“Hang on just a moment”, the midwife paused, every empty second confirming my fears. I knew I couldn’t do it, this pregnancy really was too good to be true. After all, what kind of creature would grow amongst such toxicity?

I tilted my head back, hearing the clinical crunch of the crisp white pillow, forcing a tear back to the clutches my eyes. I sighed. Just like that, the last ounce of hope had...

You’re hurting me. I don’t blame you, of course, I could never blame you. However I can’t pretend I don’t hear the lies this household tells.

It’s 8am and you’re using me. You’re choking your skin with that tan coloured tar, manipulating your face into an impossible smile.

By midday you’ll have used me again, maybe more than once. This time you do it quickly, a subtle wink in my direction, perha...

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

My lips teased him as the words hid stubbornly in the back of my throat. Despite the silence, my jaw jutted indecisively from open to closed, the beginnings of a thousand answers lost into the night air.

“I just, I don’t know it’s all so, well-” I rambled, by now my voice was a worn out gear in the engine of my brain, whining endlessly until a more irritating ...

I see her every night. She provides a melancholy form of company for my otherwise dull dreams, but is marched off by the daylight before I wake. I can only presume it’s a she, as her corseted waist is always draped in dark silk and her fingers caged in fine lace gloves. The heavy heels of her shoes pierce the ground beneath it, creating a trail of proud punctures wherever they go while the hem of ...