Reverie Magazine, The Surgical Pause (March 2024)

I’m nervously giddy to share my latest short story (although it’s one of the first I’ve written back in 2020). The Surgical Pause has been published in the second issue of the ever-gorgeous, Reverie Literary Magazine – a newer online magazine that shares some of the most evocative and visceral poetry, prose, photography, and artwork. It’s an honor to have had my writing selected by editor-in-chief Isabelle Wei, and to get to work with the editors on final touches to make it the raw, emotional, inception-style piece of prose it is. I’m very proud of this one.

Description: In this story just shy of 1,000 words, Anisa faces a critical operation alone. She finds herself confronting her darkest memories and the bridge between life and death. This piece excavates a biological truth, that though our cells may heal and repair, it takes time and guts to overcome our trauma. And we all have so very much trauma in this life. The pain of addressing the condition, medical or otherwise, is worth it if it can bring us a little bit of peace along with our scars.

Content warning: Reference to sexual assault and description of surgery/medical procedures.