Are they really me? Do they look alright? Should the frames be black? Or should they be white? Is the glass too dark? Is the glass too bright? Should I wear them now? Should I wait till night? Is this really me? Do I feel alright? Should my skin be black? Should my skin be white? Are my thoughts too […]

The soldiers crossed the stubbled field unclad. The video cameras mounted on their helmets ensured they would adhere to strict rules of engagement. They wore no personal body armour due to temporary supply difficulties, budget constraints. Ellis, 25, the team leader squinted in the bright afternoon sun, hardly reassured by the presence of the rescue […]

After the bitter chill of Winter, the snow and ice of February, Spring couldn’t come soon enough for Kaitlyn and Madison. Throughout the drab lockdown, the vibrant forest had sustained them, freeing them from its suffocating constraints: online studies, incarceration with their frightened parents, to explore a fantasy world of adventure, life without masks. Their […]

It was a glorious sunny day in March, the warmest day of the year so far, when I met the girl who changed my life. Lately, I’d taken to walking alone in the countryside carrying the worries of the world on my shoulders, to lift my sinking spirits, my heavy heart. It was unusual in […]

1986: I saw the girl on the bus today. Standing in the wasteland by the burnt-out shell of the reactor. Posing, with a dirty old tyre, on shiny carbon grit surrounded by the irradiated windswept scrub. Much of the green was a wash of blended mirages, an oasis of decayed life roasting in the heat-haze […]