The Ghost Writer

by Loreth Anne White

“That’s the thing about a terrible secret, Grace. You think you’re keeping it, but really, it’s the secret that keeps you.”

“No.” I take a sip of wine as the butler comes to remove my uneaten tongue and Claudia’s empty plate. When he’s gone, I continue. “Nothing in nature is intrinsically evil. Nature just is, and does what it does for survival. Good, bad, evil—those are human value judgments we bestow on things, depending on our cultures, traditions, history. And we use this to keep our communities, tribes, societies in check and functioning as a whole because, really, we are just herd animals.”