1 minute read
Flash Fiction Winners - 2019
Underwater Lily
Sharon Fraser
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Lucy woke in the dark to a watery dance of shadow and light on her ceiling. Someone had left the pool lights on.
She scanned the bedroom, still monotone in the predawn light. She liked this colourless time. She wasn’t ready for colour. Lily’s bed was empty and perfectly made. A bear, just like hers, slumped miserably against the wall.
Lucy and Lily were identical, except that Lily was profoundly deaf. Most people addressed both of them through Lucy, mistaking Lily’s deafness for absence. Most people were stupid. But now, she really was . . . absent.
They used to feel like one person. The same person. Only Lily’s deafness reminded them that they were different. Except when they were underwater. Then, submerged in the weightless, transparent volume, they were absolutely one. Together again, identical, in the silence. Just as they had been in the womb.
Lucy got up and crept out of her room, their room. She padded through the house and outside to the pool. The first rays of sunlight were creeping over the edge where she stood at the deep end, making their way slowly across the surface. She dived in, once again, looking for Lily.
