We Do What We Do in the Dark

by Michelle Hart

She envied the careless way in which her peers appeared to live. She felt at once much older than them and much younger.

“We pretend what happened did not really happen. In order to move forward, we don’t dwell on what came before.”

“It’s been so nice spending time with you the last few weeks,” Mrs. Allard said the next time they saw one another. “Sometimes it’s felt like having Hannah back. Or at least, it’s like having that time with Hannah back. But I’ve also just really loved talking with you.”

No one should use another person to get over their own loneliness.” “Isn’t that what we all do?”

It felt nice to stroll alongside the woman in public, as if they were friends, perhaps equals. But then Mallory wondered whether their being equals would make her less interesting to the woman.

“I’m afraid of being alone and afraid that is the only way I know how to be.”