Talking to Sceptics

May 2026

The Stinging Fly, Issue 54
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“…Over a period of several hours, they rebecame their bodies.
A dim awareness they existed; the sucking sensation of atoms slotting back into place.
Then, pain.
The bedroom was as they'd left it. Pre-party cocktails, congealing into stains in the bottom of glasses. Dee's sports socks scrunched on the floor where she'd swapped them for something that matched. Carly's hair tongs, unspooled and unplugged on the dressing table.
Later, when she could lift her head, Carly noticed that the clothes they were still wearing—for a raucous party that now seemed innocent—were crumpled so finely they had shrunk.
It got light again. It got dark again.
They believed they were in the process of dying, or that they might already be dead.”