CW: emotional abuse, domestic violence

I read aloud my short story, Imaginary Conversations. I wanted to write a dark legend/myth retelling about how when survivors try to leave abusive situations, they’re not understood completely after by the outside world. This story is inspired by the Lady of Shalott by Alfred Tennyson. This is not a Filipino tale--I wrote this one when I was in college, never really shared it, but then I rewrote it during the pandemic.

Imaginary Conversations centres around Blanca, who is struggling to stay home with her abusive father during the COVID-19 pandemic. Blanca cannot leave her home because she has a serious illness. Afraid of succumbing to either her disease or to COVID-19, Blanca slips into imaginary conversations with a boy who is delivering supplies to people on her block, because she longs to connect with someone from the outside world. When her relationship with her father breaks down, Blanca leaves home, trying to find a way out of her broken isolation, even if a very certain death awaits her.

I wrote this short story to raise awareness around the violence against women during COVID-19. Please note, if you listen to my podcast with children, this episode is not appropriate for young audiences, so please skip this one if you do. It is not explicit or gratuitous in its depiction of abuse, but it is a much darker story that surrounds mental health and having an unsupportive parent that does not understand it.