The evening June air was cool as it blew in the window, making the flowered curtains flutter in the breeze. Olivia could smell the flowers in the backyard, flowers that the previous owners had planted and she had adopted. It was nice, calm. She could almost relax right now as the oven preheated and she […]

Andrew wasn’t sure what he had expected when Dr. Degas handed him her phone number and said to call. But it certainly wasn’t Dr. Degas sitting across from him at the tiny folding table in Iris’s shop, sipping a steaming mug of tea. She wore a cardigan sweater and jeans with no sign of her […]

Olivia would pound on this door until either Noah answered or the door caved in. It had been five minutes since she’d stormed up the steps and started banging on his front door, and she wasn’t going anywhere until she got answers. “Noah, answer the fucking door! I know you’re in there!” She stopped for […]

Another cold night, another session at Iris’s. It was getting late, probably closing in on nine or so. But Andrew wasn’t quite sure because Iris didn’t have a clock anymore. The poltergeist – whom she had apparently named Roland – had smashed it two weeks earlier in a nightmarish fit of rage that had kept […]

Olivia had a fire going a couple hours later. They sat around it in the backyard, holding steaming cups of hot cider in the chilly March air. “This is nice,” Cleo said, taking a sip and wincing as she burned her tongue. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?” Olivia asked, glancing over […]

Dr. Degas walked into the exam room with a rueful smile. “Hello, Andrew,” she said. Andrew sat on the exam table in an ill-fitting cotton gown. “Hi, Dr. Degas,” he said. “So the rumor I heard was correct then,” she said, setting down her clipboard and sitting down in her desk chair. “How long have […]

The basement storage unit was a little dim. He’d have to remember to change the bulbs out of the dangling light fixtures once he finished this. It was no problem, Noah could keep going all day. The loose piles of shit from the far corner were now bagged piles of shit in the near corner […]

Cleo walked into the restaurant with a little hesitation. It was a beautiful steakhouse in one of the towns around Worcester, classy and far more sophisticated than she’d anticipated when she’d rented a car for the night to drive there. Oh God, was she on a date? Was this an actual date between her and […]

Iris walked into Forest Charms and her heart sank as she surveyed the damage. It had regularly been a mess since Roland found his way into her life. But right now it looked as though a hurricane had ripped its way through her store. Entire shelves were ripped off the walls and expensive merchandise was […]

It was quiet at Keegan’s. Not that this was unusual for a Tuesday afternoon, but the quiet itself was almost distracting. With not a single customer in the store and everything beyond the usual paperwork done, the silence pressed down on Olivia as she sat at her desk in the back room. She and Noah […]