An Old Mind

By Hayley Reese Chow

I smile and tell the doctors I’m fine—no more voices, no hallucinations.

But in the darkness, I settle into my frayed armchair and wait. I twist the wedding band around my liver-spotted finger as the silence of the empty house stuffs my ears. Finally, I feel her butterfly touch alight on my shoulder.

“Frank, won’t you come to bed?” she coos. My damp eyes close as I savor the sound.

They say it’s an old mind’s delusion, but she feels real to me. So, the shadows keep my secret while the world sleeps, and I sit with my ghosts.

          
“I work numbers during the day and spill sentences in the wee hours of the night. Words that sit in the soul only go sour, and writing is the cheapest therapy there is.” – the author