RESOLUTION • by Oonah V Joslin

Gaye handed out paper and pens. A few people groaned but tradition is tradition and this had been a family ritual ever since anyone could remember. She fetched the Box of Broken Promises and began to read last year’s resolutions. The prize was a book token.

“Lose weight, Roger?”

Roger blushed and wrote it again.

“Congratulations to Martine who has given up smoking.”

A ripple of applause.

Gaye blenched and crumpled the paper in her hand.

“What’s wrong?” asked Roger.

The signature read Paula, but the sheet was blank.

It was the closest thing they had to a suicide note.


Oonah V Joslin lives in North East England and writes mostly poetry and flash fiction.


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