Competition Twenty-Three Shortlisted: Our Town by Alexandra Peel
Ours is a small town, once bustling with laughter and connection, now dulled by the weight of solitude. The bakery on the corner was filled with the warm scent of fresh bread and the sounds of friendly chatter. Kids pinched corners off humid loaves, and pressed noses to glass where fresh pasties steamed. Now quiet, as faces remain glued to their devices, scrolls drowning out the sweet symphony of human existence.
Our town, vibrant once. Now grey with isolation. And we do not know why we starve, or what we hunger for.
Amidst this stillness, steps a young woman armed with a basket of homemade pastries. She ventures into the streets. Her heart beats not for the fleeting likes of social media but for the palpable connection that only genuine interaction can bring. She knocks on doors, inviting her neighbours to step into the warm embrace of community.
“Let us eat cake,” she says.
They hesitate, cocooned in their shells of digital distraction. Made suspicious, intolerant, polarised by opinions fed through plastic — lulled into lethargy. But gradually, the aroma of freshly baked goods lures them out. One by one, they emerge like moles into daylight. Their faces illuminated not by screens but by the soft glow of shared stories and laughter. Slowly, she stitches the frayed edges of our hearts. She reminds us we are part of a tapestry, where each thread of kindness binds us closer.
The baker’s simple act rekindles a spark that had long been dormant. Conversations flow like a river, washing away the remnants of despair. As the sun sets, neighbours sit side by side, eating brioche and bagels, rose cake and velvet cake. Revelling in the warmth of connection, we remember, love is not merely an emotion but a lifeline.
Alexandra Peel was born in the North West of England, where she now works in education; she has a background in Fine Art and is a Learning Support Practitioner. She lives with her husband of thirty-four years. Her stories have been featured in Metaphorosis anthology, Singularity magazine, the Asterisk Anthology and A Colors in Darkness Anthology. She is a self-published, multi-genre author of a Steampunk duology, a Steampunk collection, a novella, and a sci-fi fantasy novel. She has also written two contemporary novellas under the name E.V Faulkner. In 2022 and 2023, Alexandra won the Maynah Lewis Cup for short fiction in Wirral Writers Club. Alexandra loves foreign films, gardening, foamy bananas and gin. She has an abhorrence of pulses.
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Beautiful, thought-provoking