Countless Haints, Pt. 1
Her earliest memories were of the taste of freshly turned earth and the bleating of goats.* * *“Pa?” Madrigal asked. “You know what tomorrow is, don’t you?”“Of course.” Her father settled back in the...
View ArticleCountless Haints, Pt. 2
The woods stretched away from the farm and into forever.Madi grabbed a crooked switch from the ground and swatted at weeds and spider webs as she followed the pine straw-carpeted trail. Trees—mostly...
View ArticleCountless Haints, Pt. 3
A pair of tire tracks wound around the edge of the forest, leading in one direction towards the highway, and in the other towards the farm. Wiry grass grew tall and wild between the ruts, and a...
View ArticleCountless Haints, Pt. 4
‘Riah was right. And wrong.Madi was curious, probably too much so for her own good, and she’d gotten herself into trouble more than once by snooping where she didn’t belong. But she wasn’t stupid,...
View ArticleCountless Haints, Pt. 5
Pa opened the door just a crack. The creaking hinges, the light spilling into the darkened room, roused Madi. Her eyes fluttered open, but she didn’t move. She didn’t speak.“You awake?” Pa asked....
View ArticleCountless Haints, Pt. 6
She ran.She didn’t know what else to do, and she didn’t have much time to think about it. Even as she pulled herself away from the window, she saw the congregation of torchbearers disbanding. They...
View ArticleCountless Haints, Pt. 7
Madi knew those woods just as well as she knew her own bedroom. She’d been exploring the wilds all her life—the hollows where she chased squirrels, the muddy swimming holes where she cooled off on hot...
View ArticleCountless Haints, Pt. 8
The tombstones were so old that the epitaphs—if the graves had ever borne epitaphs—had been worn down to nothing by time and the elements. The pale markers looked like ancient bones only partially...
View ArticleCountless Haints, Pt. 9
Faceless and silent, the ghosts stood behind the grave markers, one spirit for every stone.They reminded Madi of schoolchildren waiting patiently for their teacher’s instruction. Of course, Madi had...
View ArticleCountless Haints, Pt. 10
Madi thought she was farther away from home than she had ever been before.That wasn’t true, of course. Every now and then, Pa had taken her into the nearby town of Ahmen’s Landing. Usually, she just...
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