A haunting – Elou Carroll

begins with the rustle
of voile, of lace hems
trailing across scarred
floorboards—soft,
slow—the touch
of cool skin on skin.
Smoke coils ember-less
up but does not choke
or burn or blacken
your feet or legs
or fingertips—
it whispers cold, damp
and you sweat into
your collar, beneath
your hair, above
your lip. And you
walk—shake hands
with empty rooms
and wonder, wild,
what it is you
are afraid of.

Elou Carroll is a graphic designer and freelance photographer who writes. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Hexagon SF Magazine, Apparition Lit, Underland Arcana, In Somnio (Tenebrous Press), Spirit Machine (Air and Nothingness Press) and others. She is the editor of Crow & Cross Keys, and tweets from @keychild.

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