The Price of Love by Iqbal Hussain
The ozone scent of the ocean reminds me how much I have sacrificed to be here: friends, family, home, heritage.
Was it worth it? Most days, yes, but on black days – every step painful – I find myself back before the water.
Mother warned me. But I knew better. “You don’t choose who you fall for.”
“Mark my words, no good came of such a union.”
I brushed it aside – another of her fables.
He is a devoted husband, but he cannot bridge the loneliness.
I lose myself in the roaring of the waves: a world I can no longer enter.
Northern Boy by Iqbal Hussain was published in Summer 2024 by Unbound Firsts. Available in bookshops and online: – including – uk.bookshop.org
www.ihussainwriter.com/northern-boy
Instagram – @ihussainwriter
Original bio – Iqbal’s short story “The Boy with the Green Eyes” was published in the Leicester Writes Short Story anthology in September ’21 – available here. He is one of fifteen emerging writers to feature in the Mainstream anthology by Inkandescent – link here. Iqbal’s first novel, Northern Boy, is out on submission.
Photo by Nsey Benajah on Unsplash
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