Charlie Learns an Important Lesson

Published by Hypertext, March 2023
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She stares at the ceiling, listens to the water tank hissing and imagines her future self—waits for the sound of a train to carry her away to where tall houses are jammed up against each other, sliced up into flats with yellow glow in the windows and no net curtains. She does this until the blank space of air shimmering with heat, empty and ready to be filled with a scream comes back. Screams, not dreams. In a minute she’s going to get out of bed, sneak downstairs and wait in the alleyway with a knife.