Sleepy Fox Hollow brimming and broken and somehow

she felt his presence come to occupy the space beside her, and she thought to meet it with dignity. yet there was no dignity in grief, and she breathed deeply for the first time in what felt like days. 

phaedra was conscious of dragging in her chest. 

"i'm happy she's coming home..." she said, voice light and unfinished. her stare followed along with the young deer in their game of no tag-backs -- disencumbered from hypervigilance unlike their mother, who continued to graze on sweetgrass while maintaining a wary eye on the predators at the treeline. 

phaedra tried to measure up to all the self-imposed criteria in her role as a put-together daughter. but she did not find it easy. sorrow and guilt plucked pesteringly at her. 

the girl was taken by surprise by the way her vision was suddenly out of focus and blurred. cheek turned so he might not see as she wiped the saltglint from her eyes, laughing at the absurdity of herself. 

"i don't know why i'm crying," 

it was convenient to lie, because how did one put to words what it felt like to be a haunted house?