Geoffrey David West

I had just saved a man’s life, and I was deeply ashamed. If only I had killed him. The refectory for the staff of a large hospital is a desperate place in the early hours of the morning.  Weary and miserable doctors and nurses were relaxing alone or in twos and threes, legs outstretched, chins…

“It’s awful!  Ghastly!  Oh Chris, what have you done?” My teacher and I looked at the portrait I was trying to paint of our new model, Maria.   Peter was right.  I’d done everything I could to catch the likeness of the face of the attractive middle-aged lady perched on the chair in our studio, but…

“Oh Tony, you’re hopeless!  Why do you always forget everything?  Buying stuff, paying bills, remembering things we need to get?” “Sorry, I do try.” My wife was always reminding me how forgetful I am, and it’s true.  When I’m doing one thing I get caught up in it and forget everything else, so the little…

“I ran down this cyclist – knocked him off his bike and he may have been killed.  It was dark.  No one saw what happened and I just drove away.” As Malcolm had been talking, I noticed how dark it was outside, and just how claustrophobic and uncomfortable this tiny public house had become, especially…

The girl I had just had sex with screamed as we looked out of the window and watched the man strangle the woman to death. Panicking and terrified, all I could think of was to take a picture of his face on my phone, before he ran away. There was nothing we could have done…

“I was sacked from my job, came home in the middle of the day and found my wife in bed with another man.  So I lost my job and my wife all in one day.” “I’m so sorry,” said the stranger, who had joined me at the table in the corner of the room of…

“Ann had depression and had tried suicide before, but this time she succeeded.  I found her body.” “And after that the insomnia got worse?” “Yes,” I agreed with the psychiatrist.  I had been at Marley Grange for a fortnight now, and they kept asking the same questions, thinking they were helping me. “Before that I…

Yesterday morning I found out that I could never again do the job I loved, the occupation that had always been my greatest pleasure and my sole obsession.  It had not once occurred to me that working with miniature instruments to make tiny furniture for dolls houses requires rock-solid had movements and near perfect eyesight,…

“I’m going to destroy your life,” my boyfriend said, just before throwing the acid in my face. The next thing I remember is lying in bed in hospital, attached to tubes and wires, and feeling a great weight on my cheeks and mouth, which I later realised were dressings and bandages.  “And the plastic surgery…

“You need a cabbage.” “What?” “No doubt about it.” Cardiologist Dr Judder’s grin seemed to engulf his normally hangdog face as he gave me the news, and he glanced down at the angiography report on the desk in front of him. A CABG, or Coronary Artery Bypass Graft, otherwise known as a heart bypass operation,…