“Mama?”
That simple act of acknowledgment broke the ghost’s pattern.
After that I saw her in other places: watching me while I washed my
dishes, or standing nearby when I weeded the garden. I gained a
spectral shadow that followed me everywhere while I remained on the
property. Like a dog she waited for me by the gate, a piteous thing
radiating so much hunger it pulled at me the way one feels the
water run out of the bathtub.
People already thought me mad. How would Dr Bauer react if I
told him about the ghost? Besides, it wasn’t as if she bore me ill
will. She was just so needy.
Kind of like you were around Dave, a nasty little voice inside my mind
informed me. Just like when you suspected Dave was sleeping with that
other woman.
The ghost was my penance, and I tried – oh Go
