STORIES THAT LEAVE A MARK

Short Fiction. Long Shadows.

Elsa McClaren writes about memory, love, sparks and the quiet chaos passed from one generation to the next.

Welcome to Ghosts in the Garden

Stories for the ones who fled, the ones who stayed, and the ones who are still deciding.

Told in whispers and warnings, in memoir and myth—these are stories that hide in the corners of your mind and bloom when you’re not looking.

Each week, we move through a theme.
Start where you are:
If you feel like leavingread something from Flight
Stories of escape, distance, drift, and the ache of almost.

If you’ve just been hurtread something from Shelter
Stories that hold, hush, and try to heal—however clumsily.

If you want to burn it all downread something from Smoke Signals
Stories with sharp edges. Stories that bite back.

If you need to remember something you never knewread something from Notes from the Garden
Quiet stories. Forgotten things. The root systems of grief.

Return when you’re ready.
Not all stories want to be read.
But they all want to be found.