It’s all bright lights. She blinks and squints, willing her eyes to adjust, but all she can see are the luminous strips above.
Susan has been snatched from reality and dumped here. A gate opens and there’s a little focus. Small creatures crawl and slither over glossy rainbow mounds in the distance. Susan startles at repeated high-pitch screams. The mix of horror tinged with delight makes her feel queasy or is that the smell of shit?
Cannonballs are aimed and fired. Susan scrambles to the floor. Once the missiles stop, she tries to identify the enemy, but there are too many of them. Swarming, climbing everywhere, up the walls and around the ceiling. How do they do that?
Susan claims refuge perched on a seat. The dazzling light, the spectacular colours and the endless shouting almost too much to bear. To her surprise her shoulders are no longer around her ears, they’ve loosened. It’s the first time she’s sat down today.
She sips brown liquid and chats to another drone. She surrenders to the headache-inducing hellscape, accepting her extradition. She looks around at the other indoctrinated Susans, relaxing into cult-hood. They’re kicking back, but there’s no white, fluffy dressing gowns, champagne flutes or swimming pool.
‘Excuse me?’
Susan turns around. ‘Hello?’
‘Um, you didn’t pay when you walked in, I’m sure, by accident.’
‘Pay?’ Susan’s head is spinning.
‘How old are yours?’
‘Three and five.’
‘Ok, so that’s £10.50, please.’
Susan reaches into her purse. They want her money? They’ve subjected her to scenes no human should ever see, dunked her dignity in dirt and tortured her senses…
She is getting to sit down though!
Susan hands over her cash with a smile.
Kristina Thornton’s second novel, Forty Going on Nineteen will be published in July 2026 (Harpeth Road Press). Kristina’s first book, Claire Morris is Completely Lost (Northodox Press) was shortlisted for two Romantic Novelists’ Association awards: The Debut Romantic Novel Award 2025 and The Joan Hessayon Award 2024.
'Hard Work at the Soft Play' was first published at Ellipsis Zine online in August 2021.
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