An Inheritance

40000 graves, a busker who sees, a twenty dollar note, an unexpected inheritance and a statue of Mercury. Still trying to navigate the death of her dad, a university education, and her own unique way of seeing things, Em has no idea how to manage the added responsibility of a distant dead relative's haunted legacy.

"No-one in this house is alone, Em."

Em didn't want to talk about... whatever was in the house. Not now. Not at this moment. Not when he was right here, beside her, in bed. The fact that it was her dad's bed gave her a twinge of awkwardness. Then she grinned. "It's amazing what can be done with paint," she said.

"Is that why you've marked the crossovers? On the map downstairs? You're planning to paint them all away? Like your aunt painted and your dad painted. Like you paint those pictures at your easel?"

Pictures of Cormac. Naked and beautiful. Pictures of birds on her dad's box, warding it from danger. Pictures of Aunt Margaret's statues. Pictures of love and danger.

She kissed him on the chest this time. "Something like that."

He picked up the curls that had dropped onto his skin. Then he tugged her towards him and touched his lips to her lips.

An Inheritance is a contemporary Australian gothic romance set under the shadow of Sydney's Central Railway Station and the 40000 graves that were exhumed from Devonshire Street Cemetery in order to bring trains to the centre of the city. It was originally written for and published in Slightly Sweetly, Slightly Creepy, an anthology of gothic romances compiled and edited by Sonya Lano (2023). It is now available as a stand-alone short story of approximately 22000 words.