FLASH CREATIVE NONFICTION
GABRIELA ZABORSZKY
RELAY OF ENDLESS DESIRE
My palms are cracked with soap, my shoulders heavy, my eyes tired, but there is something sacred in the silence that has come after the storm. Now she just lies there, her hair tousled with sleep, her breath light as a touch, and I allow myself to be a mother for a moment, without haste, without anger, without regret. Just like that.
I bend down and pull the blanket over her shoulders, feeling the invisible thread that binds us, even though it breaks so often during the day. And suddenly I know that it all makes sense. That even chaos is just another kind of order. That tiredness is the price of a love that knows no bounds. That even if there is another scream tomorrow, tonight everything is right.
The apartment is a mess, as if it had just exploded. Toys, books, socks, and again, damn it, another "Mom!" for the twentieth time in an hour. My body is no longer mine, cracked like dry land, exhausted like an old backpack, and my brain? It has long since floated away.
"Mom, Mom! Look!"
"Mom, he's hitting me!"
"Mom, I'm hungry!"
"Mom, I can't sleep!"
Outside the window, the world goes on as I melt into the couch. The wine in the glass shakes in my hand, bitter freedom at the bottom. I hate and love in the same moment, in the same breath. They are little vampires, sucking my strength, and then they embrace me - and the world stops.
In the evening, when everyone is asleep, I sit in the silence that is so rare, and I wonder where the woman who once had dreams and energy has gone. You told me it would be beautiful. They didn't tell me it would be brutal. That love could hurt and keep me afloat at the same time.
Gabriela Záborszky (Kosice, Czechoslovakia) is a writer and poet. She studied languages in Poland and Slovakia, specializing in Slavic philology and translation. After graduation, she worked in education and publishing before devoting herself full-time to writing. Her poetry reflects themes of motherhood, female identity, and personal transformation, often drawing inspiration from everyday life and intimate emotions. She has participated in literary festivals and exhibitions throughout Central Europe, and her work has been published in various literary magazines. She currently lives and works in the Czech Republic.
