Author S. K. Nicholas

x and i: a novel

a journal for damned lovers vol 1-3

XandI

  • Monkey Cage

    Outside the train station, some guy handed me a leaflet about God. I haven’t read it, but I will at some point. I’m not much of a believer, but I enjoy reading the words of people who do. It doesn’t matter what they believe, as long as it’s something that has a hold of their Read more

  • Swaying Tree

    Earlier today, I sat on a bench outside the church in the town where I work. It’s the same church where my uncle and auntie married back in the ‘80s. I was a page boy. I was naughty and misbehaved, pulling faces in all the photographs like a right little shit. It’s the same church Read more

  • Bunk

    I spent most of the day boxing up books and other such personal belongings. It didn’t make me feel sad, just a tad lost. The end of this relationship has been coming for months. It’s been bunk for such a long time that to walk away from it brought nothing but relief. But still. The Read more

  • Screeching Cats

    In the morning, I wake to the sound of drowned birdsong. The streets. The town. The cities beyond. All of them drowned. My mouth is dry. This brain of mine rattles in a skull that feels too tight. Stretched. Like a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of someone’s shoe. Rolling about with the Read more

  • Peeling Wallpaper

    The day resembles a stopped clock. It’s raining, and I have toothache. Another relationship lies by the wayside, but I’m indifferent to pretty much everything that doesn’t fit in with my way of seeing things. I pen words that speak of love and the soul and then sit in silence for hours on end, unable Read more

  • Identity

    On the ground by some bins on my way home from work, I spied a pigeon with a club foot pecking for crumbs. It didn’t seem sad or in pain, but what would I know about that? A few days earlier, a newsagent I visited every Sunday as a kid had its windows blown out Read more

  • Edge of Nowhere

    Skirting the edge of nowhere, the day dissolves like a dream upon waking as the beads of rain clinging to the window remind me of everything I’ve lost. Or, more accurately, everything I want but can’t have. It’s cold, and the heat from the radiator doesn’t get close to warming my bones. Instead, it escapes Read more

  • Crabs Chasing Plastic Bags

    If I close my eyes, I hear the crashing of waves and feel the wind of lost youth on my face as we prepare to venture into the night in anticipation of the culinary delights that await us. There’s an Italian restaurant not far from the beach, with a view of the stars and faraway Read more

  • Feral

    Yesterday, after work, some guy was walking up the steps leading to the train station on my way through town. He was homeless, or thereabouts. He had no shoes or socks on, and his feet were cut, blistered and bloody. Pulling himself up the stairwell with the aid of the railing to his side, he Read more

  • Magazines

    Earlier today, I walked past a hair salon in an indoor market situated within the bowels of a shopping mall in a town where I spent much of my childhood. As a kid, I’d get my hair cut in this particular salon, accompanied by my nan, who would peruse the nearby clothes stalls while she Read more