7
This Bird She Calls Fear
Through the frosted glass she sees him standing there on the doorstep. She recognises his silhouette at once. He is thinner than ever, but he holds himself in the same way, and the shape of his head is the same.
She steadies herself against the door frame, fingers clenched tight. The bird she calls fear flutters its wings within her chest. This is the moment she has hoped for and dreaded in equal measure. She does not know if she is strong enough.
She felt the first tremors of fear as he left for France when the fighting began. She could see through his bluster that he felt the same, but they did not speak of it. To name it out loud would be to jinx him in some way. And so he went, and she tried to contain it within herself. As black-edged letters began to be
