It was the first time she had ever scared him.

She sparked the lighter, the jerk of her arm sending the sharp jag of petrol to his nose. Then she was engulfed.

He pounded on the flames with fear-numbed fists.

It was the last time he would ever beat her.

Stephen McQuiggan is proof of Intelligent Design; evolution could never explain how this useless lump of slobber and gristle still manages to draw breath, or what function it could possibly serve. His first novel, A Pig’s View Of Heaven, is available now from Grinning Skull Press.