How to Write Your Horror Without Attachment

The juxtaposition of trauma and cool, calm detachment can be symphonic.

Photo by Vlad Zaytsev on Unsplash

When I was small, we used to joke that the trash got picked up faster than the bodies. Bodies bloated blue. Bodies under swing-sets and park benches. A lone arm with a syringe. We played tag — you’re it! amongst the junk sick, the dead. One night I crept out of our apartment and peered into an open door. A woman splayed …