Flitting Away

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

When a vicious attacker leaves Nicole Walker for dead, she fights against the odds to survive. And to succeed, she must remember—the attack, the attacker, even her own desire to live. Her mind wants to flit away and escape the horrors of the attack. Flitting away means death. But remembering might mean an even worse fate.

Originally written for a tribute volume to Edgar Allen Poe, this horrifying and moving story takes inspiration from Poe’s lesser-known story, “The Mystery of Marie Roget.”