‘THE wind bellows through the tunnel as a train rushes the platform. I move forward, trying to anticipate which carriage to go for. The platform isn’t packed but my bag is large. An empty carriage would make things easier.

It’s still light, early evening, and people are in their social groove.

As I enter, standing, with my bag swung to the floor of the carriage; I notice a group of women dressed-up for a night out. It looks like a hen night. The girls are singing, laughing, cuddling. One has a cheap veil on her head and it has slipped tenuously to one side, about to fall off. None seem bothered as they sway, happily to the soft tones of American valley-girl-pop music emanating from a small handheld JBL.

They look ridiculously happy. Their world is good.

They smile at me and I smile back.

And despite feeling a touch envious, I am happy for them.

None of us, I feel, will ever fully understand life, hence the importance of enjoying such moments. …’ (Sheridan©L.S. Bergman 2025)

This is a snippet from my new release ‘Sheridan', a short story, presented in a cut-up style, a non-linear reflection on the state of the protagonist’s mind, as she struggles with heartache. Sheridan’s thoughts, her search and her narrative, drift from the present to the past and to the future, mirroring a kind of chaotic search for meaning in her life after an abrupt break with her current boyfriend, sparks a confrontation with the nihilism of much of the landscape she witnesses strewn around her.

Sheridan’s youthful, be it sporadic, nature and exuberance are not without depth or the desire to embrace new more mature directions. She knows … deep down … what she really wants, having experienced what no longer serves her.

Set in Germany, this ‘cut-up’ is an adult, short, literary narrative. It’s a brief work of realism. One woman’s perspective on her life, with a romantic theme threaded throughout, delving into the painful and oft messy, ups and downs and sometimes … sideways … slants to intimacy and the quirky paths which lead to the right commitment.

Check it out on #Kindle ...