The Unburied Ghost

Delia

A girl disappeared from St. Agnes. I’m not sure exactly when. She was here one day, then…not here.

Everyone says she was placed. That is the word they use when they want a thing to sound cleaner than it is.

Placed.

As if she were a vase moved from one table to another.

She was fourteen. She had a chipped front tooth and sang when she thought no one was listening.

Today, the halls are quiet.

I think I am beginning to understand what this family protects.

Itself.