“Ghostwitch”: two thousand words of terror

This an update I actually should have shared over a month ago, but time got away from me. By which I mean, I misremembered “Ghostwitch’s” publication date in the online Two Thousand Word Terrors anthology as August instead of July, and I also have spent the summer in a fugue of work — editing, of course, and some writing, but also preparing for the 2023 Sustainability Fair in Waukesha County. If you’re in Southeast Wisconsin and looking for a fun and informative, mostly outdoors, all-ages event, check it out!

I’ll be honest, I can’t think of an elegant segue from environmental sustainability to “Ghostwitch,” which is a short tale of ghosts, the collecting of stories, and lingering, dangerous desires. But here’s an excerpt:

“Are those the ghosts you speak to?” I ask.

“The only kind you can. The other isn’t capable of that.”

“…And what is that sort like?” I ask, ending a minute when the only sound is the scratch of my lead pencil over paper.

“A remembering.” She sounds uncertain, though. “An impression—the shape of something past. It lingers where they died, or around the means that killed them. A sort of feeling, usually. People have told me of that, sometimes, when they come seeking advice, but I’ve never experienced one personally.”

An urge, the opposite page calls to me. To walk…

“I think they’re the most dangerous.”

Into the waves…

“Why do you say that?”

The ghostwitch sighs. “A feeling that can’t be resisted—isn’t that the most dangerous thing in the world?”

And could not be called back…

My pencil scratches furiously, leaving scars across the paper.

The full story, with a gorgeously eerie illustration, can be read for free on Rooster Republic Press’s website: