Isla Blackley is from Glasgow, Scotland. She was shortlisted for the writing competition for the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival in 2022 and came second in the 2022 Mountaineering Scotland Writing Competition. ‘Little Blue’ is her third published short story.
Would you remember the icicles dangling from above the windows? How they lit up against the gunmetal grey council scheme. Who needed decorations? We certainly didn’t. The icicles were blue, like the forget-menots which covered the grass by the swing park in the summertime, tiny little points of lilac-blue like stars trapped in a green sky.
What I didn’t know then was we couldn’t have afforded to fritter the little savings we had on Christmas decorations. I would notice the lines forming between your eyebrows when you thought you were alone in the kitchen. Then, as soon as you saw me how this shifted, your face a sun breaking free.
None of this stopped you from sharing the magic of that time of year. For us, it was simply
