Welcome to Flash Fortnightly!
My name is Laura Besley and I’m an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher. Over the years I’ve met thousands of students of all ages from many different countries in the world. This job really suits me as I love meeting people and learning about different languages and cultures. After working in England for a couple of years, I moved to Düsseldorf, Germany, where I taught Business English for two years and now I’m living in Hong Kong. This small pocket of Asia is a perfect blend of East meets West and is rich in colour, noise and inspiration.
That brings me nicely onto writing. I’ve been writing on and off since childhood and did my degree in English Literature and Film Studies. When I was in Germany I started writing a bit more regularly and in Hong Kong I’ve really had the time to dedicate to my writing. In 2011 I joined the Hong Kong Writers Circle and a critique group which allowed me to start looking at my work with a more critical eye. On 4th May 2012 I embarked on a project to write one piece of flash fiction a day. I’ve always seen myself as a novelist, but actually I’ve found that I really love writing short pieces as it gives you plenty of room to experiment with style, voice, characters and settings. And each day I can write something new.
I hope you enjoy this ‘Flash Fortnightly’ entry and I’ll be back on Wednesday 5th December for some more…
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reflection
Reflecting from the gilded mirror was a face that wasn’t hers. It was long and pale with crimson smudges under the eyes. Dark hair with streaks of grey was unkempt and pulled into a low ponytail. The green eyes, once described as meadows, were faded. And angry.
“Joanie?”
The reflection turned away from itself in the direction of the soft voice.
“Joanie dear. Would you like any breakfast?”
“No.”
“Please try to eat something.”
“No. I don’t think I can.” The reflection found itself again and put on a charcoal grey coat with big round buttons. It tied a moss green scarf around its neck and pulled a matching hat onto its head, pulling it as low as possible, nearly covering the eyes. “I’m going for a walk,” it said.
“Where to?”
“Not sure. Won’t be long.”
“Alright, dear. See you soon.”
The reflection tried smiling, but the lips on each side of the face didn’t know how any more.
Laura Besley
This piece was inspired by an Adele song (Someone Like You) & an interview with the singer which was conducted in her home. Whilst she is singing her beautiful and moving song, you can see her reflection in a massive gilded mirror. Click here for the link.
If you’d like to check out more of my writing, flash fiction and non-fiction, check out my blog: Living Loving and Writing. Or you can follow me on twitter @laurabesley
ArtiPeeps 
