Slurping. Groaning. Mud in your eyes and mouth. Teeth aching.

Clambering onto the riverbank, you cough up a whole fish then a beetle.

Your reptile skin slithers off, glinting iridescent in the sunshine.

You shove and jostle into your human frame and shuffle on trembling legs towards the silver city.

Dettra Rose writes flash fiction and tiny poems.

Her pieces have won and been shortlisted/longlisted in a number of esteemed competitions, including: Bath Flash Fiction Award, Reflex Fiction, Retreat West, the Australian Writers’ Centre and TSS Publishing. Dettra is working on her first novel. A born-and-bred Londoner she now lives in Australia and calls both places home. Find her at Dettrarose.com.