28 January 2026 Today I played referee.Not the dramatic kind. The quiet, watchful one. One child, their partner, a bit of friction in the air. I stood between words before they hardened, translated tone, slowed things down. I’m good at that. Maybe too good. But today it felt useful, not draining.Later, I caught sight of…

Toward the SunI am not the woman I waswhen the world felt sharpand every doorway demanded proof.I am softer now,but not smaller.I wake with light on my hands.Even on quiet daysthere is warmth in the kettle,music in the ordinary.I have learned how joy hidesin unimportant places:a laugh that surprises me,the way morning forgives the night,the…

by MissT She is not fragile, though she has cracked in places. She laughs where it hurts, uses humour like duct tape on old wounds never properly stitched. She loves too hard— falls for potential, not proof. Mothers the wounded. Calls it loyalty when it is hope that refuses to die. She knows better. She…

The Shape of Staying Chapter 6 Morning arrived without ceremony.No footsteps on the stairs.No signs of trespass.No proof that anything had happened at all.Mina woke stiff and half-sitting, the chair still wedged beneath the handle, her neck aching from sleep that barely qualified as rest. Pale light filtered through the curtains, thinning the night until…

Chapter 5What Waits Mina didn’t move. She lay still, counting her breaths, keeping them shallow enough not to give herself away. The smell lingered in the room, clean and deliberate. Not the ghost of something old, but the presence of something recent. Aftershave. Familiar. Wrong.She slid her hand beneath the duvet and wrapped her fingers…

Dodging Stress Balls… Dev Diaries DailyJanuary 24th Today was Ant’s birthday, and we went out to a restaurant to mark it. Nothing grand. Just food, presence, and an effort to keep the day light. We were actively trying to avoid stress. That intention mattered, even if the universe didn’t quite cooperate.The bench moved again.Not mine.…

chapter 3 SHELTER Shelter They lost the car just past the old petrol station.The place had been shut down for years. No signage. No lights. Just a wide concrete mouth opening into darkness, weeds pushing through the forecourt like they’d claimed it back. Mina didn’t think. She cut the engine, rolled in on momentum alone,…

chapter 2. Mina and Mark. Chapter 2 Blood on his hands Rain drummed on the roof like impatient fingers.He sat in the passenger seat as if he’d never left it, shoulders hunched, water slipping from his hair onto Mina’s upholstery. The heater pushed out lukewarm breath. The windscreen wipers worked like frantic metronomes, clearing a…