HOLIDAY HOSTAGES
High days and holidays are times to celebrate - and times when crooks can strike as people feel more secure that nothing can spoil their day. Read tales of victims whose holidays go wrong...
They met in a bar one night before Christmas - and then fate brought them together...
Sometimes, the Thanksgiving meal is only the beginning...
New Year's Eve, or Hogmanay where I grew up, is a time for celebration and party - so long as you are allowed to...
I may have been listening to Kate Bush, I may not...
The day after Thanksgiving - traditionally the busiest day in the retail market in the US, so the replacement manager knows her three female workers are going to be busy. She has no idea just how busy - or who they are...
Three girls get together for an evening gathering, only to be interrupted by two burglars - but they have a secret that their captors learn of at their cost...
Easter is a time to enjoy Hot Cross Buns - and there are two hot, cross bunnies in this story.
August, West London, and the Notting Hill Carnival is in full swing - for everyone except Celeste and her family, that is. They have a more binding issue to deal with.
This little story for Halloween is borught to you courtesy of some drawings by Hiro - see if you can work out which drawings as a reporter tells a friend of a series of robberies that may have more than people see behind them.
Two years have passed, and Veronica is disturbed by strange dreams. As she visits a local dignitary, she finds out she may not be the only one...
A new Changeling has arrived and is turning to crime - what can be done...
Where did the Changeling spirit originate...
One of the spirits has fun...
Not one, but a family of spirits...
Five days to Christmas, and someone is being busy...
They had a party, and then things got strange...
Double Third Festival - Part 1
Yet another Chinese festival which the two girlfriends Lauren and Miaohua celebrate. But danger lurks...
Double Third Festival - Part 2
Will Laura survive? What happened to Miahua?
After a year in China, Laura and Miaohua have become very close friends, so when she is invited to be part of a Dragon Boat crew she galdly accepts - only for the two girls to become even closer...
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One man comes home for the Easter weekend to find his family playing a game - or is there something else going on?
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Celebrating all that is fine in European music this May...
For this store owner in Ottawa and her family, Canada Day is going to be a far more unusual time this year.
I originally wrote this story as a Halloween tale, but it was easily the most popular of this group of tales.
Who would have thought buying an Easter present for a loved one would lead to an encounter with an old 'friend' visitng the area.
Three years ago, Steve and his sisters were bound and gagged at home. Time for a surprise...
She was invitied to join a very special group....
From the pen of Amanda Lu, a girl's first Chinese New Year away from home has an unexpected twist....
December 1973, and Elton John, Wizzard and Slade are battling for the Christmas number one. For the staff of the branch of Clydeside Bank, however, the evening of Christmas Eve takes on a rather different tone....
A busy Christmas Eve for one constabulary....
Jay Edwards, Mrs McPhee and an old friend are about to make Christmas exciting for one family....
When Brian and Sarah call MArk and Yvonne to the States in November, it's for a good reason....
A special story from Spandexman....
Three students get lost, and call at a mysterious house....
A seasonal tale....
The two intruders thought they had the mother and her daughter under control - they were wrong....
For Valentine's Day, Mark makes sure his mother and her partner have a very special day....
Midsummer is a big holiday in some Scandanavian countries, particularly Denmark - so it's a good excuse to scratch an itch I've had since I visited Denmark as a teenager lo those many years ago...
An invitation to celebrate a Chinese festival for this diplomat's daughter takes a rather unexpected and frightening turn...
Intruders Beware...
She asked her grandmother how she and her grandfather wpent theirs ...
The party was a chance for a night out for Harriet and Eleanor - but old friends, and friends of friends, await them...
Why has someone targeted these four women today of all days...
One Halloween night, Ruth and her mother are attacked by two men in their home as their father is taken away. When ti looks as if they are in mortal danger, something comes ot their aid - but what?...
May Day celebrations can take all sorts of strange forms - none more so than in certain English villages, where the festivals often involve dancing around the May Pole. In this tale of long fermented revenge, however, the three maidens fair have an even greater attachment to the ceremony...
Over forty years, the occupants of a block of flats share one experience...
"The 5th of November, Gunpowder, Treason and Plot...." For Tara and Lucinda, this is one Guy Fawkes Night they won't forget in a hurry.
Repeat Appointments - Valentines
Nadia has gone to meet Tom - and he has a special day planned...
The 25th of January for all Scots is Burns Night - and as a Scot, I choose to celebrate in ways both traditional and not so traditional.
A late Halloween - or early Christmas - spooky tale...
For Pippa, it was meant to be a Christmas Party for her clients and guests they would always remember. Turned out that was what happened - but not for the reasons Pippa expected, as some special guest stars invite her guests to take a little trip...
Forty years, one family, and every Christmas something happens...
For your entertainment...
A little late, but the rest are here...
'Tis the season - with Dolls, Songs, a Cat and other joys...
More festive songs and tales...
Some late stories...
Tales for our times...
I've got a handful of songs...
More festive vignettes...
For your consideration...
They're back...
Songs and Stories oh my...
Christina and Toni had a reputation for home invasions - but this home had a surprise waiting upstairs...
Wartime Scotland - and as a mother and daughter are held hostage, their protector calls...
Ouija boards are not toys - as these two couples discover...
For many of the bright young things in the UK, 21st June is the perfect time to hold a Summertime Ball. If you were to ask Tara and Lucinda, however, you may get a different view on that day...
Written for the US holiday, it's still IMHO a good tale of ordinary folk held hostage.
The surgery Christmas party was interrupted...
But which one is which...
St Valentine's Day, and Tara and Lucinda have plans - plans that get rather rudely interrupted.
A tale of St Patrick's Day, two barmaids in an Irish bar, and some very stylish criminals
A cautionary tale
Beware of the night...
A tale of natural justice...
Coleen is Boston Irish - but that does not help her when an uninvited guest drosp in on the 17th of March.
On a snowbound night in the family home, Juliette Huntingdown reads of an ancestor - and then learns her story in 18th century Massachusetts...
Many English towns and Villages have their own festivals at Easter or Spring - let's drop in on one...
A classic poem gets a slightly unusual twist...
The St Valentine's Day Kidnapping
An old abandoned warehouse - the perfect place to keep victims while the ransom is negotiated. Or is it...
Things that go mmph in the night...
How else do you celebrate the day...
So, I run a poll on my DeviantArt page, asking which idea people would like to see for Thanksgiving 2010, and there is a three way tie - kidnapping at a display, home invasion and restaurant robbery. For better or worse, here's the response...
They were heading to a party - but they never made it...
I try something completely different, as three couples arrange to spend Halloween night in an empty house - or is it?
Normally Santa comes with presents for everyone in his sack. The one who has been at the grotto in Harpers, however, has something very different in mind - and the family of the store owner are part of his plans...
Whysper and Valkyria - Silent Night
A festive tale...
A few days before Christmas, and all over the house, not a thing is stirring - save the two burglars who just want to get out of the house. Then the first housemate comes home...
It's Chinese New Year, and for one family in Hong Kong the fireworks are all too real and close to home. What they don;t know is why the raid is taking place, who ordered it - and why their mother agrees to talk to the leader of the gang...
Revenge can taste so sweet...