Darna And The Starling
A downloadable book
Darna has lived her entire life in a crumbling, isolated castle, convinced she'll die the second she sets foot on the massive sea of grass around her. There's only one way to prevent that death, but it'll cost everything she lives for.
1,000 word short story written for a Apex Magazine flash fiction contest. Rejected and now presented for your entertainment here. Cover created using image from Daniel Olah on Unsplash
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god, what a bitter portrayal of abuse. as someone who has gone through similar things i very heavily relate-- when you have one person you're relying on who tells you what reality is you really have no choice but to believe them. and what cruelty it is, to use it to trick and manipulate rather than teach as a parent should.
I feel like the excuse for what she has to do to go outside also doubles as a metaphor-- to go against your abuser is to necessarily 'hurt' them. it's for others to seem so shocked you could be so cruel.
and then the pain doesn't stop once you escape
I was ecstatic to read this because you *got it*, you really got the metaphor I was going for here and I was so worried it wouldn’t stick the landing. I tried to make the most simple, elegant structure possible to portray how abusive relationships like this work and you showed me it worked.