Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

On e H ear t
by Andrew Lyall
In ?One Heart?I wanted to conjure an atypical ghost, one more biological
than spiritual. Every one of us, after all, is fashioned from the genetic
information of our ancestors. In this sense, we are all made from
memories of the dead.
Can a m em or y be a ghost ; even a for got ten m em or y?
What about a genetic memor y?
*
I AM I AM I AM
Those liquid w or ds boom all ar ound me, a constant mantr a, for as long as I can
r emember. War m, steady and pow er ful. For a long time that is all ther e is.
I AM I AM I AM
Then I am given hands enough to touch and r each enough to explor e. With that
per petual benediction all ar ound me I str ike out in sear ch of my God, and I touch
my br other ?s face. We lie together and I r ealise I am no longer alone. We cling to
one another , war m beating w or ds enveloping us, and soon I can hear the faint echo
of those w or ds pulsing inside his chest, and for the fir st time, I feel that tiny r hythm
sounding inside me also.
I AM I AM I AM
Our w or ld contr acts, violent spasms. The w or ds pound angr ily ar ound us as w e
ar e squeezed. My br other is pulled fr om my gr asp. I tr y to hold onto him, but his
foot is slick and I lose my gr ip and I am alone again, sur r ounded by r ough w or ds
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