Title: Eenie, Meenie, Ipsateenie
Author: Pat Cadigan
In: Hauntings (Ellen Datlow)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Ghosts, Horror
Dates read: 11th February 2021
Pace: Fast
Format: Short story
Publisher: Tachyon
Year: 2013
5th sentence, 74th page: This was the fourth apartment they’d had since coming to the Midwest, but they’d all been the same.

Milo didn’t want to be IT. And now he’s haunted by the fact that he’ll forever be “IT”.

This was a bit of a meandering story. And one that you tend to fill the gaps in on… it just makes you feel all that much more uncomfortable when you don’t quite know if you have the complete picture. Which I’m convinced is what Cadigan was going for.

There is something extra haunting about a childhood killing. A childhood ghost. I think that it’s something about that loss of potential. Plus the fact that IT is capitalized throughout this whole story made me think of the Stephen King story IT which involves a creepy clown literally feasting about children’s potential… all in all not something that is overly comfortable. And most certainly helps to file this short story safely in my horror shelf.

I finished this short story and honestly felt goosebumps. It was most definitely not a comfortable tale to read. And I kind of want to read it again and again. It may not have been comfortable… but it was intriguing. And there were so many subtleties throughout that I’m sure I totally missed. But I’m pretty sure Milo turned into a killer of children…

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Hunger: A Confession ->

Image source: Amazon