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Negligence (a collection of separations)

September 2013
They walked up the hill to the house. They held each other lightly as a final goodbye. They had said it already many times; there was no more courage to embrace the moment. No one was aware that it would be the last such one they would have. A someone opened the door, and he vanished behind it. 

January 2014
Three in the morning with no sleep. The city had saved its best for today; sunny, loud, vibrant! They said no goodbyes, but set a date for another time in another city. She realised she was full; full of people, of things, of experiences, of memories, of reasons to come back. A few hours later, the plane took off and the city was now an air view from outside the window…   

September 2015
There could be no goodbyes with him, no honesty. The unwelcome saviour, delayed and pre-occupied with other affairs, had no tolerance for emotions. Either people were running after him or they were simply fading; usually.  She would have loved to be the exception, but his gift to her was to help her stop longing for exceptions. She left the city a grown woman.    

November 2015
She hung up the phone, wide eyes to the sea. Her tears touched the ground and she refused to believe. She refused to accept she had just abandoned her, herself being so far away, forever alone in the world. She refused to realise she did not wait for her return, for a last goodbye. Last time she saw her, she was asleep. The lizard was not moving despite the lights and movement in the room. She smiled unconsciously and locked the door behind her.   

December 2015
Timing has irony built inside its own essence. When she arrived, a white sheet was covering the bed. Last night he was just going to sleep. She touched the hand that was laying underneath, but left the sheet intact. Afterwards, she took the picture standing on the desk beside and put it back in her bag. Some cats were meowing at the garden.      

July 2016
She held her tight, squeezed her tiny body in her arms. Instead of growing her acceptance for the situation after so many separations, it was getting harder each time. She drowned the tears in her eyes and she made the little girl promise her she would go to school. She let her walk away as if it was yet another evening.     

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Mira fell asleep tired next to her sister. Tomorrow they would be going to see another house with their parents. They had to leave this place, before it would leave them.

The port was quite now. The arrivals and departures of the day were complete. But its people weren’t. They kept, dreaming or not, making circles around their lives, looking for something inconceivable, even so accidental.   

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Μικρό καλοκαίρι

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