The Last Twirl by Hannah Retallick, luke warm cocoa

 

Standing in the kitchen, with the cupboard door open, Kevin pushed the whole chocolate bar into his salivating mouth.

They call him an addict – his friends, his family, his mortal enemies – but he isn’t an addict, he’s a ‘self-soother’. That’s what they call babies who make themselves go to sleep, isn’t it? Druggies and alcoholics obliterate everything with drugs and alcohol, don’t they? Kevin wasn’t obliterating, merely swallowing his pain whole.

What was so wrong about that?

And yet, he couldn’t bear binging publicly, which was fine, provided the chocolate bar melted or broke and didn’t become wedged in his–

About the author

Hannah Retallick is a twenty-eight-year-old from Anglesey, North Wales. She was home educated and then studied with the Open University, passing her Creative Writing MA with a Distinction. She has been shortlisted/highly commended in many international competitions and won Second Place with Cranked Anvil Press in January 2022. https://www.hannahretallick.co.uk/about