by Sarah Mussi
A shiver runs up my arm.
It’s bright in here. My mother kisses me and holds out her arms to Fletcher. Carmen smiles at us. It feels real. It feels good. I’ve grown tired of the cold of Outer Space.
Way too much darkness.
Fletcher feels it too. He laughs, straightens up.
The Alien shrugs and rolls his eyes, like he’s lost at a game of tiddlywinks. I’m so glad he’s not going to be mad. He pulls a torch out of a huge sucker and spotlights us.
Light spills all around.
Then he waves goodbye with all his tentacles and walks out of the doorway, which is now as wide as wide can be. Through its reaches I see distant galaxies. He bows once. He’s gone.
I know it’s for good.
The light stays pooling everywhere.
‘We’ll live, one day at a time.’ says Fletcher. ‘Just for each other then.’
‘If I don’t make it . . .’ I whisper.
‘You will make it,’ he says.
‘And you?’
He smiles.
‘You’re goddamn right,’ he says.
Acknowledgements
Joanna Bateson-Hill
Adrienne Dines
Ruth Eastham
Roisin Heycock
Sophie Hicks
Caroline Johnson
Melissa L. N.A. Speaker for her inspiring share
Paul Nash
Sarah Odedina
Madeleine Stevens
B.J.M.
The internet
Al-Anon UK
CoDA UK
UKNA
And everyone at Oneworld.
Disclaimer: nothing in this story is representative of any person or institute.
A Rock the Boat Book
First published in Great Britain and Australia by Rock the Boat,
an imprint of Oneworld Publications, 2017
This ebook edition published 2017
The moral right of Sarah Mussi to be identified as the Author
of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved
Copyright under Berne Convention
A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78074-974-7
ISBN 978-1-78074-975-4 (ebook)
Typeset by Hewer Text UK Ltd, Edinburgh
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses,
organizations, places, and events are either the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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