Roman sat on his back porch, trying and failing not to think about the fact that Minnie’s funeral was happening in an hour and there was no possible way he could go. Some otherworldly force had decided that he in particular was not welcome anywhere else in the world, and that included her funeral and […]

Iris was deciding between two particularly good looking boxes of apples at the general store when she sensed it. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she could feel the eyes on her, boring into her back. She froze, then tried to relax her posture. Whether it was a ghost or […]

Roman got to Minnie’s house fifteen minutes after the sound of his phone pulled him out of a sound sleep on the couch. But even rushing out without stopping to leave a note and driving way over the speed limit, he was too late. Janet and Dr. Degas were sitting with their backs to Roman […]

Minnie was dying. This had become increasingly obvious to Roman over the past week or so. Everything about her was slowing down. She moved slower, she talked slower. She was still coherent, but slept for much longer periods of time and only nibbled at the pizzas Roman brought. But there was still no sign of […]

Olivia had to work that afternoon. At three o’clock, she walked into Keegan’s in a daze. It was stupid, but she half expected Noah to be there when she walked in, setting up the bar with an easy smile and some crack about her work ethic. Which, considering she’d dropped him off at the Central […]

Olivia woke up to a knocking at her front door. Her head burned and her stomach lurched as she sat up in bed, looking around for the source of the sound before she even realized what was happening. She stood up and walked out into the living room, finding it empty. Andrew must have eventually […]

Noah was in the woods. There was a storm rolling in, and the air was heavy and cool. He knew on some level that this didn’t make much sense since it was September, not March. But the springlike air felt good on his skin as he walked down the path. It was quiet as he […]

A little while later, Andrew found himself dozing through the movie Cleo and Olivia had picked out, some raunchy superhero movie he was pretty sure he’d seen before. He could hear the two of them laughing throughout the movie, the sound comforting even as it pulled him awake again. “Hey, Noah,” Cleo said at one […]

The next night, Andrew was sitting alone on the front step, watching the sunset. Cleo was back again tonight after driving a delivery shift in Worcester, and they’d just had a quiet dinner at Olivia’s. Andrew understood that Cleo was distressed about her mother and overwhelmed in general right now, but he was starting to […]

“Mom!” Cleo came out of the bathroom just as the smoke alarm started blaring directly above her. Thin, hazy smoke clung to the ceiling of her mother’s house, and she waved it away as best she could as she reached up to shut off the alarm. Where was the smoke coming from? And how had […]