Rachel Denham-White: extract from ‘Thornwomb’

Posted byCat ChongPosted inUncategorized
I can see I can see I can see I can see I can see I can see I can see I can see I can see I can see I can see I can see I can see I can see I can see the ceiling floor the whole wide panorama of this dark soft space is etched in vibrant movement and I can feel the small webs the hatchling has made in the corners as the air whispers between each glittering strand and I feel her tiny heart beating in a vibrant staccato of colour at the edges of my vision and I suddenly realise that I am no longer trapped but safely cocooned within my second flesh and as I balance on the stumps that will become my new legs I try twitching my bristles and a myriad of tiny tongues are running up and down my limbs that reach out into to the dying exhalations of the sac of blood and meat on the ground and I sense the hatchling coming closer and I feel the small susurrations of movement as her mandibles twitch and I realise she was speaking to me, the unhatched half of me, but I am here now and I know what she has been saying to me for all this time! “Mother Mother Mother” A hatchling knows how to spin a web without ever being told. I hope this young one will not mind if she has to teach me. Whatever I am, whatever I may be, there is still so much room for me to grow.

Rachel Denham-White

Rachel Denham-White is an emerging writer living in Boorloo/Perth. Her previous publications include Westerly, Seesaw Magazine, Good Reading Magazine, Pelican and Damsel. She loves horror, especially writing Gothic horror, eco-horror and folk horror, and is currently on a mission to read everything written by China Miéville and Jeff Vandermeer.

Leave a comment