My lovely friend Joe has started a monthly micro fiction competition where part of the proceeds go to charity, so you get to flex those writing muscles while supporting a good cause. With an entry fee of only 2 AUD and a maximum length of 100 words the threshold is really low. If you are intrigued, head on over to https://writefromtheheart.com.au/ and check out the details – August’s theme is “home is where the heart is”.

My entry for July  – below – came in second place, which is pretty decent!

Departed

It was possibly the hardest day there had ever been, apart from tomorrow. She was coated in a thin veneer of sweat, though she’d been sitting still all day. And that sickly, sweet, cloying smell of hospital was stuck in her nostrils, penetrating her very soul. Slowly, deliberately, she shed each item of clothing, and stepped into the sea. Fresh, forgiving, soft around her weary bones. Diving under. Bubbles escaping from her hair. The water whispering to her in its mysterious way: this too shall pass. And she knows that whatever tomorrow has in store, she can face it.