Photo by Dejan Zakic on Unsplash

Violets & Peppers

A Tale Prompted by Black Pepper

Skin like white typing paper. Blue veins shouting from a thin layer of translucent flesh, pulsing from aqua to purple. Eyes as ambivalent as the sky on a hazy, sunny day.

From the moment of her birth, she wore layer upon layer of cotton. At first, her parents simply wrapped her in blankets, with gauze around her face. Then, her grandmother on her…