Heath at the Graveyard

Havermouth, Five Years Before

The shopping trip ended abruptly, with Tiffany leading them back to the car immediately.

She sat behind the steering wheel, gazing out the windscreen without seeing the pedestrian traffic that walked by. “I have never, ever, been so embarrassed in my whole life,” she said, and started the car.

Aislen’s chest was tight. She did not speak, letting her hair fall forward to cover her face.

“Do you know why I am embarrassed, Aislen?” Tiffany demanded.

“Because of me,” Aislen did not have to guess.

“Because of you,” Tiffany agreed. “Because the doctor was concerned enough about your welfare and mental health to tell me, and the store clerk, just how disturbed a child I gave birth to eighteen years ago. A child who the entire town knows is fornicating with three different boys, and who, at the vigil for that poor woman’s dead baby, tells her that she can communicate with spirits.”

“I did not!” Aislen’s head jerked up. “I did not say anything like that.”

“I wish