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@j-a-penrose I showed up, finally! Quick question while we’re on the topic of backstory: can a character’s ‘ghost’ be something he doesn’t remember?

Here’s my snippet, from a short story that begged to be written this week:

Elias scanned the market listlessly with water grey eyes, his shoulders sagging even more as his gaze rested on a family with three cheering children. One of them held up a puppy they had just chosen from the dog breeder. The youngest child reached up and touched its paw gently with her tiny fingers. Elias choked and pinched his eyes shut, pressing his back harder against the post that supported the shelter under which he stood. Visions of a similar scene at a similar market plagued his mind, and his heart broke, clenched tightly in his chest.

How long have you searched? his mind taunted. Is it not time to give up?

Three years. Three years he had scoured every market, every town. How long would he cling to hope?

Just quit. You’re a fool to keep trying. Go back to your palace. Your family, your country needs you.

He glanced up, the bins of fruit across the rutted street nothing but spots of color, smudged with the same tears that were shed in the din of every market.

“Yes,” Elias muttered, his lips trembling. “They do need me.” He tossed up his head defiantly and swung onto his horse’s back. That’s exactly why I won’t stop.