Home: A Short Story

​By: Ishita Khambete

This is a follow-up to Ishita's short story titled 'Scene.' Read her piece here.

​I had gotten back from talking at a workshop, and as I sat on the floor, petting Finley, with the fire in the fireplace crackling, I looked at Roisin’s face as the glare from her phone lit up her face. I smiled a little bit, and looked over at my phone, which had a notification on it.

Roisin: Ye saw my face, didn’t ya?

I immediately snorted and laughed, startling Finley. Roisin looked up from her phone and smirked a little bit. “Saoirse, why is it so easy to make you laugh?”

“I don’t know! I’m just that kind of person.” I said, looking over at Finley, who was now playing with one of his toys.

“Ahahaha, that’s been clear since I first met you,” Roisin said, smiling at me.

“Nothing has changed, has it?”

“Nope, nothing. It’s almost like we’re the same people from when we first met.”

“We definitely aren’t the same people from five years ago.”

“You sure?”

“Hell yeah. We’re different.”

“At least this relationship isn’t.”

“Of course. If something happened to our relationship, then everything would be over. You already know what would happen if we didn’t have this love.” I said, looking at the empty glass of what used to be wine on the coffee table.

​Roisin looked over at the glass and nodded somberly. “Right. I know what would happen. You’ve come close before, right?”

“Yeah, I have. Underage too. Life wasn’t pretty a decade ago,” I said, getting up. “Can I sit next to you?”

“Yeah, come on over.” Roisin said, moving over, making a space on the couch.

“Thanks babe.” I said, sitting next to my girlfriend, my hand on her shoulder.

“Anything for you, Saoirse,” she said, grabbing the remote. “Do you want to watch TV?”

I immediately smiled and said, “Of course.”

And with that, Roisin turned on the TV, the fireplace crackling and Finley scrambling around in the background.