Urges raid your mind, old and new ones. Pills and booze are the only deterrents.
RUSH. The parcel on your doorstep is covered with that word, in urgent red ink that seems to flash and squirm the longer you look at it. You bend your aching body forward to retrieve it, hoping it won’t be too heavy. Hefting it against your bad hip with your good arm, you carry it into the house without delay.
Hunger rages in your gut, your stomach gurgling its unmet need. Hunger always feels good – the emptiness, virtuous. Intrusive thoughts and self-loathing always arrive with satiety.
Notes:
The word pairs were:
1. Rush/delay
2. Hunger/satiety
3. Urges/deterrents
I started out writing in the first person which seems to be my instinct, but I really liked the second person perspective the more I played with it. The first word pairing ended up in the middle by the time I was done, too.
Jeanne Sharp (she/her) is a writer who has done everything but write for most of her adult life. To pay the bills, she has worked for 24 years in the nonprofit space. She lives in the desert and can be found on IG at @that_jeanne or on Twitter at @sharpwritings