The Book of Spells

Manawaker Studio’s Flash Fiction Podcast/October 2022

and

Haunted Words Press/Issue 4/Resolutions/Spring 2023

The laughter rang in my ears constantly.

They called themselves the Witches of Wharton Street. It had been a joke before, the three friends assuming that nickname, but after Vera died the three haggard women met each night in the cold, laughing echoey, murmury cackles around a roaring fire pit in front of Corrie Beecher’s house.

Mom knew them all from high school. She greeted them politely at neighborhood events, but said they were “not the brightest bulbs,” which was about the meanest thing Mom ever said about anyone.

Now, all they did was laugh…