them, like it was normal for an open air concert to be taking place at such a time.
"Hey," he shouted.
Nobody could hear him.
He sighed and slammed the window shut.
He would have to phone the police.

Batteries

The radio had stopped working again. He took the back off to check the batteries. One of them was corroded and had leaked everywhere. How could this happen? They were brand new last week.
He removed the batteries and mopped up the spillage inside the compartment with a tissue. It was sparkling clean.
He inserted two new batteries and snapped the cover into place. It still didn't work.
The 20-for-a-pound batteries had ruined his £15 radio. He wasn't an economics expert, but he understood this was bad.
He hurled the radio against the wall in frustration without realising he had inserted one of the batteries the wrong way round.

Never

"I won't do it."
"Why not?"
"I promised myself I never would."
"That's not a proper reason."
"To me it is."
So they never went to Wales.

Sneak

Tiptoeing across the bedroom floor, carefully avoiding what he knows to be the creakiest floorboard. Fumbling around on the table for his deodorant. Reaching around in the dark for the shirt he discarded yesterday. Dressed and on his way out of the room, breathing through his mouth and opening the door as slowly as possible. Stubbing his toe and calling out, ruining his efforts.

They Came from Outer Space

It was in the park one morning, a huge metal disc almost 50 metres in diameter, but only a little higher than ankle height from the ground. It was what people used to call a flying saucer, apparently.
Curious people were milling around, looking at it and touching it.
Some people climbed on top of it. Others took selfies with it.
The authorities would probably soon arrive and seal off the area.
The disc began to vibrate and the people moved away from it.
There was a sound like a motorbike engine which grew louder and louder until everyone was forced to cover their ears to protect them from the deafening roar.
The disc rose up and disappeared into the sky. Whoever or whatever was inside had clearly decided that this planet had nothing to offer them.

Email

She typed and typed, the machine gun fire sound of her keyboard filling the office.
The email she had typed contained a scathing review of one of her employees. HR wouldn't like it, but it wasn't for their eyes. She was sending it to a colleague. They often both did this to relieve the monotony.
She read through what she had typed and correct a couple of spelling errors.
She clicked on send without realising it was now on its way to all.

Jungle

He walked slowly through the jungle. Where were the men?
Suddenly he heard a hollow sound from beneath his feet. He knelt and scraped back the undergrowth revealing a wooden trap door.
He opened it and saw a ladder descending into darkness.
He crossed himself and began to climb downwards.

Is There a Doctor in the House?

He was choking. His face was turning purple. He tried to shout for help, but couldn't. He tried to stand and crashed to the floor.
"Oh my God!" a diner at the next table exclaimed. "Somebody help."
Customers and waiting staff ran around, concerned and trying to help, but achieving nothing.
Was there a doctor present? Or someone, anyone who knew what to do?
There wasn't.
The man watched in agony from the floor as nobody helped him.

Directions

The motorist slowed down and opened the passenger-side window.
"Excuse me," he said to a woman on the pavement.
She turned and looked at the man.
"Do you know how to get to the hospital from here?"
The woman thought for a second.
"Sorry," she said, "I don't live around here. I've no idea."
"You don't know?"
"Sorry," she said again.
"How do you not know where the hospital is?"
"How do you not know where the hospital is?"
She walked away as someone walked past her in the opposite direction.
"Excuse me..." she heard again.

Jumper

His gran had bought him a jumper for his birthday.
"Do you want a new jumper?" she had asked.
"Yes please," he had replied. He meant no, but couldn't say it.
Now he opened the present and saw it staring at him. Where did she buy these horrendous garments? It was bright green with a purple and orange zigzag pattern running across the stomach. If that wasn't enough it also had red and yellow circles randomly placed across the chest and a strange black squiggly line from the middle of the neck to the waist.
"Do you like it?" she asked.
"It's the best jumper I've ever seen," he lied.

Ambulance

Their injury didn't look severe. Or did it? Nobody was sure and so they had called an ambulance.
The boy was sprawled on the ground, his ankle having taking the brunt of it all. A small circle gathered around him, concerned friends and Looky Lous.
The ambulance approached at speed across the yard.
It didn't slow and ploughed through the group who didn't have time to flee, the boy's ankle now trivial as the vehicle drove over his torso.

Too Early

Woke up at 4. Gave up trying to sleep and got up at 4:30.
Read the news, watched some videos, sent some emails.
Felt sleepy at 6:45. Went back to bed.
Alarm went off at 7.
Same time tomorrow?

