I was warned not to eat anything. There are agents all around me. They use food as a weapon. They want to destroy me. They want to poison me. They want to enchant me, control me and destroy me at all costs.

Plate after plate of the most fragrant and delicious food in laid down by the servers. Chicken, beef, ham, and rices cooked in various spices. Chips!! Real chips, chip shop chips. None of tha...

I needed you the most back then,

abandoned, abused, confused, uncertain-

You lost your cool with me and who can blame you?

I know I am a pain.

I took it on myself, it was my fault you left.

I was too much of a mess.

It was my fault.

Missing you has been my burden I've been glad to bear. And even though we don't talk anymore, I will say kind words about you....

Grace was acutely aware that every step she took was on ground they had once trodden together. Every pavement, cobblestone, gravel path, shop floor. This was their old stomping ground and every place with imbued with significance in her mind because the memories of his presence hovering over it. Does he think this too as he walks around our little town? It's been eighteen years. He'd probably move...

Ahem. Knocking softly. He might be asleep. I hear the creak of a bed spring and then his big flat feet on the floorboards. The door unceremoniously opens. He's standing there. Wearing, hmm three sweaters I'd say. Beanie hat. Ripped jeans. Simpsons slippers.

'Y'alright Mate?'

'Yeah just wondered if you wanted to chip in for some ingredients pal. My mum's lent me her crockpot you see. Thought I'd ma...

'Well done Julie, you absolute superstar. You've saved that little boy.' Mitzi gushes whilst sloshing red wine into my obnoxiously large fish bowl glass.

'Well - it wasn't just me. It was a collaborative effort you know? When multidisciplinary teams communicate right. It works well. It's how it should be."

"Too right my darling. You've got all these teams - police, social workers, doctors, teacher...

It's New Year's Day 2010. Harriet has a hangover, regrets meltdown behaviour night before, thinks back to the start of her love affair with Josh. Flashback 5 years. Josh and Harriet meet and enjoy one another's company, both introverted, shy and troubled with childhood wounds and difficult relationships with their fathers, they feel an instant affinity . Start drinking together recreationally. Ha...

I am still recovering from the pneumonia so I'm sleeping a lot in the day. I didn't have my glasses on when you telephoned. You told me to look out the bedroom window towards the grove. I see an outline of a person, in a soldier's uniform and it looks like they are climbing a tree but I can't make it out. I reach up for the high shelf, but somehow bang my head and fall back. I must've been bla...

I made it! There's hardly a cloud in the sky and the October sun hits my face as I pause for a moment at the edge of the quarry. I clunk my bottle out of my bag and take a long, deep swig.

I feel as though I'm looking down at a painting. Nothing about this scene reminds me

of anything. My eyes see it, but my brain rejects it.

There was a time when such beauty would touch a deep place inside me. ...