Bad Fruit

by Ella King

Every minute of my life is people saying ‘I love you’, ‘I promise’, and it never means anything except that they want something.

Inside me, walls collapse, ramparts crumble, not under airstrikes or gunfire but surrendering before an old, forgotten power – a child’s vow.

‘It’s triggering for him, and when he tries to stop Albie, he thinks he’s turning into Mama.’