The Madman's Blessing
an excerpt

During that cold November evening, Ryan was feeling very sane. He was feeling very sensible, very lucid, and all other manners of sane.

And then he saw Alastríona.

“What the—” He had been drying a plate with a towel and he dropped it, causing it to break into many sharp shards. He dropped the towel too, and quickly advanced until he was standing directly in front of the window, staring at the woman whom he’d seen. She didn’t seem to see him; rather, she was examining the contents of her basket. It was a wicker one, covered with a red cloth. And her red hair was gleaming in the sunlight. She was just as he’d remembered her. Blue eyes, tall, pale, freckled, graceful…Ryan gave a groan that turned into a sob and he stumbled backwards. “It’s not possible…It’s not possible…” he muttered to himself. “I’d better stop talking to myself…people will think I’m crazy…”

But I am crazy…

“No I’m NOT!”

The shout resounded in the wooden room. Slowly, dreading what he might see, Ryan advanced to the window again.

She was gone.

With a helpless cry, Ryan stumbled backward again and fell to the floor.