Kelita Sim

“Deviation” by Kelita Sim

Submitted to Contest #132

The family of three (minus Caleb’s wife, who had booked a solo all-day retreat last minute without telling her husband) rattled through the turnstile after the holiday club rep Carmita as she signalled the direction of the activity pool and facilities.“Be quick,” she warned, in accented English, and tapped on her Casio as Caleb steered his family towards the changing room, “the swimming has already started.”The family changing room was completely empty, much to Caleb’s relief. With a huge sigh, he allowed the luggage he’d manoeuvred from the...

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“The Gift That Keeps On Sounding” by Kelita Sim

I jerk awake from my stupor and feel it coming on fast.There’s this bizarre transition from total peace and dormitory to vivid awakening. An awakening so sudden and vicious enough to gatecrash a pleasant dream, slap consciousness back into the body and set off all the internal system’s alarm bells that something is very very wrong.As I come to, swaddled like Baby Jesus in layers of tartan blankets, sandwiched toastily between two other dosing relatives, I feel it tear through my innards and explode across my middle.The noise startles the lou...

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“Born Z” by Kelita Sim

Submitted to Contest #114

My name is Zeva. And I am reminded of it every day.*At the superstore, the cashier scans through my allowance and double-takes the chocolate that I put in a special request for. She bounces it up and down to feel its weight. It’s a 500g bar, barely weighing anything. It’s nothing compared to the others’ shopping, but it’s everything to me. My heart almost stops when she pushes my chocolate aside without scanning it and totals the rest of my bill.“That’ll be 42,” she says with a straight steady stare. Her face is hard, with dark eyebrows in a...

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“Kindle” by Kelita Sim

“We have plenty of time”Without a word, she revolved in place with hands on hips, elbows jutted and lips puckered. As her eyes glared down at our bodies adorned with lingerie and filigree, I imagined her brain firing up all over again. The blasé comment was a fatal mistake, offered up by the trust fund teenager, in a moment far from optimistic. If the teenager had taken a second to read the room, she would have understood that the fire - her cousin - was already smoking and didn’t need any more poking. The careless comment was another cataly...

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“Passage” by Kelita Sim

Submitted to Contest #92

15-Hello.Woah. It’s dark here.Here…wait. Where is here? I’m not sure.Okay. Think. Think for a second. Get your bearings.Hmmm. What was I just doing before that wave of consciousness?Ah, I don’t know. At least, I can’t remember.Maybe I have been here before? Maybe not? Maybe I do know this eerie darkness.19-So.I don’t remember anything. Or exactly when I noticed that I was, well, here. Perhaps I’ve been here a while. I mean, I know I’m here, I know I exist because I’m thinking, aren’t I? So surely that counts for something, right?Nonetheless,...

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“Bad Leads” by Kelita Sim

Submitted to Contest #88

Hue Nielson kept a tally chart on his desk wall.Every Monday, he arrived at his station somewhere between ten thirty and eleven, in his creased untucked suit and blonde bed hair with enough noise to overshadow his fellow salesmen in mid pitch. His priorities were off. The huddle on Monday was never his first priority, as it should have been for every sales representative at Gregory & Gordon. No, Hue Nielson’s first priority was to take a black marker, straighten the chart on the wall, and add a line to his tally. To the average eye, this...

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“A Night to (Dis)member” by Kelita Sim

Submitted to Contest #81

The drain had been blocked for two hours, but after the third she’d managed to clear it.She fell back, stood up over the basin and waited.It had congealed but finally it caught suction, slurping away.The cleaning fluid she’d used tempted her sinuses, but her eyes were already starting to dry.When she was sure it was all gone, she stripped and stood under a warm stream.In the shower, the residue was scrubbed off of her body. It clung to the creases in her hands and the beds of her nails, but it came away.Exiting the bathroom, she bagged the s...

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“Familiar Ache” by Kelita Sim

Submitted to Contest #79

Hurt people hurt people. It’s a line that illustrated many of my pastors’ sermons. Sure. But you know what? The truth hurts more. And the truth was that my auntie’s husband had never liked us. * You can’t say things like that; my mother snapped at the open road before us, bracing the steering wheel. She’d rebuked me for saying so for almost five years. The length of time the man I was forced to call Uncle had been playing house with my mother’s most precious little sister. It’s true though; I retaliated and then immediately regretted it. Ha!...

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