Rachel Nel

We exist in grave darkness. The danger we're in creates harmony among us. After sunset we surface, swopping the mine's gloom for the night.

#vss365 #vss #harmony

Thank you so much, Karen!

"Lightning never strikes the same place twice," I say.
"Oh, but it does," he replies, removing his shirt to reveal burn scars. "Six times."

#vss365 #vss #lightning

I'm woken up; ordered to open the safe. The voice is colder than the barrel against my temple. "Your new floozy can't get my jewellery too!"

#vss365 #vss #jewelry #jewellery

Afterwards, I was called magnanimous. For as my dad's killer was led to the chair, I surprised myself by pleading for his life to be spared.

#vss365 #vss #magnanimous

Born with no zest, his lethargy only got worse. His parents went from doctor to doctor who all said he's fine; that he is merely a lazy ant.

#vss365 #vss #lethargy

Dawn paints the sky with fiery splendour. My smudged eyes open to a stubbled chin mumbling excuses. The spell has been broken. My heart too.

#vss365 #vss #splendor

During her umpteenth lengthy and livid diatribe against overpopulation, her usually timid husband interrupts her. “But I want to have kids."

#vss365 #vss #timid

We learn that we're both obsessed with typefaces and share a hatred for Comic Sans. I notice his stance, as elegant as Geometric Sans Serif.

#vss365 #vss #obsessed

A drama professor used to call my acting unconvincing. My latest performance has been so stellar, the jury acquits me. I almost take a bow.

#vss365 #vss #stellar

When I asked for my prognosis, they looked at each other knowingly. In that moment, I knew that my doctor and my wife were having an affair.

#vss365 #vss #knowingly

She had always been crazed with fear of needles. So, when asked if the track marked, tattooed body in the morgue was my daughter, I said no.

#vss365 #vss #crazed

Other drivers have blatant disrespect for road rules, but not law abiding Leah. "What do you mean I was going too slow, officer?" she huffs.

#vss365 #vss #blatant

Sentenced to a life of sentences, we hunch over clattering keys. We give life and condemn to death. We are gentle and beastly when we write.

#vss365 #vss #beastly

Bork's utterly mystified by his observations: Earthlings run on machines that take them nowhere, yet sit in other machines to travel places.

#vss365 #vss #mystified

Instead of admiring the village, I cling to him as the bouncy Vespa speeds through the narrow streets, the sirens behind us becoming louder.

#vss365 #vss #bouncy

Thank you so much, Marcía! 😊

Ominous clouds wreath the mountainous terrain. Over the flapping of Tibetan prayer flags, the Sherpa gives a devastating order: “Turn back.”

#vss365 #vss #mountainous

Instead of a magic wand, he has imagination and a vast vocabulary. When he combines those two, even his rowdiest students become enchanted.

#vss365 #vss #enchanted

It's like being screamed at in a language I'm unable to decipher. I can't believe this huge racket can be created by such a minuscule human.

#vss365 #vss #minuscule

Instead of a perm or a Brazilian, her do writhed. He leaned in for a kiss. "Do they bite?" he asked. In response, Medusa's coif gave a hiss.

#vss365 #vss #kiss

"There's a ten year lacuna on your CV. Did you raise kids then?"
I think of my son, taken by social services when I went to prison, and nod.

#vss365 #vss #lacuna

The parents are both dark. Their newborn's halo of summer-yellow locks elicits gasps, for it's the same unusual shade as the preacher man's.

#vss365 #vss #dark

Rivulets streak the window. We used to cuddle on rainy nights. I don't miss him, just the bed. I ache all over from sleeping on my backseat.

#vss365 #vss #ache

In trembling fists, it rattles. From unfurled hands, it is scattered. Guided by ancestral whispers, the ancient bones foretell many futures.

#vss365 #vss #bones

Her blind date is deathly pale. "Are you sick?" she asks. He seems offended. The Maître D' approaches: "Your table is ready, Mister Reaper."

#vss365 #vss #pale

For seventy years, my hands have cooked, cleaned and comforted. And now I’m scrubbing away what else they've done, blood circling the drain.

#vss365 #vss #blood

He promised paradise. So, I gave up my teen rebellion, mini skirts, my family. Now a black-clad ghost, I am stuck in hell as a Jihadi bride.

#vss365 #vss #ghost

The conversation flowed. He seemed to look into the depths of my soul. Later, he removed his sunglasses, revealing his milky, unseeing eyes.

#vss365 #vss #soul

Shackled to him since birth, I need a map to escape and finally be free, as not even nighttime provides enough respite for a shadow like me.

#vss365 #vss #shadow