I light the match and immediately blow it out. Today there are 146 of them lying in formation, waiting their turn for the pyre. Later, I cram the burnt offerings into three matchbox coffins and record their numbers. 2936. 2937. 2938. I carefully place them on the crowded wooden table,[…]
He had promised her that he’d live until his 90th. The doctor sighed, lowered his head and closed the front door behind him. Slowly, she climbed back upstairs and entered their bedroom of seventy years. Her lips felt the cold of his forehead. ‘You promised not to die. You promised.’[…]
Your clothes are shredded and 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 nightmare.[…]
Carol carefully loads the old, wooden trolley. For the last time, she trundles her way to the far corner of the library, where the travel section sits. Before Joe’s illness, this was an area where she spent many lunch times, planning and dreaming. Asia; shelved. America; shelved. She turns back[…]
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[…]