AustLit

'After your world ended for the third time, you walked. The gold ring on your right hand heavy and the blue band around your left wrist even heavier. 'Rip-off fitbits' was how Intisar had described them three years ago, as the two of you sat on the couch in the living room of your then new apartment, staring down at your clasped black hands. You had made a joke about fashionable shackles then, because that's what you both did, joked and laughed when the reality became just a bit too much. Ten years ago you were both in your final year of high school, and the nation had voted on the humanity of people who loved like you - but these shackles came without a plebiscite...' (Publication abstract)