The Unmaking of June Farrow

by Adrienne Young

madness—the same affliction to befall every woman in my family for as far back as anyone could remember. We were cursed—the Farrow women.

I suspected that the ache of missing her would mostly come from those little things. The holes that were left behind, empty places I’d stumble upon now that she was gone.

A year ago, I would have told myself it was just a trick of the light through the glass. Not a wrinkle of the mind. Not a fine crack in the ice. It was the porch light swinging. The shadow of a tree branch.

This woman was a flame.

“You may have ruined my life, June. But first, you gave me one.”