Caroline

Summer is coming to an end. Caroline waits. Her clothes are shabby and torn. She has no shoes. These are desperate times. Over the last few months it has become an obsession of hers to listen to the children playing outside in the backyard. Caroline wants to be loved. She pulls herself up from the floor and moves her silent self towards the stairway. But here Caroline loses her footing and plummets down the stairs. Her legs twang. Her head cracks. Moments pass, disorientated, Caroline slowly struggles back up the stairs. Her tiny hands hold up her rickety head. She manoeuvres into the bathroom. A raucous popping sound brings Caroline to her knees. An eye falls, followed by a mass of grey and pink coloured fibres. Caroline wants to feel the pain. The family's dog enters the bathroom. He observes, sniffs, then throws Caroline over on her side before he retreats unsatisfied.

Caroline lays still on the bathroom floor. Is she broken for good? A hand reaches out to her and carries her down the stairs. Caroline is outside. She hears the children. 'If only I could join them in their games' she thinks to herself. Suddenly, Caroline spins in the air. She lands face down in a heap of yesterdays waste.