Background: Angela is shocked when William, an old friend from her past, who she hoped never to see again, comes back into her life, after he applies for a role at her work and successfully secures the job. William’s sudden reappearance puts Angela on edge. She’s terrified he’s discovered her secret, which she needs to protect her family from. William’s convinced Angela knows what happened to his former girlfriend, Caz, who hasn't been seen for twenty years, and that something terrible happened to her. The only person, who can help Angela, is her once best friend, Michelle, but Angela hasn’t seen Michelle for more than a decade. Faced with the threat of William’s return, they know they’ll need to work together to save their future, even if this does mean reopening old wounds, and revisiting a past they'd rather keep buried.

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The heat of the flames are warm on the cheeks of the figure standing a few paces away, as they lick up the side of the van, bright orange like the sunset this evening, crackling and popping as they devour their ensnared prisoner.

Inside it’ll be total confusion, panic; plaster will be crashing to the floor, it will be unbearable.

Closing their eyes, they allow the sound of the screams to wash over: the pleas for help, and then a guttural, unearthly noise. It stirs nothing inside.

They open their eyes. The van’s been taken over now, a vision of Hell, and it is beautiful.

September 2022

The rain is battering into my windscreen as I turn my Aldi into the only parking spot left in the car park.

The storm has made the roads nearly impassable, and my head is banging as I stare at the dashboard clock. My normal twenty minute journey has taken twice as long, and my foot is cramped from the effort of driving.

I’m twenty minutes late, which means I’m going to have to rush to get ready for the interviews, and I hate rushing, that’s when I start making mistakes. As I step out of the car my foot splashes into a deep puddle and the cold, dirty water seeps into my shoe and makes a grubby stain up my leg.

Not today, of all days. Olivia, my boss, will be wearing all her expensive designer gear as per usual, and I’m going to be sat next to her feeling like a peasant.

The windows of our building are misty and rain is drizzling from the gutters as I step gingerly across the potholed paths that lead to the big glass doors into reception.

I grasp the door handle; the metal cold and slippery against my skin, but something stops me from yanking it open. Movement to my right, a shadow, catches my attention. I watch as the silhouette of a man stands up and walks to the glass window of the room next to me. Water cascades down my cheeks, blurring my vision, but, there’s still something about him, something familiar. He moves away from the window and goes back to his seat. I shake the thought out of my head and dive into the building.

‘Get stuck in all that traffic, did you?’ Kirsty, my colleague, calls from reception. I flinch as the blast of heated air hits me in the face like a tropical summer breeze. Kirsty’s scrolling through Hinge, the latest dating app she’s trying.

‘Oh God yes,’ I reply, shaking off the rain from my jacket and leaving wet droplets on the floor, if only I could drive back home and change into a fresh pair of clothes, and start the day again. ‘It was a nightmare, took me forty minutes to get here from Hanningfield. Sorry, but I really need to hurry, Olivia’s going to be on the warpath.’

‘William’s already here, he’s your ten o’clock bloke, isn’t he, you know, for the interviews?’ Kirsty motions towards the room ahead of her. ‘He’s in the waiting room. That’s a good sign he’s here nice and early, isn’t it? Shows he must be keen, plus he’s not bad looking either, I hope I wasn’t too flirty with him when he arrived, I don’t want to put him off.’

‘Yes, crikey, it is,’ I say. ‘I caught a glimpse of him just now.’

I look to my left to William sat in the waiting room, the back of my neck prickling, there’s something about him that just, I don’t know, it just doesn’t sit right with me. There’s a half empty cup of coffee sitting on the table in front of him. Thank God he isn’t looking this way.

I spoke to Claire, the other person we’re seeing today, to arrange for her to come in for an interview, but I didn’t speak to William. I normally form a picture in my mind of what a person looks like, if I speak to them on the phone, although I’m rarely accurate with my predictions. It gives me a good laugh though.

Only the right hand side of his face is visible as I take a step closer. I move another inch further; my heart racing, if he turned his chair a bit to the right I’d be able to see him more clearly. He’s looking at his phone and he’s . . .  I stumble back, the heel of my shoe catching a crack in the marble floor, making me gasp. This isn’t real . . . this can’t be happening.

‘Everything okay, Angela?’                         

 ‘Um . . . yes . . . yes, fine,’ I say, moving my heels up and down to try and get my blood flowing through my veins. ‘I better get going. I’ll . . . I’ll see you at just before ten.’

I race across the reception to the lift and press the button more than once, as though that’ll help it arrive faster. Kirsty’s going to be watching me.  

Keeping my head down the moment the lift reaches the office floor, I sprint to my desk as fast as I can, not wanting to meet anyone in the eye. I spot few of my colleagues huddled in a group by the kitchen; they're keeping their voices low, probably trying to avoid alerting Olivia that none of them are at their desks yet, she’d be out here asking if calls were being made and if payments were being chased up if she was. She doesn’t mind a bit of chatting, and likes to join in the gossip herself on the odd occasion, but in her view, there needs to be a balance. Something, some of my colleagues, can’t seem to grasp.

‘Tea, Angela?’ one of them calls, raising their cup.

I shake my head. ‘No, don’t worry. I’m fine.’

Laughter bounces around me as I dump my car keys on my desk and remove my soaking denim jacket, which I sling over the back of my chair, wincing as I notice the toothpaste stain on my shirt. I glance in the direction of the bathroom, but there are too many people congregated in that area, too many people that might stop and chat to me. I’ll nip in later to wash it off, there should be enough time before the interviews.

Like always my eyes fall on the photograph I keep by my computer, taken in Greece last summer. I trace my fingers over the olive trees and the brilliant white of the homes on the hillside in the background. The three of us are standing arm in arm; my daughter, Rebecca is sandwiched between Paul and me, the sun glinting on her chestnut hair. We had such a lovely time, it was actually one of the best holidays we’d had in a while. We celebrated her nineteenth birthday that week in Greece. ‘Mum, for God’s sake, everyone’s looking at me,’ she’d said, burying her head in her hands as the waiters and guests in the packed out hotel restaurant sang a horribly out of tune happy birthday to her, while Paul got it all on video.

I wipe my eyes and breathe in the calm the photo’s instilled in me as I sit on the end of my chair.

‘Angela, we need to get prepared for the interviews,’ Olivia shouts from her office. I resist the urge to roll my eyes, of course, she doesn’t want to ask if I’m okay, there might’ve been an emergency behind the reason I was late. ‘You should’ve been here half an hour ago.’

Please not now, I just need five minutes to myself. I stand up and smooth out the creases from my trousers. I haven’t even had a coffee yet, Paul jokes I can’t function of a morning without a caffeine hit.

The rest of my colleagues have started to return to their desks. Someone’s phone’s ringing.

Here we go. I force a smile; pull at the damp ends of my frizzing ginger hair, and cross the room towards her office. ‘All ready,’ I say, stepping through, closing the door behind me. Please don't let her spot the toothpaste stain. ‘Sorry, it was the traffic that made me late. Where do you want to start?’

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Character List:

Angela Watkins - Protagonist 

Paul Watkins - Angela's husband

Rebecca Watkins - Angela's daughter 

Michelle Blake - Angela's former best friend 

Kirsty - Receptionist (Angela's friend) 

Olivia - Angela's boss

William Harris - Angela's former friend 

Caroline (Caz) - Angela's friend 

Hayley - Angela's former friend

Lauren - Angela's former friend