Slow Motion by Jo Varnish
I hear her whine. There’s little use in trying to bat her away. Mosquitoes, like all such small creatures, have faster metabolisms than we do. Put simply, they see in slow motion. What great fortune, to see life coming at you and have the chance to move out the way.
I was one plain student in a swarm of five thousand more vibrant. Carys swooped in, lithe and gymnastic, ponytailed hair and shiny olive skin. Our first evening, giddy on East London gin and anticipation, she gave me her lilac belted coat, bit my lip, and walked me home to her flat.
“You’re my best girl,” she said, her fingertips needling my collarbone. I breathed in the musky perfume rising from the warmth of her neck and closed my eyes. We quickly became buttered toast and coffee in bed, evenings with her intense friends, daffodils on my birthday.
The mosquito waits on the wall beside me. She knows I am here. The lamp’s light casts her shadow, tall and elegant.
When I introduced Carys to Abigail at the bookshop, I had no idea what I was setting in motion. Had I been a smaller creature, with a faster metabolism, perhaps I would have been afforded the opportunity to notice, and change course. But then, had I been a smaller creature, with a faster metabolism, I would have been more like Abigail.
“It’s not personal Beth. No one meant for this to happen.” I saw a smile flicker, almost imperceptibly. What image in her mind had elicited it? My pulse wild, my fingers brittle, I stood still and held her stare.
“Do you call her your best girl?”
“This is going nowhere,” she said as she scanned my living room, lilac coat over her arm as she walked out, ensuring she left nothing behind but hurt.
The mosquito makes her move. She lands on the soft swell above my elbow and I watch as she pierces my skin.
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Originally from England, Jo now lives outside NYC. She is the cnf editor at X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine and cnf contributing editor at Barren Magazine. Her fiction has appeared in PANK, Hobart, Jellyfish Review and others. Jo has been nominated for Pushcart Prizes and Best Small Fiction.
Twitter: @JoVarnish1