'Bhoomi Devi, the Great Earth Mother Has Had Enough' by Sumitra Singam

Bhoomi Devi found a pull in her jumper, and because she was out shopping, she didn’t attend to it immediately. This meant the pull caught on the gold claws of her diamond ring as she scratched her right breast – her skin not being what it once was. The snag unravelled further, and there was no fixing it. She considered snipping it off, perhaps patching it over to prevent further pulls, but sighed at the shopping yet to be unloaded, the washing machine yodelling its call to her, the dishes in the sink. Bhoomi Devi gave the pull a yank, and found it so satisfying that she kept pulling. She watched as animals, birds, fish, insects, fungi, trees, bushes, plants unravelled into an unwieldy skein at her feet. The jumper was almost at its hem when she felt resistance. Peering down, she saw a great knot of humanity playing tug-of-war with her. She considered a moment, but her skin, her lungs, her arteries all cried out with the abuse she’d endured. She gave one great tug, and in a moment it was all over.