Pain usually sat on Emily's ches like a large boulder that constricted every breath, pinning her to her bed for days on end.



Lately the pain had moved to her throat, stealing her words so all she could do was sob and grunt.



She was beginnning to think that all the unsaid words would choke her and that she would be found dead in her tiny studio surrounded by the tokens of her half-lived life.



The solace usually found in gin stopped working weeks ago but she kept… Continue

Pedalling hard up the hill Christine noticed that her shoelace had wrapped itself around the crank arm again, despite making sure the laces were tucked in tightly behind the tongue of her sneakers before jumping on the bike.



Pulling up along side a parked 16 wheel truck she worked the lace free.



Some days she felt elated when she rode her bike, the days when she caught all the green lights and she made good time riding across town to her day job as a librarian at a… Continue

She wanted to believe them when they told her she was beautiful but Alice Hawthorn was ugly on the inside. A fraud, a cheat, a monster, pedaling lies everyday of the week. Her facade was cracking and she could feel the ugliness seeping out like a toxic plume over a heavily industrialised city. With the help of the studio make-up team she was primped and primed. Walking down the short corridor past the cameras, she fixed her smile as she sat down behind the  news desk. Good evening…

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Monica sat down to write at the same time everyday, she needed the routine and discipline, otherwise the valuable time  time before the kids came stomping in from school just slipped away.

Her target today 1000 words of excellent prose.

The harsh light and the noisy fan of the computer accused her of procrastination but Monica wasn't going to listen to that bullshit, with her hands poised over the keyboard she took a deep breath and dived in. 

Hours later she became…

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The man that sat across from Leslie on the train was ordinary in nearly every way except he smelt amazing. She caught a whiff of him as he squeezed past her in the confined space of the carriage, the aroma was spicy. She searched through her memories to try and place the smell, was it cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice or a masala. Leslie could taste it but her palate was too inexperienced, as he stood to leave she tried to smell him again and felt foolish.  The smell haunted her all…

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