Story Therapy

  A mother’s silence wasn’t absence — it was love, saved in drafts. Story: S A Spencer Author of Popular Fictions :  The Pink Mutiny ,  The Black Waters ,  Dream In Shackles She typed the message, paused, then deleted it. “Are you eating well?” Too clingy. “I miss you.” Too needy. “Can I call?” Too desperate. Margaret stared at the screen, thumb hovering over the keyboard. The draft folder blinked open, revealing a quiet graveyard of unsent words. Forty-seven messages. All to her daughter. All unsent. She closed the app and placed the phone face-down on the kitchen bench. The kettle hissed behind her, steam curling into the morning light. She poured the water into her mug, the scent of chamomile rising like memory. The house was silent, save for the ticking clock and the occasional creak of old timber. Her daughter hadn’t visited in six months. Not since the promotion. Not since the new apartment. Not since the world got louder and Margaret’s voice g...

  One empty chair. One forgotten promise. One unexpected knock. Story: S A Spencer Author of Popular Fictions :  The Pink Mutiny ,  The Black Waters ,  Dream In Shackles The curry had gone cold. Mohan sat alone at the dining table, staring at the untouched plate across from him. Steam no longer rose from the bowl of lamb rogan josh he’d simmered for hours, the scent of cloves and cinnamon now dulled by the evening chill creeping through the open kitchen window. The roti, wrapped in foil, had gone stiff. The salad wilted in its bowl. His own plate was half-eaten, but he hadn’t tasted a thing. He glanced at the clock. 7:42 PM. Sunday dinner. Like every Sunday for the past three years. Except his son hadn’t come. Again. Mohan reached for the glass of water, his fingers brushing the rim before pulling back. He didn’t want it. Didn’t want anything. The house felt too quiet, too still, like it was holding its breath. He looked at the empty chair opposite him — ...

  A gripping tale of choices, consequences, and the love a man realises he lost only when it was too late. Story: S A Spencer Author of Popular Fictions :  The Pink Mutiny ,  The Black Waters ,  Dream In Shackles A Moment He Never Expected Arvind froze the moment he saw her. Anita stood near the arrival gate, dressed in a simple cotton kurta, her hair tied back the way she always wore it when she was rushing from college. But it wasn’t her presence that shook him. It was the man standing beside her. Tall. Calm. Confident. And holding her handbag as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Arvind’s suitcase slipped from his hand. Anita smiled politely. “Arvind… this is Rajiv.” Her voice was steady. His world wasn’t. Before he could respond, his phone began to ring. And that was when everything truly began to unravel. The Restlessness He Never Understood Months earlier, long before this airport moment, Arvind had convinced himself he was suf...

  🌿   A heartfelt midlife story about a Sydney woman whose health scare becomes the turning point she never expected. Story: S A Spencer Author of Popular Fictions :  The Pink Mutiny ,  The Black Waters ,  Dream In Shackles 1. The Morning Everything Changed Leanne had always been a morning person — or at least that’s what she told herself. At forty‑eight, she’d mastered the art of functioning on autopilot. Wake up at 5:30. Put the kettle on. Pack her lunch. Check her emails before the sun even rose over Western Sydney. Catch the 7:02 train from Blacktown to Wynyard. Smile politely at colleagues. Hold everything together. She wore her competence like armour. That morning, the sky was a soft grey, the kind that promised humidity later. The cicadas were already screaming outside, and the air felt thick even before breakfast. Leanne moved through her kitchen with the same efficiency she brought to her job as a senior admin coordinator in a large Sydney law fi...