With Herbie sitting in the palm of her open hand, X spun in circles and the world spun with her, as did the stars and the planets and all the moons, for she was the centre of all things, just as she always had been. With his little paws raised high to the sun, Herbie called out to something of which he had no name for, and as his squeak pierced the air, the birds in the trees flew into the sky before coming over to pay them a visit. When they arrived, X sang to them, and they replied with songs of their own, and as the taste of electricity passed between their mouths, the language they spoke was both of future and of past. Smiling wide, sunlight washed over X’s teeth and they glistened as if made of glass, and as her hair swept about her shoulders, its scent was that of a newborn baby, for wasn’t it true that she had been born again? Just the same as the little creature in her hand, she was fresh out of the spiritual womb, looking at life through a brand-new lens. Squeaking to his heart’s content, Herbie caressed the glowing ball of fire with his paws, and for the first time, he saw nature not as function but as God, and such a revelation left him mesmerised. Giggling at the sight of him, X whispered her secrets to the birds that circled her head. She even uttered the name of her lover, and as the taste of electricity set her teeth on edge, the birds flew and she followed suit with a skip in her step and a tune in her head that spoke of love and loss and all the mysteries in between.

A Journal for Damned Lovers UK

A Journal for Damned Lovers US

Anthology UK / Anthology US