My Choice

by Judy Darley

On the day I plummeted, Catalina swears she saw Richard’s elbow jolt. I blink my instruction and hear the suck-in, shunt-out of the cabinet respirator quieten. The sky towers above me as it did when I dropped. Richard now only calls by to stick pins under my skin, checking for a flinch. Insects harp their grievances and pincushion cacti quiver, but I remain steadfast. For the first time since my fall, I taste the citronella-scented triumph of an unaided breath.

6S

Judy Darley can't stop writing about the fallibilities of the human mind. Her stories are widely published by literary anthologies, magazines and websites in the UK, Canada, US, New Zealand and India, including byCypress, The Mechanics' Institute Review and The Pomegranate. Judy is the author of short fiction collections Sky Light Rain (Valley Press) and Remember Me to the Bees (Tangent Books). Her third collection, The Stairs are a Snowcapped Mountain, will be published by Reflex Press in 2022. You can find Judy here and here.