M.K. Lee's Blog: Telling Tales, page 102
December 21, 2019
Winter Tales – Bleak
There is no other way to describe it. The view from their hotel room is bleak. Everything is under a blanket of snow that ascends up to join the sky. It’s almost as though every colour has been drained from the world.
Apart from in this room, Matthias thinks, stepping back from behind the deep red curtains and pulling it across. Max is sprawled out on the bed on the verge of sleep, his bright green Christmas pyjamas against the gold of their bed sheets in stark contrast to that whiteness...
December 19, 2019
Picture
When you took your picture down,
You replaced it with a forest scene
In which I spent the night
Lost in my search for the you
I created in my mind.
A forest of familiar places and carpeted with feelings
That weren’t new to me,
But always have been a part of you.
When you took your picture down,
I could no longer take that secret peek
That made me feel like you were still here with me
Instead of where you’ve always belonged,
With her.
No matter how much I tell myself you’re wrong,
I’ve been...
December 18, 2019
Letting Go to Start Over – Chapter 3
When Alan wakes, it doesn’t even take him a matter of seconds to know that something is different. The ceiling above him is not his own, the bed beneath his back is absolutely not memory foam, and the feel of the sheets between his fingers speaks of material far coarser than that of his own comforter.
Alan lifts his head, regrets it instantly, the room giving a violent lurch and reminding him a little of the previous night. He’d drank too much, far, far too much, had known exactly the point...
Winter Tales – Socks
“Socks. Has to be socks. What else could it be?” Max asks as he squeezes the parcels just dropped off from his Uncle Todd.
“Looks like the right kind of size for socks,” Matthias agrees, adding another present from the bag to the pile.
“I bet they’re those thick hand-knitted things he gets when he’s in Finland.”
“I hope so. They were great last year. Hey, what do you think this one is?” Matthias asks as he shakes another package and the two of them listen to it rattle.
“Urgh. That weird...
December 17, 2019
Silence
Why do people always describe silence as deafening?
It isn’t noise.
Silence has no adjustable volume at all.
It’s a presence,
A weight closing in and sitting on your chest making your heart beat fast,
Coiling around your throat like some squeezing tentacle making you gasp for air.
It’s an emptiness,
A hollowness, really,
Like you can’t tell at any moment if the floor is about to give beneath your feet,
As though you’ve been ejected into some vacuum of space.
If anything, silence is a voice,
...
Winter Tales – Shivering
Max is shivering when he comes back in from putting the bin out for collection in the morning, diving under the throw they have on the couch and shuddering for the cold.
“How bad?” Matthias asks, but the question is answered for him when he reaches out to take Max’s hand and ends up warming it between his own.
“There’s already ice on everything,” Max says, sitting cross-legged and sticking his toes beneath Matthias’ thigh to warm up.
“I’m glad you’re not working tonight. They said it was...
December 15, 2019
New Fuel
So many songs remind me of you,
You’ve become the soundtrack to my life.
A single note raises a bittersweet smile.
A chorus can stab like a knife.
But the problem here is me:
I’m the one sat here at this piano stool,
Mastering scales thatI already know.
My muse needs new fuel.
Winter Tales – Garland
“That is one hell of a garland,” Matthias mutters half-under his breath as Max’s mum ushers them into her home.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she gushes, gesturing for both of them to duck a little so she can kiss their cheeks. “All of it is real, handmade by that garden centre over in the village. You know, Max; the one with that girl who used to be in your class.”
“Sarah?” Matthias hisses as they watch her disappear into the kitchen still talking. “The one she had designs on for you?”
“We...
December 14, 2019
Letting Go to Start Over – Chapter 2
“Mornin’, Alan.”
Alan waves at his neighbor Wendy going in the opposite direction but doesn’t answer, concentrating instead on the final stretch of his ten-mile run. His limbs burn with the good kind of stretch of exertion, his head is clear, and the air is fresh as he sucks it into his lungs. He spares a glance for the pond to the side of the path he’s taking through the park, smiling as a fish breaks the surface for a moment, but otherwise notices nothing else.
Satisfaction seeps into his...
Winter Tales – Bare
“It’s a bit bare.”
Max pauses from hanging up the last of his decorations on the Christmas tree at the sound of Matthias’ voice, turning to look at him in reproach.
“Yeah, well, I wanted to make a start with what I had,” he says in defence. He turns back to the tree and Matthias smiles as he watches Max try to flare out the tinsel he’s wrapping around it to make it look more full, failing completely.
“I know,” Matthias agrees, walking up behind him and kissing the back of his neck.
“And...
