Prologue I have a heart for every soul I have ever morphed into. Family members are all alike, at least this family is. They are all the same version of the same person. And I am them. I exist only to show them their worst selves, their truest selves, whether they want to see it or not. To pick at […]
Prologue Present ‘Anger can eat you up, from deep inside you, if you are not careful.’ ‘It will consume you until there is nothing left.’ ‘It will eat you alive.’ I know. *** I have a bracelet made of salt around my right wrist. From it, a lucky charm in the shape of a dark eye hangs, light as water. […]
I don’t like sharing. Every time I do, there’s someone ready to spoil it. To eat the last slice of a cake I made that I was saving for myself, to steal the scarf I had spent the past two months carefully knitting, to twist what had happened and tell me “they didn’t mean it, it means nothing.” So I […]
Present My mother was never one to protect her children from anything they might scar, or scare, them. Life is tough, the sooner you get used to it, the better. While most children watched cartoons and read fairy tales, I grew up with her black and white horror tapes. Darkness, spirits, and cults became my playmates. I remember watching her […]
Who will be the next…ladies and gents say it with me…Temporary Monarch? Prologue. Temporary Monarchs: the most followed gameshow of all time. Every family tunes in once a year to watch it, but not mine, not this time. It was yesterday when my brother threw my bedroom door open and hurled one of my stuffed animals at me. ‘Look up.’ […]
I couldn’t burn it or someone would smell it. I couldn’t bury it or it would be noticeable, or throw it away, as someone would find it. I had no other choice. I grabbed it and pretended it was moth wings. Night fell as I slowly ate, and midnight came as I finished it. ‘Heart eating a heart.’ I could […]
My immediate thought was that I needed to get rid of my dew water. It was going to take me weeks to be able to fill up the whole jug again, if not longer. He smiled at me, still holding her heart. ‘Cœur.’ He said. ‘Seems fitting for you to be the one to catch me.’ ‘Only an idiot wouldn’t.’ […]
False violet, Robin runaway, Star violet. Dewdrops. I have always been fascinated by dew, ‘The waters which spring from the heart.’ I had always thought it a metaphor, or a legend to explain it, emerged from a less scientifically developed era. Many people of the past viewed dew as an elixir for immortality, a substance that originated from the tree […]
Catching moths is surprisingly easy. I learnt this as a child after my brother cut the palm of my hand open with our dad’s swiss knife. He licked the blade clean and left me to bleed out in our kitchen. Our parents were both out, I can’t remember where but I know we had run out of plasters. Afraid of […]