We met and fell in love, and after 2 brilliant, happy, amazing years, it seemed like such a natural step to move in together. And it was fun at first. We picked out furniture, trying out the beds and sofas in the shop until we were asked to leave. We painted the bedroom, covering each other in bright red paint more than the walls. We smiled and giggled and laughed until the apartment was truly ours. I remember lying in bed with you at night, your hands running along my ... Read more

My relationship with cats has been somewhat tortuous. When I was ten years old, in Iceland, I beseeched my mother to allow be to adopt a kitten. When I was 15 I left my mother's house and the cat for boarding school, and when I was 20 I left Iceland for Israel and the United States, and while I would pop over to Iceland every now and then I never really saw my cat again. I learned on the phone that it was put to sleep, purring, when it was ... Read more

I fall in love with stars. Literal ones. I watch the skies and fold into myself and explore and discover; learn to burst and slip and shimmy in the brightest light I will ever see, the most beautiful tension I cannot feel. On cold nights, on warm nights, the skies are there, ever-expanding above my head into an oblivion I can only know through books. And firelight. And soft, gooey treats shared with loved ones who are as rapt in their observations of the sky as me. It's not the ... Read more

Marie waited. The cold crept around her, a thin layer of frost settling on the back of her jacket, on top of the scarf wound around her hair and over her freezing arms that were currently wrapped around her upper body. She knew she must look odd: a young woman sitting alone and shivering on a park bench at a few minutes to midnight. But John had texted her and so here she was. Meet me inside the north gate of the park at 10 o’clock tonight. John The message ... Read more

Does anyone ever have a truly amazing first kiss? A lot of people seem to claim that theirs were great simply because they were first kisses. First anythings are very exciting and our memories of them can often become clouded. We'd rather remember the good and fond moments than the terrible and awkward ones. So I think it's fair to say that while everyone chooses to think fondly of their first kiss, that doesn't necessarily mean that everyone had good first kisses. My first kiss was hilarious, but also terrible ... Read more

From a distance, everything looks fine. His arm slips around her waist as they walk around the funfair, weaving between stalls selling candyfloss and cheap, warm cider. There’s a stand where you can dress up in old-fashioned clothing. He takes a cowboy outfit, complete with guns and hat, and she pulls on a huge flamenco dress. He laughs when she starts to twirl in an impromptu Spanish dance. When the photographer approaches, trying to sell photos of them in their costumes, they politely refuse. They leave quickly. They stop at ... Read more

What is a soulmate? The idea is Platonic, in that it originally came from the famous Greek philosopher whose most popular works feature his teacher Socrates, a man who never wrote anything but perpetuated his ideas through speech. Actually, the idea of soulmates is Neo-Platonic, because it came from a group of philosophers who interpreted and followed Plato's works after his death. Their claim is that human dualism -- the idea that our souls and bodies are separate entities -- also dictates that each soul has a mate. When human ... Read more

It was cold outside at this time of night and there was a breeze, it gently shook the branches of the trees and caused the flowers in the passing gardens to sway. As Eva breathed, a faint trace of her breath briefly struck the night. It was quiet, really quiet and she didn’t meet anyone, well that was until she passed the couple as she walked out of the estate and made her way up the street. They were youngish, still teenagers and even though she was twenty-seven they reminded ... Read more

Okay, so I don’t want to go on and on about gigs and drive everyone crazy so all I’m going to do is say two things about the Placebo gig I went to last night. First point being that it was amazing and my leg ache and croaky voice from jumping around and shouting out the words were well worth it. Second point is that I seemed to somehow end up standing behind two really tall men who were on the second row, one of which must have been about ... Read more

About four weeks ago a feral molly appeared in my yard. Small, scrawny, scruffy, feisty, malnourished, heavily pregnant. She entered through the hole in the wall and I knew she had come from across the street, where there are some ruins and loads of feral stray cats. She acted in a suspicious manner and was unfriendly and I figured she was looking for a suitable location to give birth. I chased her back through the hole in the wall because I certainly don't need more residents cats in my yard. ... Read more

Jimmy doesn’t talk much. He was quiet when he was a child, no matter how many speech therapists his parents sent him to, and teachers would often worriedly whisper about him in the staff room at school. He never had friends come to play and he was only ever invited to birthday parties as a polite request—something the other parents needn’t have bothered about as he never accepted a single invitation. He was quiet through university, too. He didn’t attend graduation and no-one noticed, and now, years later, his face ... Read more

His life runs like clockwork. There are schedules and everyone who interacts with him knows to keep to the schedules. The morning is divided into perfect 15 minute segments: one for washing, two for breakfast, one for tidying the plates away, etc... He had to stop getting the bus several years ago as it became increasingly obvious that the transport company did not show the same respect to its schedules as he did. Some days are fine, when everything goes according to plan and his body is calm and content. ... Read more

I have terrible taste in men, in fact I think I purposely go for the ones I’m well aware I will never have any sort of actual proper relationship with. I do this out of fear, I’m terrified of commitment, of settling down with one person and becoming trapped in an unhappy relationship. The reason I’m scared is because I was in one for four-years with a man that made me give-up college, my friends, any sort of social life and then tried his best to knock down my self-confidence ... Read more

I am currently in a slight trance thanks to my neighbour waking me up (and my friend who lives across the road from me and no doubt the entire street including residents from the old people’s home opposite) because he was having a drunken argument in our shared stairway with a girl with the most high-pitched horrendous voice I’ve ever heard and a group of other people at 2am. Luckily if all goes well I should be moving into a house in just over six weeks, so seeing as I’ve ... Read more