Bones in the Shell

Her temple aches and when she reaches up to lean it in her palm, her fingertips brush the shell of her ear. In the arc she finds three spikes, piercing her flesh in a small row. The spikes are smooth, like bone. She cannot remember if they were there when she went to sleep but tiny red brown flakes are on the tips of her fingers when she pulls them back. She tries to twist one and quickly ceases when it turns with a lashing tongue of pain across her skin.

Text by Lucie MacAulay