Cold – Part Two

"Shared trauma doesn’t just stay with you—it bears you forward. Shapes you. Lets you begin again."

Elias Wood didn’t have time to brace. He was halfway up the stairs when the ship tore sideways. Metal screamed against stone. His leg caught the edge of a step—low, fast. More bruised ego than blood.He hauled himself upright, breath...

Cold – Part One

"Internet fame was her escape plan. Antarctica wasn’t. But down there, what numbed her wasn’t the cold—it was seeing her own hurt in someone else."

Ivy Murrow watched the world through her iPhone lens, the same way she’d learned to watch everything over the past few years—arm’s length, slightly filtered, always recording. The Solstice VI dipped lazily in the ocean slush while the crew moved...

Corfu Casting: Main Event

"Jessica is put through her paces for the cameras."

Jessica sat cross-legged on the bed with her back resting on the headboard, surrounded by studio lights, reflectors and cameras. She wore a bronze-coloured, sparkly dress, black sequined panties and high heels. Thin white tights stopped above her knees, with...

Avlaki Initiation

"I spend the day on the beach with Jessica after Helen breaks her phone."

Breakfast on Saturday was a nightmare. Acerbic Jessica, when I first met her, had been bad enough. Icy Jessica was worse. She glared haughtily at me if I addressed her, looking at me like shit on her shoe.My daughter looked...

One Bedroom, Two Siblings

"Ciera comes home after a long separation and shares a small bed with her big brother"

Ciera sat in the passenger seat of her Aunt's van as the night scenery became more and more familiar. Street signs with names she'd never forgotten, old liquor stores coated in chipped paint, some still open and busy, others closed...