Ad Hoc Fiction

Kiss
A plastic mask is placed over my face and I gulp at the steam.

‘Slowly now. Let the nebuliser do the work for you.’

The paramedic avoids my eyes, turning his attention to the needle in the back of my hand. Coldness rushes along a vein.

Standing on my right is a girl in a blue dress watching me gasp as she chews on a nail. She knows me better than anyone; my love for Danny Boyle movies, my fear of sharks, how I sleep with two pillows, my nut allergies. 

She also knows I’m a cheat, we’d established that last week. 

But then she rang;

‘Shall we meet up? Maybe we could work through this?’

Welcoming me with wide eyes and a salty kiss I knew instantly that something was wrong.

I hadn't been forgiven at all.

I lay on the pavement as the men in green buzz around me. She wipes her lips with the back of her hand, then turns and walks away.