By the Canal

It’s a glorious spring day after rain. Lucy takes the short cut alongside brightly painted barges, coots swimming with their chicks. The man grabs her from behind. She swivels, loose as a dancer, he slips in the fresh mud and tips over the edge. She stays to watch him drown.

Rosie Cullen lives in Manchester, UK, and likes writing all kinds of little stuff but still loves her big novel The Lucky Country best.