The Haunting of Maddy Clare

by Simone St. James

Happy people did not leave ghosts; or perhaps they left quiet ghosts, who sat in their favorite corners or wandered the banks of their favorite streams, never bothering the living.

Only a woman can truly understand the feeling of her very favorite item of clothing.

There are large moments in life; but sometimes it is the small moments—the casual moments—that change everything.

For there was no way to convince him that, with all his scars, the terrible truth was that he was still the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

“There’s a theory that when a person dies in great emotion, great unrest, or with something important undone in life—that is when a manifestation occurs.

“I think the war annihilates ghosts,” said Matthew. “If we have mechanized death—and we have; I’ve seen it—then where do the ghosts go? I find that most frightening of all. That the ghosts disappear with our humanity.”

For a shy girl unused to men, it is easier to hurl the moon from the sky than it is to turn away from a man who truly wishes to pursue her.