Chapter 2
The Murmur
The forest doesn't let go just because I walk away from it.
The village lights look warm from a distance. They aren't.
They look at me like something broken. Lower their voices when I pass.
No one asks anymore. They already have the answer they want.
AdultHe went down in the mire, sweetheart. It happens here.
"It happens." Like he was weather. Something you wipe off.
I say nothing. There's nothing to say to someone who's already decided.
Just a door handle. Cold steel, a sticker.
I touched it before I could stop myself.
An old woman counting coins at a till. A morning that isn't mine.
So it doesn't stop at the forest edge. It follows me home.
I pull my hand back. Look around. No one saw.
Everyone's still inside their own lives. I stand in the murmur of them.
The village group argues about Emil like he's a weather forecast.
"Stop spreading rumors." "Think of the family." I am the family.
I upload the clip. The proof. What I know I saw.
The image smears. What was true turns into a blur. That one either.
KidThe Aldmoor ghost, haha. So creepy. Post it.
My proof is someone's joke now. Almost a relief, not being believed the wrong way.
Home. His door's ajar. No one's dared to close it.
A jacket on the hook. A made bed. Absence someone turned into furniture.
My hand finds his doorframe on its own. A centimeter left.
I know what my skin does now. What would his room remember?
No one believes me. Soon I won't either.