Welcome to Storybound, presented by Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate.

I'm your host, Jude Brewer.

This is our first episode.

So thank you for joining us.

Coming up in one minute is a story told by Mitch Album

with compositions by Maya Wynne and Allifant.

So settle in and enjoy the show.

Why aren't you writing, Mr. Mitch? Chica is lying on the carpet in my office.

She flips onto her back. She plays with her fingers.

She comes here in the early morning when the light is still thin at the window.

Sometimes she has a doll or a set of magic markers.

Other times it's just her.

She wears her blue pajamas with the My Little Pony cartoon on the top and pastel stars on the bottoms.

In the past, she could love to choose her clothes each morning after brushing her teeth,

matching the colors of the socks and the shirts. But she doesn't do that anymore.

Chica died last spring, when the trees in our yard were beginning to bud,

as they are budding now, as it is spring again.

Her absence left us without breath or sleep or appetite, and my wife and I stared straight

ahead for long stretches until someone spoke to snap us out of it.

Then one morning, Chika reappeared.

Why aren't you writing? she says again.

My arms are crossed.

...