Second Winner of TATA Literature Live! 2015’s Flash Fiction Contest

No amount of books on childbirth you memorise can prepare you for the

excruciating, body tearing pain that comes in the chance circumstance you

push another human out of you. It is maddening, violent pain and that’s just

the contractions. An eternity later I was going into labour. Annihilation, as

my final push released her but magic when I looked into her eyes and my

pain vanished. She was a part of me. My miracle.

Broken hearted I took one last look at my beautiful baby girl and handed

her over to her lucky parents. I’ll always remember that day, the day I

turned seventeen.

"There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.”