Taking Cover by Isha Marquez

Taking Cover is an excellent short story from a very talented writer. We join the story as the unnamed narrator wakes up in an empty bed, her lover having gone to take a temporary job in Africa. When he returns, something has changed within him, as he becomes more and more remote. Our protagonist despairs at their worsening relations, until something explosive throws them back together again… Or does it? Taking Cover is a very subtle story, which really plumbs the emotional depths of Isha Marquez’s heroine as she seeks to finally find her home.

An extract from the story:

I slowly woke up, blinking at the light peeping from under the curtains in its familiar way. But the coldness I felt on my back was different, unfamiliar; he wasn’t lying beside me this morning. Like a dream that’s recalled on waking - I remembered the note. I pushed myself up to sitting position. I didn’t want to see the letter. I willed it to disappear - I willed it to be a figment of my imagination. But it lay there crumpled into a fist on the nightstand. I reached for it and unfolded its angry edges.

I have to travel.

I took the job in Africa.

I’ll be gone for three weeks.

Taking Cover was once published by us as a short story download, but we have subsequently stopped selling short stories.

Authortrek reader Andrew Smith wrote that: “Isha Marquez's Taking Cover is the best short story I have read in a long time.”

If you want to do a review you can send it to authortrekreview@authortrek.com. We will not publish your email address, or pass it on to other parties. Please include the author’s name and the story title in the subject line of your email. If you have any further queries, then please read the FAQ first. For more details about the author, please visit our Isha Marquez page.

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