the sting lasts for days

the bite of the mosquito
is quite a sharp pain
small danger for a brief life

The Shadows Series Preview

Chapter One

---

It’s not even the ghosts that are the problem.

Two months ago, Alex was horseback riding with her neighbor along one of their favorite trails. Something spooked Pepper, the bay mare suddenly halting before she swung to the side and took off into the woods. All Alex remembered after that was a blur of trees, the horse between her legs, and then nothing but open air. She was flying, then falling.

And then she was drowning.

She fell into the creek, hitting her head. If it wasn’t been for her neighbor following closely behind and pulling her up out of the water, she might have died.

As it was, her dad worried enough after that for three people, forbidding her from getting back on a horse for at least a month and wanting her to stay home from school for a week. Alex would have been more annoyed at all that if she wasn’t so worried herself. Not about almost drowning, which she didn’t remember anyway. It was the ghosts she could suddenly see everywhere that were the problem. At first.

Alex didn’t know why she kept their sudden appearance a secret, except that she didn’t think everyone freaking out even more was going to help anything. Besides, she didn’t even know if they were really there. Maybe hitting her head was causing her to hallucinate. Still, it really wasn’t a problem for her after a couple of weeks. She slowly became very good at completely ignoring them.

No, the ghosts, while unexpected, weren’t the problem. It was the other things she could now see that were disturbing. Alex didn’t even know what to call them, the dark, formless shapes she sometimes saw hovering around other people like detached shadows. And even then, maybe she wouldn’t have started to worry so much if she didn’t begin to notice that the longer one of them surrounded someone, the more of whatever they were sunk into and beneath people's skins, slowly covering them completely.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Book One of The Shadows Series - The Advent - is now available here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P1B7LX6.

To Exist

Why does everything have to die
to burn
in order to be reborn from the ashes?

This endless cycle of life, it’s futile
to live
when we see nothing can stop the end.

So why is it that we raise our heads
to fight
and move on forward, refusing to stop?

Maybe we find that it’s enough
to hope
to forever struggle, despite everything.

The Echo Within Me

This pain is small, and temporary,
but it’s my whole world right now.
It’s inside every breath I take, and
carried with me when I’m awake.

Every laugh contains a sharp edge
to catch in the base of my throat.
And when I smile I cannot help but
wince. Even happiness feels numb.

Even when I’m asleep, dreaming,
I run and fight but I can never find
you. Your voice still echoes through
my soul, the reverb never leaving me.

Lost Colors

The grass is lush and green.
The sky is a cloudless blue.
This summer’s day is beautiful.

I hate it.

All food turns to grit and ash.

The world now grey and dim.
Because you are no longer here.