Front line

There’s two worlds: mine, and other people’s. The first is a sea of fine sand, contained in an elevator shaft. It reaches up to my thighs. There’s a glimmer of sunshine coming in through the surface, not enough to lighten up the place, only to overcast it with penumbra. A vast expansion of emptiness. There’s nowhere to go, I’ve been […]

Waves

Surrounded by onyx waves, the island that for years has been my home and prison. There’s a myriad of doors, all leading to the same place differently. To a room with walls studded in paintings of stormy oceans. To another submerged, eggshell corals growing on window sills. My favourite opens up on the beach. Burgundy grains of sand, engraved with […]

Three of swords

A fortress in a desert of ash, where a family like no other lives, alone. A staircase in the shape of a seashell takes up the whole palace, a door for each floor, but they cannot be opened; nothing lays beyond them. Eyes shine behind its only window, looking down at the three children covered in cinder, who have been […]

Glowing darkness

‘There’s creatures in my wardrobe.’ I say. Not people, creatures. Their skin and hair melt into one another, both made form the same cloth of glowing darkness. Only their eyes are visible, they burst out of these sentient murks. They’re dim, yellow stars. There’s dozens of them, keeping still, staring. One has its limbs wrapped around the door, keeping it […]

You must be quiet

We have lunch in an abandoned restaurant.  Tables of black wood with matching chairs, we eat mushrooms with berries and drink pond water. We use napkins and a tablecloth of moss.  When we finish, a bird screeches, and I’m alone. The moon glows, hanging from our ceiling, surrounded by stars: a celestial chandelier. I walk off. The restaurant transforms into […]

They won’t hurt us

There’s a summer camp where I’ve spent a whole life of which I have no recollection. We drive past it and I notice a police car. Mum pulls in, to try and see whats going on, for I was set to spend another summer of vacant memories. Half of the camp structures are closed off. We ask the officers what’s […]

Spider Apricots

‘What do we need again?’  I grabbed a shopping basket and tried to visualise the list I had made that was now probably at the bottom of my bag, under a pile of receipts, gum wrappers, and who knows what else. There was no point in even trying to get it out of there.  Nothing. Not a single item on […]

Plane Jane

Jane awoke exactly ten minutes before her alarm rung, meaning it was now ten to five a.m. Her suitcase was packed, and her clothes for the day were neatly folded on her bedside table, along with the book she was currently reading. All Jane had to do was get dressed, lock up, and get in the cab. She could picture […]

The Bronze Lion

The wind was biting at my cheeks as I studied the cuts on my hands. How clumsy I had been! And pretty childish too, only so that I could climb the base of Nelson’s column. But what was I supposed to do? At least I hadn’t been silly enough to climb the bronze lions as well.  But now, as I […]

Pandora’s box

I had been wondering aimlessly in the wilderness, with no memory of my past life, before reaching the place. I saw the pretty, yellow mums growing in the salted ground. I guess miracles can happen. I saw the walls covered in ivy, as if they were hiding something. I saw the moss growing on trees to guide people and the […]