It only took them thirty minutes, to clear Vera’s home of 70 years. The man from Treasured Past was both professional and ruthless. He quickly decided whether it was skip or shop. Vera’s full life, rapidly emptied after death. Faded labels, hanging on some of the items, were ignored as[…]
This silence is new; one I’ve not heard before. He’s communicating in a different language. Before today, I’ve managed to translate all my husband’s silences. There are so many. Silence of ignoring. Muzzled boredom. Wordless sulking. Fingered sign language. And the classic; storming away and feigning a loss of hearing.[…]
I’d made it invincible. High walls, studded with ribbed shells, reinforced with wooden lolly sticks. Colourful plastic flags, unmoved by the stiff breeze, supported the central tower. The deep moat added further re-enforcement. Dad stood over my masterpiece and stared out at the rapidly encroaching sea. Any fears of destruction[…]
Your screwed-up clothes are sitting in flimsy charity bags. Letters, turned to ash, like the empty promises they contained. My phone, scrubbed clean of photographs. Yet I still see you, haunting every crevice of my day. And at night, you innocently stroll around my dreams, oblivious of my nightmares. […]
Crouching behind damp reed baskets, she nervously watches the armed sailors patrol. Before dawn, hunger had forced her to clamber aboard. She stole three pieces of brown fruit from the galley and stored them deep inside her filthy skirt. Her daughter will eat like the captain tonight. More sword brandishing[…]
I watch the onion peel tumble slowly into the bin. The crinkled, purple skins settle on the red roses I’d shoved in there hours earlier. The two colours sit uneasily together. Crumpled white tissues, caught on the thorns, create the perfect backdrop. There in the trash, lies the most beautiful thing I[…]
They ceremoniously tied the knot, on a sunny afternoon, in St Augustine’s. She never dreamt that it would come undone. But, as the months passed, she became unraveled and her nerves frayed. Violence was always close at hand. And foot. Today, she had gathered her tools of defence; a stool[…]
Mum whispered, ‘Uncle John will be staying with us. He’s lost his way.’ I decided to help him find where he was going. I gift wrapped a map for him. Then, days later, taped my compass back together and showed him how to use it. Last week, I bought him[…]
He reaches across my face, to accept the drink. His muscular, hairless arm is very close to my lips. I gently blow a warm breath over it and innocently close my eyes. Settling back, we share the sticky arm rest. A gentle push marks my territory. The lack of resistance[…]
When I moved here, you were very small. Not able to reach the open lock on the gate. Now, you tower over me, leaving me in your shade. A hidden, incurable disease has suddenly turned your height into a danger. It has been left to me to bring you down[…]