This little piece, made up of six sentences, was written for a competition on the 6 Sentences network, and was based on a picture and the title "The Mysterious Dr Ramsey". Fortunately my entry made it into the anthology, which is now available on Amazon.


The Mysterious Dr Ramsey

Sounds drifted in, like water-muffled vibrations, where the universe came back into view and grey shapes dissipated as my eyes opened to the majesty of life like a slow, unfolding flower.

I turned my head to the brightness as honey layered clouds and Midas reflections shone with a muted glow, stark against a cobalt blue sky while dust filtered through angled sunbeams, the particles glittering like traces of tinsel and dancing as you approached.

The ruffle of fabric tickled my frayed senses, and I gazed upon a veiled face; a cloth veneer drawn tight, except for deep, fathomless eyes, warm like embers, polished like hematite.

Lips, shaped like almonds, moved as you spoke to me, and then, like a breeze, the vision was gone.

Senses contracted and pulled together, stitching a memory into place; the explosion, the screams, the dreadful sound of death, the deepest pools of crimson, crawling across the dust... making me remember.

I lifted myself up, looked down where my legs should have been, taken in the name of God and country, and I cried inside, cried that my flesh was strewn across Helmand province, but I cried that the rest of me was saved; salvaged by Dr Ramsey, the veiled woman in my dreams.