Life is a joy for some, a sentence for others. A friend who helps us through, makes the worst things that happen to us bearable. Some believe in a spiritual part of our being, an invisible compass point on our anatomy that directs us with visible strength, evident when faced with adversity. Some vehemently do not believe in ghosts. Yet there is the inexplicable, which gives rise to questions: is it really ‘them’, can they return? If it all originates in our heads, why does the mind play games with us by making use of the dead in the midst of life to frighten us or help us through? There are times, though, when the mind does not even need a ghost, but presents challenges of such a strange nature that the sheer complexity of how it works makes us realise just how little we really know about the spongy thing on the top of our heads that rules every move.

Theories of Retribution | The owner of Mac, the badass cat, lives in a neighbourhood where odd characters are more the norm than ordinary folk. He and his pal Schultzy wonder whether wicked people might escape punishment for wrongdoing in this life, and get a rather unusual answer from an unexpected source. To Live or not to Live | Widowed Sofia has had enough. Her life has become a sad endurance test when her sons leave home and her ‘smothering’ affection. Her depression causes her to lose the will to live. However, a self-help book she mocks, sets her on a path to the past where she can ask her mother to let her die following a severe illness, rather than live to experience the sadness that her life has become. When she recites the mantra from the book, the Lord of the Universe, who answers her call, gives her more than she bargained for. The Curse | Wealthy Despina believes that someone has put the Evil Eye on her and goes to a fortune teller to see if she can find out whom and why. Her ensuing bad moods are often exercised on Patricia, her long-suffering, underpaid Filipina maid. The fortune teller is expensive and speaks in riddles as far as Despina is concerned, until what she has predicted happens and Despina gets the fright of her pampered life. Belief in the Possible | Nicos is lonely, his wife has died and his son has moved to Australia. Apostolos asks his father to go live with him and his family, but Nicos feels he’s too old. Age hits him in other ways. He wonders if he is losing his mind when his deceased friend and mentor, Professor Koufas, starts to appear to him when he considers ending his life. The Lighthouse | Old Tom lives in a disused lighthouse. He loves his life on the edge of the cliff and the company of Seth, the grandson of an old friend. Seth warns the old man that the rocks at the base of the building are starting to erode and it is time he should move out. Tom really has nowhere else to go and dreads the prospect of an old folks’ home. Events decide for him. The Boy | Dena is trying to solve the problem of why little Leftheris has stopped talking and will not let go of the old soft toy to which he constantly clings. Many child psychologists have tried to find the reasons for his withdrawal without success. Dena interviews the family and is almost sure that child abuse is not the cause. She goes to the now closed nursery school where Leftheris spent his early years and finds a clue that gives her a lead. But Leftheris is not the only child she knows who needs to be released from a troubled past. The Ghost Room | Ruso wins a lottery. He and his young family move away from rainy Ireland to sunny Cyprus where they have bought a grand old, renovated house in Pafos. Once word of the win and the new holiday island home spreads around the circle of people they know, guests begin to arrive, some nice, some unwanted. Being a self-proclaimed wimp, Ruso finds it hard to say no, till an old man who lives near by tells them the secret of the house and how they can use it to get rid of people they don’t like.