1. Pretend the sheets are really a fort
2. Pretend it’s the summer holidays and time is no longer a concept but a piece of fabric we can drape to make prom dresses
3. Pretend the distant clouds are tiny Pomeranians
4. Pretend hummus is a food group
5. Pretend that TikToks don’t calm me down more than yoga
6. Pretend the time on the oven clock is right
7. Pretend that clapping will somehow create beds and buy ventilators
8. Pretend that not being able to buy cake ingredients is a valid reason to cry
9. Pretend your cacti are people and bitch to your boyfriend about their toxic personality traits
10. Pretend calories don’t exist after 9pm
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Alice Rose grew up by the sea but now lives in the home counties. She was shortlisted for The Bath Flash Fiction Award (Feb 2017) and has also been published at CafeAphra and ReflexFiction. Rose writes from her small St Albans flat, feeding other people’s cats and attempting to keep her plants alive. You can find her at alicerwrites.wordpress.com