The Haunting of Brynn Wilder

by Wendy Webb

Everyone is haunted by something. A road not taken. A hurt, carried deep inside. Harsh words that echo long after the sting of them is carried away on the wind.

A century of souls inhabiting a place will leave an imprint that lingers long after they’re gone, and it lingered here. Not in a bad way. It felt well lived in.

Reading for pleasure with nothing more important to do. What a delicious idea.

“Be at peace, wonderful lady,” he said. “You will leave this earth better than you found it. That is all any of us can ask.”

I knew her passing was coming, during the last year of her life. Even so, I was wholly unprepared for the vast emptiness she left behind.

I loved the man, but I just didn’t like him very much.

“I’ve never heard anyone call Alzheimer’s evil,” I said to him. “Then you’ve never watched someone you love slip away because of it.”

“It stands to reason, if stress and sadness take it away, laughter can give it back.”

People get so caught up in themselves and their dramas, or they get ensnared in their own sorrows and tragedies, they forget to appreciate the beauty around them.”

“I think a person’s past, good or bad, idyllic or horrific, shapes who they are,” I said. “But I don’t believe it defines them.”

This is what life is for. This is why we are here. To find the person who can bring our souls to life.