Accident no.1

2009

Running from my brother, I trip on an unseen root. My knee lands on the razor edge of a broken flint that pokes out of the surface of the woodland earth.

In the bathroom my blood drips onto the lino floor. I must be screaming but I am also fascinated by seeing the inside of myself – the white bacon-like stuff beneath the skin that is revealed whenever my mum cleans away the red.