The house was practically shaking, so loud was the music at Lily’s eighteenth birthday party. Her parents had told her that the volume had to come down at eleven, and if the police were called, she would be in big trouble, so she was watching the time carefully. Luckily, it wasn’t just her birthday that evening; it was also the night of a festival in the town, so a lot of locals were out, anyway. Lily took a drink of wine...

The ceiling swam as if he were awakening still drunk after a bout of heavy drinking. Eric slowly realized he was coming around after the operation. ‘Made it, then,’ he thought to himself groggily. But he felt like he’d been hit by a car. His limbs all ached. His stomach felt…surprisingly ok, considering it had just been cut open and rearranged. Unblocked, in fact. The bowel obstruction had been massive, urgent and nearly...

Lily traced her finger down Eric’s vertical scar. It ran from just below his ribcage to just above where his pubic hair began, skirting around his navel as if it were a roundabout. Three months had passed since he’d had emergency surgery for a bowel obstruction and they were celebrating because, that day, he had regained his pre-operative weight again. “Mmmm…it’s so good to have you well again,” she said. Eric had fucked...

The cashier had put on headphones and was playing with her phone. It was far, far into the night and Lily was the only person in the hospital cafe. She was too preoccupied to really want anything to eat or drink, so her tea went cold in no time. ‘Story of my night,’ she thought to herself, ‘First, hot, sex. Then, tepid, sleep. Finally, cold night alone.” She was sitting alone in a corner of the darkened café. Eric was ups...