The old maid and other stories. Three new weird tales by Rufus Woodward.

Three short stories of ghosts and witches, of sibling rivalry and desperate longings, of the weight of time passing and the strange unsettling things that lurk on cliff tops and in sand dunes.

The old maid

“I was trying to help you,” she says. “You really shouldn’t talk to me like that. Don't ever talk to me like that.”

“Fine by me,” snaps Charlotte. “Whatever makes you think I want to talk to you at all?”

Cold companion

He gets up and goes through to the other room and finds her there, curled up, head to the wall with tears running down her face. Somewhere in the darkness the sound of low sobbing is coming back at her. He puts his arms around her and holds her tightly.

“I couldn’t stay away,” she whispers between tears. “I knew it was here and I couldn’t stay away.”

Ghost story (not scary)

“Then something happens and it’s not funny anymore. It all comes so quickly that we don’t even have time to leave. When he’s gone we stand there for the longest time, listening to her cry. Then we shuffle away, neither of us saying anything or knowing what to do with ourselves.”

‘The old maid and other stories’ is Chapbook number two of four volumes forthcoming from the Olgada Press during 2015.