The Painted Man

By Colin Garrow

When recently bereaved Julia and her young daughter move into a new house, the little girl talks about seeing a man outside. Later, finding drawings depicting this same man—drawings that are too accurate to have been produced by her seven-year-old—Julia assumes they must have already been in the house. But then the images start to appear elsewhere...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Colin Garrow
• Release date: Nov 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005245771

Colin Garrow

Colin Garrow grew up in a former mining town in Northumberland. He has worked in a plethora of professions including: taxi driver, antiques dealer, drama facilitator, theatre director and fish processor, and has occasionally masqueraded as a pirate. All Colin's books are available as eBooks and most are also out in paperback, too. His short stories have appeared in several literary mags, including: SN Review, Flash Fiction Magazine, Word Bohemia, Every Day Fiction, The Grind, A3 Review, 1,000 Words, Inkapture and Scribble Magazine. He currently lives in a humble cottage in North East Scotland where he writes novels, stories, poems and the occasional song.

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The Painted Man

By Colin Garrow

Distributed by Smashwords

Copyright 2021 Colin Garrow

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The house sat at the far end of the lane, set back from the road. To the side and beyond were fields which gave way to woods and further on, the river. Its neighbours consisted of a dozen or so houses lining one side of the lane opposite grassy pastures that stretched all the way across the valley to the mountains in the west. Words like secluded and chocolate-box picturesque sprang to mind.

Julia pulled up just past the house, allowing room for the movers’ truck to back into the driveway. Switching off the engine, she leaned over the seat.

‘What d’you think?’

The girl in the back looked up from her iPad. She turned to gaze at their new home. ‘Looked bigger when we saw it before.’

Her mother smiled. ‘Houses always look bigger when you first see them. But it’s big enough, isn’t it? Lots of space for you to play and a huge kitchen for me.’

The girl dropped her head to the screen again. ‘It’s not Manchester.’

Julia grimaced. ‘It’s pretty, though, don’t you think?’

The girl glanced