red remains

The dreams bleed into
waking life.

Her thoughts become muddled.

And he is there

to listen,
to soothe,
to linger,
to suffocate.

The girl loves her twin brother—everyone does—but is it too much to ask for some focused attention? When a ghost-like creature brings the girl a gift on her fourteenth birthday, she doesn’t care how alarming it is because it’s all for her. But as the ghost learns to communicate, he demands more from the girl until he is all she knows…until everyone she loves vanishes and only red remains.