I knew it was going to be , one of those days. The kinda of day where anything that could go wrong actually goes wrong. I woke in the morning in a panic, fuelled by the stress of the week and a holiday at my brothers I took the week before - it felt like the world had squished me between glass and now was sucking the air out of my lungs. I had gotten dressed into my interview outfit , a navy suit from Japan. Modest and silk, it was a thing to beyond by due to my short stature, made me look much like a school girl from a certain angle. I ran to the car, keys in hand, promptly driving myself down the a30 to the interview.

Then as I approached the carpark, scarcely fifteen minutes to spare the back pain started…

It was a twinge of pain at first, then it burned. It burned like scolding water on my back, scraping and searing oval focal points of pain in my upper back. I heeled over myself , abruptly stopping the car as I did and hauled my way over to the door , practically doubled.

A lady in a tight black suit rushed out shocked by my performance on the company’s doorstep.

“Please” I breathed “get an ambulance or something-“ I let out an agitated moan, her expression seemed pained as she outstretched a hand to support me. All so lady like , too ladylike given the circumstance.

“Y-yes of course ma’am…” she took a double take towards the gathering of colleagues by the glass, peering for a view of the potential employee making a fool of themselves.

“Do you have a bathroom perhaps”- a rush of pain anguished through my body and I let out another yelp, thrown to the floor by my own force and toppled upon the hard gravel and a scratchy welcome mat.

The pain seemed to be extending through my skin, pushing against it. By instinct I removed my blazer, as carefully as I could manage, holding it against my chest. The skin on my upper back stretched and foiled and soon felt like it was on fire.

I could not longer utter words, and the pain left me immobile beneath the floor. In two more yelps and what felt like the longest minute of my life , bone seemed to push towards the place where my skin was on fire.

The lady’s eyes grew wide and she took my arm, made a gesture towards the peered gathering and ushered me inside, part dragging me across the floor , part lifting me with the assistance of a larger gentleman in a white shirt and scarlet tie.

The room I was thrusted in was plain , surgical and appeared to have no windows. It strained my eyes and the artificial light blared my vision into streams, mixing with my pain in a panic induced visual trance.

The pain has spiked and I removed my shirt to the prompt surprise and tutting of both individuals. I was glad to do so by the change in their expressions , utter disbelief. The lady’s mouth dropped and the man took clumsy steps backwards.

“What on earth…” he reached for the phone hung next to the door “we have a code 871, we need so assistance in room 1h, please. Quickly. “ steady and consistent his tone faded towards the end of his sentence, as if the shock of the gawning bones extending from my back, skin taunt had stolen his words .

Breathless I felt like that was it, I could bare the pain no more just when there was a distinctive ‘break’.

The skin had broken! Quite frantic and in numbness shock I attempted to turn my head and peer behind my shoulder. The blood , splurged upon the gentleman’s shirt and the ladies skirt , the floor, the walls and promptly the phone that was now within its holster once more. Blood. It took me a moment , my blood, I processed the scene - it felt unreal. Until from beneath the blood the so called bone I sensed flattered feathered .

When I was younger , I would visit the park with my mother feeding the ducks bread crusts and seeds for a little material bag and watching the creatures gathers feathers flailing . This was not unlike the flurry of feathers then, they were drawn wide and long and poked out of the bone in bundles and bundles.

One thing was true: this job interview was interrupted.