Hyacinth asks Richard about the people in the house. Has he seen them too?

When she, Richard, and Sheridan first moved into this house, decades previously, Hyacinth had the notion that there was an old couple still living there. She never saw them, but she felt them, in the air, behind her, around corners. There was never a feeling of solitude. There was always somebody else there. Eventually, the old people left. Or perhaps Hyacinth just became accustomed to filtering them out, like the low hiss of a detuned radio.

Now, she is worried they’ve returned. She feels echoes around her, feels breath. Feels the somethingness of a presence in the room.

Will Cox is a Tasmanian-born, Naarm-based writer of fiction and non-fiction.

Hyacinth is available at:

• The Paperback, Melbourne

• Readings, Carlton, St Kilda, and Hawthorn, Melbourne

• Neighbourhood Books, Northcote, Melbourne

• Brunswick Bound, Brunswick, Melbourne

• Better Read Than Dead, Newtown, Sydney

• Gleebooks, Glebe, Sydney

• Fullers Bookshop, Hobart

• Petrarch’s, Launceston

• Riverbend Books, Bulimba, Brisbane

Or online, here.