Tickets Please

"Can I buy a ticket?"
The conductor looked at her as if she was talking a foreign language.
"Why?"
"I need a return."
He didn't have his ticket machine with him.
"It'll be fine."
"No, it won't. I need a ticket. Can you sell me one?"
"I'm afraid not."
Seconds later the conductor's demeanour changed.
"You don't have a ticket?"
"That's what I've been trying to tell you. I need to buy one."
"I'll have to issue you with a penalty notice for travelling without a ticket."
"But..."

The Takeover

"And soon these robots will be able to do everything we don't want to do," the man in the lab coat told the assembled press.
There was applause and cheering.
The seven foot robot whirred and turned towards the man. It reached out one arm and opened its hand.
The man picked up a control and pressed some buttons, his fake smile not hiding that something was wrong.
The robot grasped the man's throat and lifted him from the floor. It forced him through the wall and dropped him outside.
The crowd dispersed as the robot headed towards them.

The New Breed

He'd been a farmer for decades and in that time not much had changed. Until now. He'd noticed in the last few years that his sheep seemed to be getting bigger.
At first it was only a gradual increase in size, but now all his sheep were the size of cows.
They had started to become more aggressive too, to the point that he no longer dared go into the fields.
The fences could no longer hold them in and they barged through effortlessly, escaping and heading towards the power station from which they'd gained their strength.

Funeral

The casket was lowered into the ground and the weeping mourners made their way to the wake.
Earth was thrown over the wooden box until it was covered.
He woke up. Where was he? He reached out in the dark and felt wooden panels all around him.
He screamed.

Last

He stood and stared out over the sea.
The rolling waves that used to calm him having no effect now.
After the accident it had become worse and now here he was six months later, the last human.
He coughed and felt the familiar coppery taste of blood in his mouth.
He wondered how long he had left.

Files

She knew they were on the computer somewhere, but what had she called the files?
There were hundreds of files with nonsensical names, a jumble of seemingly random letters and numbers. They had to be among them somewhere. The dates and times were no help either as she couldn't remember exactly when they had been created.
After five hours of searching she resigned herself to the fact that they were lost. Her boss was not going to be happy.

Toast

She sat and ate her toast with Marmite. She knew that some people, most in fact, hated it, but that was their loss.
There was a knock at the front door.
She went to investigate. It was the postman with a letter that he said was too big for the letterbox although it clearly wasn't.
She returned to the table. The toast was gone.
Her dog sat under the table attempting to look innocent. The crust by his side and the crumbs in his whiskers told a different story.

Suit

He had taken the suit out of the wardrobe days ago to give it chance to air before his interview.
It was his lucky suit and he couldn't fail when he was wearing it.
He put it on and immediately felt as if he was invincible.
He slipped a hand into the inside pocket and felt a piece of paper. He took it out and was delighted to see it was a £20 note.
His phone rang. It was the woman who was going to interview him. Could he come earlier as the other candidates had all cancelled? she wondered.
The job was as good as his.
It was all down to the suit!
He left the house and was struck and killed almost immediately by a runaway dumper truck that had rolled down the bank after its handbrake failed.

Brief

The brief was delivered and the work was completed as requested.
"That's not what I wanted," he said, although it clearly was what he wanted - the brief stated so.
"What do you need changing?"
"This, this, this, this and this," he said pointing at various sections of the document.
"That's pretty much the whole thing. In what way does it need changing?"
"Look at the brief."
It was going to be a long night.

Compose

He sat and stared out of the open window on the third floor, looking down at the street below. A melody had come to him and he was imagining how it would sound played by a full orchestra. He smiled.
The man came out of the office on the other side of the street.
The man on the third floor pulled the trigger and then quickly disassembled his rifle.

Denouement

The dust had finally settled. It had been twelve days since the blast. It was unknown how many people had survived, but the death toll was going to be pretty high.
People had begun to venture outside, unsure as to whether it could prove fatal and if it didn't whether there was anything left to live for anyway.

Lollipops

"We've got none left."
The shopkeeper was apologetic for good reason, it was costing him money. The new lollipops were so popular. Kids wanted them all the time and now almost everywhere was sold out. Those shops that still had them had vastly inflated their prices and folk were still buying them. They would seemingly pay anything for these lollipops.
As the kids left the shopkeeper wondered what was in the lollipops. What made them so addictive?
A week later the first reported cases of drug overdoses were reported.
Deaths of thousands of children did nothing to halt the sale of the lollipops.
Within six months the population had halved and the lollipop company became the most powerful force in the land.

Timetable

"What do you mean you don't go into town?"
The driver sighed.
"I can't say it any clearer. This bus doesn't go into town."
"Why not?"
"It's the new route."
"But this is the 57, isn't it?"
"It's the 57A."
"What's the difference?"
"I don't go into town."
Another bus pulled around them as the conversation continued.
"Which bus does go into town then?"
The driver pointed at the bus which had just passed them.