Autumn Ruins

Caught by the River · Oct 7, 2026

Coco Lone Neal is reminded that endings are beginnings, as she walks the ruins of the Sheffield Ski Village.

An early morning mist clings to the hillside and it is as if we are walking through a ghost, as if the ground were still smoking. My youngest is quiet against my back, bundled in her carrier, stormy eyes peering out. I grab the edges of my sleeves, pull them down across my fingers, picking at loose threads, unspooling.

A wren churrs and chatters and I hum in response. Hawthorns line our path, bare beneath the canopy where above is green splattered with red. Each footstep crackles with…