Daniel Mason
1.
Sometimes, during the night, she wakes to a presence, a creature sliding through the darkness, watching, waiting to descend. She doesn’t dare to look; to move even slightly is to risk waking the child, and it’s for him she knows the ghost has come. There is nothing she can do but remain in utter stillness, beside the boy, so close that she can feel his exhalations on her cheek.
Watching, as his blankets softly rise and fall, and the shadows stir around them, and the dim light plays against the pale blue . . .