I live in the walls, Dana Vespoli. Not as a ghost. Not as a rat. As a memory you buried wrong. Remember the summer you were twelve, and you told your sister she could have the last piece of peach cobbler? You lied. You ate it at midnight, standing over the sink, and you never told her. That’s me. That’s all the little truths you fed to the dark.
You’ve built a lovely life on omissions, the letter continued. But omissions are just lies with good posture. I’m here to collect the debt. dana vespoli dear
Dana Vespoli dear, she whispered to herself, the way her grandmother used to begin every scolding. And then she got up, very slowly, and walked toward the bedroom, leaving the letter on the table beside the wilting geraniums and the unpaid bill. I live in the walls, Dana Vespoli