My midwife first came to me and I asked for her, not to touch me. For I had recently been examined on admission and I was progressing as would be expected, for someone whose rhythms had been disrupted by the discomfort of driving to the hospital, and the cold, sterile environment of the assessment unit. Ten years today, and I still vividly remember how quickly I escaped the wheelchair and wandered to the confines of the b...

Someone, somewhere, asked, "What is anxiety to you?" These were my thoughts.To me, a small snapshot of anxiety is... Catastrophising. Conflict. Crisis. Delusion. Doubt. Fear. Insecurity. Overthinking. Paralysis. Stress. Worry. It's never been the way others seemed to describe it, and with no clear ignition... no blazing flames consuming me in an attack, I was long ignorant to my affliction. To me, it's a slow burn, and th...

The bite of the blade shocked her, as it pierced her tender pale flesh. Hesitation had always ruled this moment, as small droplets of blood beaded across her skin. Tonight, she knew her conviction had wavered for the last time. Darkness had long feasted on her frailties, and she craved the claim of shadows, the peace that would come when her lifeless form crippled below her. The bite of the blade shocked her, as it pierce...

I have forever been a dreamer, and so, I admit, I idealise love in a lot of ways.Sure, I've been hurt, although I prefer not to acknowledge the potentialities, it's almost a certainty that lies in us all. Some instances remain only as distant memories, perhaps only surfacing when songs a once-beloved was fond of grace the airwaves, stilling my heart to ache to the faint beat of nostalgia's echo. Fresher burns may linger,...

The night continues to falland I become one with the shadows. Struggling to stay afloat,I am stranded in this unrelenting flowwaiting for an ebb that never comes.This tide is not turning. A darkness has awakened in me. You can cut its roots at the surface,but it lives in twisted stemsand thrives in coiled tendrilsthat are anchored in inky depths.It is here that I shrivel and decay.Enshrouded by blackness - though I occasi...

Twenty-Nine. I am taking myself to bed on the precipice, but you will technically arrive sometime around four in the morning. Knowing my inevitable battle with sleeplessness I’ll still be awake as you come to pass. I know, I’m still quite the “Spring Chicken”, but for the first time, I feel kind of old, and you’re honestly the first that has been unwelcome. The journey of my 29th revolution around the sun, quite frankly,...

Why are you such a jerk, brain? Why is this the time of day I suddenly feel most awake and alive? Seriously, I must question my sanity entirely when at 4:37am I am so over the not sleeping and all the thinking, questioning, analysing that I consider going out and about for a walk and dancing in the early Spring drizzle in the dead of the night. Actually that sounds like a really swell idea, but I can't be bothered getting...

The initial splash of the bells was gentle and subdued, such whispers of disquiet only observed as a mild irritant intended to deter. Despite my efforts in oversight, they came to chime in a fashion I could no longer diffuse. Loud and laden with a warning, the bells continued to boom; having gradually built in deafening significance and alarming without pause, thundering reverberations left clanging between my ears. With...