How to Talk Away Spiders
Little Fire and Mad Teeth knew there were spiders in their bedroom. It was the mountains, after all. Rude to expect spiders to stay outside all the time, when oaks flanked the house. They didn't like spiders in their bedroom; spiders made the walls seem itchy, clung-to with corner webs. Every weekend, the webs were cleared away. Little Fire and Mad Teeth shared a bunk bed, set in a corner. Night was quiet, too quiet. The air hummed. They told stories late into starlight about giant ants sea gulls ravens lizards with dropped tails, any creature who might scare away the eight legs of a spider. When they fell asleep the spiders came out and found them. In the morning, tiny bites at their knees and ankles tingled. Mad Teeth started right up with a story of rivers. The rivers washed away the spiders.
How Ashes Sees the Missing Piece
The missing piece isn't a person. It should be, but it also can't be. The missing piece is a place. The missing place is somewhere she knows, in the ocean of her past and in the blood. The Pacific Ocean hums for her camera. The blood watches her in the mirror as she plucks the Swede out of her eyebrows.