The Forgotten Island

by David Sodergren

Going on holiday to a warm climate was the cruellest fate a good book could possibly face.

‘My sister says I use sarcasm to keep people at a distance or something. She reckons she’s a fucking psychiatrist, but really she’s just seen too many episodes of Frasier.’ ‘Ha, I do the same. Humour as a defence mechanism. Only problem is I’m not very funny.’

As far as retirement plans went, it appealed to Ana. Just sitting in the warmth reading a book all day, perhaps with a loyal dog snuggled at her feet. And a cocktail; definitely a cocktail.

She knew she shouldn’t judge on first impressions, but where was the fun in that?

‘You ever lie in bed and remember something embarrassing you said, y’know, five or ten years ago and you just want to curl up and die of shame?’ ‘Nope.’ ‘Well, it’s like that. Every time I look down, there’s this reminder of a time in my life I want to forget, but I can’t, not ever. It’s marked on my body, like I’ve been branded.’

Shame commonly manifests itself in anger.

Life truly is stranger than fiction.

‘Man is not alone in the universe. There’s more out there than we can possibly know. More than we would ever want to know. I guess some secrets are best left buried.’