Forbidden

by Tabitha Suzuma

Willa is loving and biddable, whereas Tiffin is always bursting with energy and mischief. As a consequence she is always witnessing her brother get away with murder.

Then dont let him

Kit slams the last cupboard with such force that everyone jumps. “What makes you think I’m trying to sound cool? I’m not the one stuck in an apron because his mother is too busy spreading her legs for—” Lochan is out of his chair in a flash. I lunge for him and miss. He launches himself at Kit and grabs him by the collar, slamming him up against the fridge. “You speak like that in front of the little ones again and I’ll—”

It’s horrible, being ashamed of someone you care about; it eats away at you. And if you let it get to you, if you give up the fight and surrender, eventually that shame turns to hate.

My family is me. They are my life. Without them I walk the planet alone.

She never wanted to grow up—I remember our father citing this as a reason for leaving. He accused her of being a bad mother,

So he decides to leave all the kids with her. What a greeeeaaaat choice

It’s always nice being fancied. It’s always nice being wanted. Even if it’s by the wrong person.

Out of the millions and millions of people that inhabit this planet, he is one of the tiny few I can never have. And this is something I must accept—even if, like acid on metal, it is slowly corroding me inside.

I mean, at the end of the day, what the hell does it matter who I end up with if it can’t be you?”

“We were stupid—we thought they could stop us.” She strokes my hair, kisses my forehead, my cheeks, the edge of my lip. “They’ll never stop us. Not as long as this is what we both want.

At the end of the day, it’s all about how much you can bear, how much you can endure. Being together, we harm nobody; being apart, we extinguish ourselves.

“There are no laws, no boundaries, on feelings. We can love each other as much and as deeply as we want. No one, Maya, no one can ever take that away from us.”

I notice a pink skipping rope hanging over the banister. A single Jelly Baby from last night remains on the carpet. Small shoes are scattered over the rack by the front door. Willa’s white sandals and the lace-up trainers she has finally learned to tie—all so tiny. Tiffin’s scuffed school shoes, his much-prized soccer boots, his gloves and “lucky” ball. Above them their school blazers hang discarded, empty, like ghosts of their real selves. I want them back; I want my children back. I miss them, the pain like a hole in my heart. They were so excited to go that I didn’t even have time to hug them. I never got to say good-bye.

“Coach Wilson! You told him about the heights thing!” Suddenly he is screaming at me, his face distorted with fury. “As soon as I got to school, he took me off the rock-climbing list in front of the whole class! Everyone laughed at me, even my friends! You ruined what was going to be the best week of my life!” Forcing myself to keep breathing, I feel my heart start to pound. “It was you?” I gasp. “You knew? About Maya and me? You knew?” He nods wordlessly.