Saturday 15th June 2024 is National Flash Fiction Day. I’m lucky enough to be one of the writers chosen to have a short story featured as part of a celebration of the form, over on NFFD’s curated online journal FlashFlood.
You can read my story ‘Paper Girls’ here. I’d also recommend checking out some of the other amazing submissions, the variety and talent on show is really something and I’m so happy to be a small part of it.
I wrote this piece in one fell swoop, at a time when I was feeling particularly disparaged and vulnerable as a young woman in the UK. The highly public murder of Sarah Everard left many women feeling at a complete loss but there are so many other similar stories; Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, Molly McLaren, Fawziyah Javed to name just a few. Every year MP Jess Phillips reads out a list of women killed by men in the past 12 months in parliament. Each one of those stories played out in the media is someone’s life. It’s harrowing, particularly where systemic racism and failure to take women’s safety seriously plays a part. Each time something like this happens it sits heavy in my heart.
When I go for a run or walk home alone at night I share my location, I keep my keys in hand just in case, my music low, in winter my days are restricted to the shortened daylight hours, in summer it feels like I’ve been given back my freedom. I’m not alone in feeling like this or taking these precautions. We have groupchats where we check in after nights out, dates, dinners. “Let me know when you get home” our parting words, every time. That’s love, friendship and solidarity all wrapped into one but I wish it wasn’t the case.
This story is me trying to capture those feelings in less than 300 words. The beauty of flash fiction, which I’m pretty new to as a form, is that each word really counts. I tried to use language that we find in the media, the unnecessary personal details, the undertone of accusation and victim blaming that all too often creeps in. The repetition of the refrain “She went missing on her way home” normalises it within the world of the story, the same way that the reality for women is thinking and planning for the worst in any given situation. Honestly, we’re exhausted.
A bit more of a personal post but I’d love to hear your thoughts on my piece! Hopefully there will be more to come soon.