04-20-2021, 06:59 PM
Spectra
The ghost does not remember much of this place. She remembers the Memory and how the Memory had touched her once and seen the viper in her and then sent her away. But the Memory had been a viper, too. And the ghost, who had not been a ghost then but simply a child, had not understood why a viper should not want a viper and she had lingered just long enough for the Memory to make it clear that she would kill the child if given the chance.
The child had become a ghost sometime along the way. When the hunger had become too much. Sometime after all the world had dropped dead.
And then she had found Tirza sister or Tirza sister had found her and then there was Gravy brother who did not seem to like being called Gravy brother but let them call him that anyway and the ghost loved them both so fiercely that it made her ache in a new way. It was not just the pain of hunger anymore but the pain of something else, too. The pain of what it meant to understand that the Memory should have loved her, too.
There is no connection to this place for the ghost, not like there is for Tirza sister and Gravy brother. The ghost was born here, like they were, and the Memory cursed her here, too. She did not die here, though. That did not happen until later, not until the hunger became too much.
This is how she is able to chat happily as she and Tirza sister make the journey back to the Cove where all three of them started their lives. Tirza sister does not talk much, though this does little to deter the ghost. Because she is so grateful to finally have someone to talk to. Someone who is not dead. Someone who has not been reduced to sun-bleached bone. Because Tirza sister had told her that she would stay and she has and the ghost finally knows what family means and Gravy brother is waiting for them exactly where he’d said he would be.
He tells them that they’re late when they arrive and the ghost does not know what it means to be late, so she looks to Tirza sister. Gravy brother is already dripping wet with water and she wonders if this is what late means, if it means they should have been here before he had a chance to get in the water. But Tirza sister nudges her - or tries to - and says they should teach Gravy brother something and then surges into the water and the ghost makes herself solid, though she is not a viper anymore. She is only a horse whose throat burns when she swallows and whose gut aches with hunger. So she opens her mouth to let water in as soon as she’s in to soothe her throat, to fill her belly and she is happy because she is alive and her family is alive and there are dark, angry things that lurk in the shadows but they cannot touch her when she is with the things she loves.
The child had become a ghost sometime along the way. When the hunger had become too much. Sometime after all the world had dropped dead.
And then she had found Tirza sister or Tirza sister had found her and then there was Gravy brother who did not seem to like being called Gravy brother but let them call him that anyway and the ghost loved them both so fiercely that it made her ache in a new way. It was not just the pain of hunger anymore but the pain of something else, too. The pain of what it meant to understand that the Memory should have loved her, too.
There is no connection to this place for the ghost, not like there is for Tirza sister and Gravy brother. The ghost was born here, like they were, and the Memory cursed her here, too. She did not die here, though. That did not happen until later, not until the hunger became too much.
This is how she is able to chat happily as she and Tirza sister make the journey back to the Cove where all three of them started their lives. Tirza sister does not talk much, though this does little to deter the ghost. Because she is so grateful to finally have someone to talk to. Someone who is not dead. Someone who has not been reduced to sun-bleached bone. Because Tirza sister had told her that she would stay and she has and the ghost finally knows what family means and Gravy brother is waiting for them exactly where he’d said he would be.
He tells them that they’re late when they arrive and the ghost does not know what it means to be late, so she looks to Tirza sister. Gravy brother is already dripping wet with water and she wonders if this is what late means, if it means they should have been here before he had a chance to get in the water. But Tirza sister nudges her - or tries to - and says they should teach Gravy brother something and then surges into the water and the ghost makes herself solid, though she is not a viper anymore. She is only a horse whose throat burns when she swallows and whose gut aches with hunger. So she opens her mouth to let water in as soon as she’s in to soothe her throat, to fill her belly and she is happy because she is alive and her family is alive and there are dark, angry things that lurk in the shadows but they cannot touch her when she is with the things she loves.
ALL I WANT IS BEACHES FULL OF DEAD BIRDS. A FLOOD OF LIMBS
WASHED UP ONSHORE. SEASCAPES SPARKLING BRIGHT WITH BONE
WASHED UP ONSHORE. SEASCAPES SPARKLING BRIGHT WITH BONE