M.K. Lee's Blog: Telling Tales, page 126
January 27, 2019
Diary Drabble: Paralysed
It isn’t fear that’s paralysed Colin, nor dreading what he can’t know. He is paralysed, not for second-guessing, nor waiting to be the punchline of a joke. It’s the certainty that settles in around his shoulders like a comforting blanket.
Jack loves him. Jack wants to be with him always. Colin can already picture the house, dogs, and garden that will one day be their home. It is so crystal clear, so vivid, that Colin imagines he’s taking a picture of it. Every detail of their life together s...
Diary Drabble: Tissue
His skin was tissue paper thin. Red, cracked, and weeping. Often inflamed to the touch. The only relief to be found was a thick, stodgy cream that took forever to dry, and left a chalky white stain behind.
Laundry day was an adventure; would this be the week he took against the detergent that had been just fine for months? Would his freshly clean sheets suddenly need changing because his skin decided to be outraged at the softener currently clinging to the cotton?
Oh, to have normal skin tha...
Diary Drabble: Wound
“Are you sulking?”
Irwin turns his shoulders away from Amir just enough to answer in contrast to his emphatic, “no.” Amir’s snort of laughter does nothing to improve Irwin’s mood.
“Oh, really?”
A soft kiss to the crown of Irwin’s head before the sofa dips beside him has Irwin looking up and trying not to smile.
“Let me see your wound.”
Amir draws Irwin’s hand into his lap, gentle thumbs either side of the gash on his palm.
“It’s just a papercut. A bad one.”
“We’ll need to amputate.”
“Are you...
Diary Drabble: Conglomerate
Craig worked in the finance department of an international conglomerate. Quincy made furniture from recycled materials. Craig was vegetarian, and Quincy felt cheated if his dinner included no meat. Craig was shy when dancing unless drinking, yet Quincy always first on the dancefloor. And there was love, so much love between them. A shared outlook on the world around them, and a patient ear when that world too miserable to bear alone. Happy, in every way. Which is why those who love only melod...
Diary Drabble: Dignity
Pleading with his body for some dignity, Saul’s stomach kept rolling though didn’t give its final protest until he got home. He should have known that sandwich tasted funny, Saul thought, as he hauled himself up on shaky limbs, only to be retching again.
By the time his stomach was empty, Saul was a watery-eyed mess. Glaring at his reflection as he brushed his teeth then swilling his mouth with mouthwash for good measure.
His throat was dry, his knees trembling. Saul took himself to bed. A...
Diary Drabble: Arrest
The first arrest was made on a sleep Sunday morning when half the street were still recovering from their Saturday nights. Bundled into a police van with a coat covering their heads.
The usual whispers started. Muslim. Brainwashed. Immigrant.
The second arrest meant the press couldn’t call them a lone wolf. And the third, the assumption these terrorists insane. Just regular people who decided their views were the only ones worth following. That only they were right.
Tables were turned on Chr...
January 26, 2019
The Building
This building is old. It has worn many identities, been both home and safe haven, yet also a horror for some of its occupants. There have been fights, failings, fortunes, and famines. Laughter, love, and so much life. But there has also been death, and despair, the everyday demands of what it is to be living. The building has seen so much that it is almost as though the building lives itself.
Some people remain with the building. Walk its halls, peer out its windows, long after they have liv...
January 25, 2019
Nothing More
It’s the wind. It’s the extractor fan rattling, a stiff breeze coming in through the closed front door. The cold whisper over your shoulders nothing more than a blast of cold air.
It’s the building. It’s the neighbours shuffling furniture, the brickwork expanding in the sun’s heat, poor workmanship that’s led to uneven, creaky floors. The knock to the desk beside you nothing more than its wood settling.
It’s you. Your overactive imagination sees shadows when there are none. Your irrational th...
January 23, 2019
Getting Lucky
I am not this lucky.
Lewis stares up at his bedroom ceiling in a silence that only comes of it being the middle of the night, and lets his fingers creep across the mattress, until they come into the reassuring contact that is skin on warm skin.
Sebastian doesn’t even stir.
But even though there is bare skin right there beneath his fingertips, Lewis still doesn’t believe it, has to turn his head to the side to make sure there really is a warm body beside him in his bed, that his imagination is...
January 20, 2019
Diary Drabble: Damn
“You don’t mean it.”
Nathan’s heart was in his throat. This couldn’t be it, couldn’t be the end of everything after three whole years.
They’d started to build a life together, already shared a home. Their families met and mingled, and there had even been some heartfelt conversations about having kids. So he couldn’t be hearing Sean right. Sean couldn’t truly be saying goodbye.
Nathan watched him continue packing with his back to him, holding his breath as Sean turned around.
“You don’t give...
