The cardboard package arrives on the doorstep an hour or so before you. Inside, the first fenestrations are just beginning to unfurl.
I shall come to see that the severing of our relationship enabled unbridled growth.
First, I approach the accidental memento with contempt and a pair of glistening secateurs.
Laura lives in London with twenty-four houseplants. This is her fourth 50-word story and she has recent work with The Phare Literary Magazine and Retreat West. She tweets at @laurarose_13.
A riot of colour beams from clinical white sheets: pale as the bedding, swamped by rainbow pyjamas, and clutching a box of Crayola. Through intravenous tubes, she perseveres with her drawings.
You’re handed the latest. Three recognisable figures, the littlest a sort of butterfly hybrid.
Eventually, everything dims but this.
Laura is taking the first tentative steps towards sharing her work. This is her third 50-word story and she has a piece upcoming with The Phare Literary Magazine. She tweets at @laurarose_13.
When he selects vanilla, you realise that you knew this about him. You pause, before ordering as you always do: a cup, two scoops, chocolate ice cream and lemon sorbet.
Clarity comes as the decadent sweetness is punctuated by a bitter acid tang.
You knew this about all of them.
Laura is taking the first tentative steps towards sharing her work. This is her second 50-word story.