We introduce ‘And the Rainbow Twisted’, a new short story by Belkacem Meghzouchene, an Algerian author (born October 18, 1979 in Aït Hamsi.) A geneticist by training, he has published his first novel, SOPHIA IN THE WHITE CITY (Editions l’Odyssée, Algeria, 2010), a premiere in French-prone Maghrebi country. In June 2011, he won the first award of ‘Prix Ali Maâchi des Jeunes Créateurs De Son Excellence le Président de la République’ (Algeria), for his writings. In 2013, he published his second English novel, THE OVERCOAT OF VIRGINIA (Edilivre, France) and poetry collection, RAFFLESIA (Edilivre, France). He’s married with one daughter, and lives in Algeria. He loves his country and family, and he advocates for a world devoid of nukes and weapons, to wit, gotten rid of wars and whores.
Maciva could never recover from the unforeseen parting of Thinhinan on that broiling August. It was she who had discovered the inert body of black-robed Thinhinan; a lasso around her bluish neck, bulged eyes, bloodless face, sere and creviced lips, red-coral-embossed silver earrings, uncombed black hair, shoeless slender feet flailing half a meter above the wet floor of the bathroom. The scene of the horror had been unbearable, mind-paralyzing, and body-electrocuting, beyond screaming. Maciva’s first reaction when she had finally come to was to dash on toward the kitchen. She had been in a pother fishing for the damnknife. Climbing on the chair Thinhinan had used to stage suicide, Maciva cut like a mad, all sobbing, the damn beige rope which was hanging down from the ceiling. She had almost tumbled down from the chair as she held the relatively heavy cadaver of Thinhinan–do corpses gain weight? She loosened the loop, slammed Thinhinan’s cheeks for a desperate resuscitation, ear-probed her chest for a more desperate, shut-down cherished heart…
