Membrane
I am quarantined in a ramshackle building of forty-two apartments. Four are vacant by death. I know the occupants of neighboring apartments by sound only.
Downstairs, this brick-hulled galley kitchen. Office, cookhouse. School. Above deck: daylong, street-level sirens. Rain again today, each porthole streaked. 290 days at sea. Nothing ahoy.
In my uterine house I incubate avoiding virulence. Stepping outside I am reborn, dodging death dancing on air. A brief outing, soon I’m fetal again.
Trembling hands find the grungy brew, a hurried gulp and gasp. Comfort held in ceramic warmth, rain pressing kitchen pane. A clock clangs, almost time.
Paul Rousseau is a semi-retired physician and writer, published or forthcoming in Blood and Thunder, The Human Touch, Please See Me, Months To Years, (mac)ro(mic), Sleet Magazine, 433 Literary Magazine, Sunspot Literary Magazine, The Examined Life, Burningword Literary Journal, The Centifictionist, Dr. T. J. Eckleburg Review, Another Chicago Magazine, Tendon, and others. Lover of dogs.
Garry Cox. South-East Ireland. Stuck inside. Husband to one, father to four. Now also an amateur teacher. Previous in the Fish Story Prize, Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine and The Middle Of A Sentence. Currently in Lockdown #3. It’s been a long 10 months.
Bernardo Villela has published a novella and three short story collections. He’s had short fiction featured with a number of publications, and microfiction featured by Black Hare Press and forthcoming in 42 Stories Anthology, Constraint 280 and Rivet. He is quarantining in Wilmington, Delaware, USA
Micheál Fahey is an aspiring Irish author who’s written inspiration is drawn from travel experiences abroad and his simple life in Ireland. It is his belief that everyone has a story worth telling. For updates check out @MichealFahey_.
100 Words Of Solitude 