Torsade Literary Space 
Are You Haunted (part fifty)
Are You Haunted (part fifty) As with any event sudden and surprising, the first explosion occurred in the midst of ordinary preoccupations. A deep rumble shook the ground. A row of windows on the mill floor exposed a flash of light, and when flames shot through […]
The Resident: An Odd Man Out (part thirteen)
The Resident Chapter Four An Odd Man Out (part thirteen) They had been married in December of 1989. Claudie had died in February of 2011. A day John remembered also for the weather, emergence from a week of rain, to an upsurge of heat, 85 degrees […]
Are You Haunted (part forty-nine)
Are You Haunted (part forty-nine) That Rohdl had jolted him by speaking was immaterial; his answer might, to Rohdl, have done the same. “Is there a way out?” “I suppose there would have been two ways out.” By the volume of his voice, and unwashed smell, […]
Are You Haunted (part forty-eight)
Are You Haunted (part forty-eight) Again reaching the bottom of the second ramp, he risked the flashlight, and saw the water’s perfect mirror quiver in response to a wave of impact, a truck passing overhead. One he hadn’t quite heard. Heel to toe, he walked back […]
Are You Haunted (part forty-seven)
Are You Haunted (part forty-seven) Interlocking rings of the same foul soot marbled the walls, a pattern showing a strange liquidity. On the floor, he saw two lines of charred, brittle stuff fallen from the steel beams— Finally, he saw what the flashlight had not picked […]
Are You Haunted (part forty-six)
Are You Haunted (part forty-six) He rolled his tie and stuck it in a jacket pocket. He folded the jacket and placed it on a mossy patch. He untucked and unbuttoned, and took off his clean white shirt. He folded this and laid it on top […]
The Resident: An Odd Man Out (part twelve)
The Resident Chapter Four An Odd Man Out (part twelve) They didn’t have blinds on the windows; blinds became a place to start. The soft light of a wooded lot, well off the road, where no one saw inside… Claudie had loved waking up to it. […]
Are You Haunted (part forty-five)
Are You Haunted (part forty-five) The church had burned decades earlier. “Always been this way for most of us,” Tovey said. “Camping-out spot. C’mon, get up here.” No hand was offered. Powell hoisted himself over the wall, plodded to the graveyard. Where Tovey sat on Elias […]
The Resident: An Odd Man Out (part eleven)
The Resident Chapter Four An Odd Man Out They had a mobile phone, their latest answering machine’s. He could leave her, would have to leave her and go to the kitchen, get the phone. Jog back dialing 911. Punching 911. Talk to the dispatcher, my wife […]
An Odd Man Out (part ten)
The Resident Chapter Four An Odd Man Out [rerunning the last several entries to help readers catch up, because I haven’t added to this story for months] Meanwhile, Claudie’s garden grew, and her need to be outside; and he found her missing from the house […]