Mini Short Stories: 2020 Volume 1

Build

Jemmy and her family were spending the vacation at a luxurious villa in Tobago. There were eight bedrooms, a massive kitchen, a pool and a jacuzzi. The beach was five minutes away. It was a paradise vacation. It disguised the nightmare Jemmy and her siblings were living. It would be their last trip together as a family before they were broken up. 

Jemmy wanted to talk, but everyone was so occupied. Her parents were swimming in happiness now that the divorce documents were awaiting their signature at the end of the vacation. Carla used the excuse of her final year project to stay in her room. Scotty just smiled and gave thanks that the arguing had ended. Hadassah was walking around everywhere hugging her dolls. And Jem herself? Her thoughts were unsettled. 
 
Everything had already been decided. She and Scotty would stay with Dad while Hadassah would stay with Mom. Carla was in university and by herself as she most emphatically wanted. They were just waiting for pen to meet paper and for their lives to break even further. Until then they would keep pretending in paradise. Jem decided to go on a walk alone and left a note. The beach wasn’t claustrophobic.

She walked away briskly. She didn’t want this broken reality, but it seemed to be a truth that would make her parents feel better than they’d felt in a long time. It seemed impossible for her family to ever be the solid unit that she thought would keep building throughout her entire life. As she sat in the sand she saw the cat that always sat at a distance and observed her family. It was black and smug. It stood in front of her and looked directly at her with a profound, yellow and calm eye. 

Jemmy felt bad for thinking of it as smug when its demeanour today was so friendly. She found herself telling the cat everything. She revealed how her family split apart as her parents drifted apart and her siblings developed diverse interests. She laughed at her sibling’s individual attempts to avoid their new reality. She both wept and laughed as she emptied herself until she came to the truth. “I want to build my own family, Cat. How can I do that?” Cat walked up to her, turned and then settled before purring contentedly. She felt a bond between it that was timeless. Maybe my family was busily pretending not to fall apart, but I could build it all back up and Cat here would be a start. “Will you be my friend, Cat?” It purred so she took it back home with her.

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Welcome back!

This was a fun one to write. Yes it is another sad one, but it was still fun.

It is a special story to me because I included the name of some of my English students in here 😅😅😅. I just borrowed the names and not the personality!

The family dynamic is in mid-transition. An awkward place to be.

Do you think they'll be able to deal with their change?

Also Cat was inspired by the cat called Cat (yes exactly like that 😅) in the novel It's like this Cat. The teenager in that novel would discuss his problems with his cat all the time and it was one of my favourite books to read.

Do you have a pet cat? What's its name?
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