Having had several boyfriends and even a husband, I decide to trade in half of my pension for a life-sized blow-up friend.
I follow the instructions, set my preferences, and name her Eliza.
We fall into a rhythm: preparing and eating food, chatting about the books and TV programmes we love.
Twice I stayed in town longer than intended, having coffee, then lunch, with a former colleague.
Both times Eliza didn’t talk to me for days after. It became easier not to go.
I keep in mind the magic of our early days, knowing, deep down, I should deflate her.
Laura Besley is a short fiction writer from the U.K. Her flash fiction collection, The Almost Mothers, was published in March 2020 and her collection of micro fiction, 100neHundred, will be published in May 2021. She tweets @laurabesley