Fiona Murphy McCormack

Fiona Murphy McCormack is from Northern Ireland. She has a BA in English with Creative Writing from Glyndwr University, and an MA in Creative Writing from Queen's University. Her work has been featured in Electric Reads, Germ Magazine, Fearlessly Magazine, Elephant Ladder online zine, Crossways Literary Review, Santa Fe Quarterly, Every Day Fiction, Litro NY, Route 7 Review, Persephone's Daughters, Crossing the Tees 2019 (Third Place), East Jasmine Review and on the Anti-Languaist Project Podcast.

For Whom the Hands Clap

The ventilator whirred mechanically, patients’ chests rising as the oxygen pumped through their lungs. Donna stood by the man she had seen intubated hours beforehand. His breath at times steadying momentarily was a forced gasping rattle. She wondered who he was.
A middle-aged man with greying hairs amongst patchy brown. Quite possibly handsome, aside from the current predicament. His youthful face now drained from the sensation of drowning. He was in the throes of acute respiratory distress syndrome, as a result of the virus. Watching him, Donna’s own breath belaboured beneath her mask.

Issue 43, November 2020

Fiona Murphy McCormack

Fiona Murphy McCormack is from Northern Ireland. She has a BA in English with Creative Writing from Glyndwr University, and an MA in Creative Writing from Queen's University. Her work has been featured in Electric Reads, Germ Magazine, Fearlessly Magazine, Elephant Ladder online zine, Crossways Literary Review, Santa Fe Quarterly, Every Day Fiction, Litro NY, Route 7 Review, Persephone's Daughters, Crossing the Tees 2019 (Third Place), East Jasmine Review and on the Anti-Languaist Project Podcast.

For Whom the Hands Clap

The ventilator whirred mechanically, patients’ chests rising as the oxygen pumped through their lungs. Donna stood by the man she had seen intubated hours beforehand. His breath at times steadying momentarily was a forced gasping rattle. She wondered who he was.
A middle-aged man with greying hairs amongst patchy brown. Quite possibly handsome, aside from the current predicament. His youthful face now drained from the sensation of drowning. He was in the throes of acute respiratory distress syndrome, as a result of the virus. Watching him, Donna’s own breath belaboured beneath her mask.

Issue 43, November 2020

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