Five Minutes explores five minutes of a life in one hundred words. Five minutes is edited by Susanna Baird, with editorial support from managing editor Maria s. picone, newsletter editor kate meen, and founding reader bobbi lerman, plus our rotating team of guest readers, who you can meet in the latest newsletteR. Five Minutes was founded in October 2020, with the Salem (Mass.)-based writing group Carrot Cake Writers supplying the journal’s first pieces. We’d love to read your five. Submit here

Set the Scene

If the world slipped off its axis and unravelled into oblivion, this is the moment that would play on the screen of my mind. Here it is in slow motion: the beginning of the end. I unlock the bathroom door. The mustard light from the bulb, a dagger to my head. The sourness of vomit coats my mouth. A muffled Stevie Nicks song. The door opens lazily, rusty hinges croak their anger. In the dark, the scene is a plagiarised shot from any romantic drama. I breathe, forgetting to exhale. Here it is: The man I love kissing my friend.

Yashaswini Sharma is a writer, filmmaker, and artist currently based in Lithuania. yashaswinisharma.wordpress.com pagesinshots.substack.com Instagram: @pagesinshots

Minivan

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