Story Therapy

  Image by AI Danger doesn’t always break in — sometimes it knocks. Story: S A Spencer Author of Popular Fictions : The Pink Mutiny , The Black Waters , Dream In Shackles Margaret heard the knock just as she was lowering herself into the armchair with her cup of tea. She paused, listening. The doorbell had stopped working again — she really needed to get that fixed once she felt better. She’d been waiting for the plumber to call before arriving, but perhaps he’d decided to drop by early. Tradies did that sometimes. She glanced at her phone on the coffee table. No missed calls. Maybe he forgot. Maybe she didn’t hear it ring. Her hearing wasn’t what it used to be. Poppy trotted to the door, tail wagging, ears perked. Margaret followed slowly, steadying herself on the hallway wall. She still felt a little light‑headed, but the thought of finally having hot water again lifted her spirits. She wouldn’t have to heat water in the kettle for bathing anymore. The thought alone made her sm...

  A vanished woman, a silent apartment, and a truth the city tried to forget. Story: S A Spencer Author of Popular Fictions :  The Pink Mutiny ,  The Black Waters ,  Dream In Shackles She was already dead when the demolition crew broke through the door. Unit 12B had been marked vacant for years — a forgotten corner of a crumbling 1960s walk-up in Sydney’s inner west. The developers were eager to raze it, replace it with glass towers and rooftop pools. But when the crew forced open the door, they found a skeleton curled on a thin mattress, as if the woman had simply gone to sleep and never woken up. No signs of violence. No broken furniture. Just a handbag with a faded passport, a cancelled Opal card, and a bank statement dated five years ago. Her name was Anika D’Souza. And no one had noticed she was gone.     Maya Lin arrived that afternoon, rain soaking through her jacket. She’d covered housing crises, council corruption, the slow death of old neighbourho...