“Sounds far-fetched, if you ask me,” Carla said. “I can’t deny people are disappearing, but this whole ghostly apparition, wandering spirit thing, no way. There’s a physical reason for their disappearance. There has to be.”
Curtis shook his head. “Not everything that happens in this world has a logical explanation. There’s plenty of unexplained phenomena around us. There’s probably a few names on that list that have a physical reason for their disappearance, but most of them? I don’t want to know. I’d like to live to a ripe, old age like the fire chief if I can. I don’t think it’s possible to find the answer and live to share it.”
Curtis looked at his watch. “The sheriff should have made it to the Archer’s by now.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Caleb?” Jennifer called into the dark house as she unlocked the front door, ignoring her ringing cellphone.
“Ma? I thought you were working overnight?” Caleb approached from the hallway, rubbing his eyes. “Why aren’t you answering your phone?”
Jennifer’s forehead wrinkled. It was too early for him to be in bed already. “It’s not important. Were you sleeping?”
“Yeah. We fell asleep watching a...” Caleb stopped as a glimmer in the background caught his attention. “Hey, Ma! Shut the door. You’re letting the fog in.”
Caleb backed away fearfully as faces leered at him from the fog. “Ma? That is you, isn’t it?”
Jennifer jumped in front of Caleb. “Tell me what you see, son. I can’t see the fog.”
“It’s Garvey, and Ash, and Jim, with glittering eyes, but it’s not them.” His breath hitched as he continued to back up. “Ma, close the door.”
Jennifer turned her back to Caleb. The door was closed. She only saw hers and Caleb’s reflections in the small mirror that hung by the door.
“It is closed. There’s nothing there, see?”
She waved her hands, and Caleb shuddered, his eyes turning glassy, and he froze in place. Jennifer whirled around. A growl escaped her throat. How can I fight something I can’t see?
“Everly!”
Everly emerged from Caleb’s bedroom and pushed Caleb. He jerked back to attention, his eyes never leaving his mother’s location. Everly’s lower lip trembled as fear shadowed her face. She shoved Caleb into the bedroom and shut the door.
“Jennifer, you need to move. You’re standing right beside her.”
Jennifer looked to her left, to her right. “No, there’s no one here.”
Everly trembled and lifted her hand to point. “Yes, she’s right there, on your right. She’s so devastatingly beautiful. So many men wanted her, but she only had eyes for Harlan, and he beat her. He beat her bloody for things she had no control over. He beat their beautiful boys simply because they tried to protect her. Oh, Jennifer, she’s so pretty.”
Jennifer looked again and saw no one, but Everly staring back at her from the mirror.
A whimper fell from Everly’s lips, and she moved toward Jennifer, limping, her arms extended. Her head dipped as she whispered into Jennifer’s ear.
“It’s all your fault. Jump, and it will all be over.”
“What?” Jennifer said, backing away from Everly. A flash of headlights crawling across her wall distracted her for a moment. Everly leaned in again.
“Thank you for taking such good care of my boys,” she said, before she shoved Jennifer through the window.
Tom heard the shatter of glass and rushed to find the cause. He caught Jennifer just before she hit the ground, a piece of glass jutting from her neck. Everly appeared in front of him wearing a long white gown, her eyes glistening, her cheeks slivered by trails of dirty tears.
“Everly?” Tom dropped his guard for a moment as his mind raced. The snap of broken tree limbs came from behind him. A thin fog had rolled in from the creek. He saw many faces, their silvery eyes glistening through the thin veil of clouds, his older brother one of them. “John?”
Jennifer groaned as she tried to get up from the ground. “Tom! Look away! Look away, Tom!”
She grabbed his gun from its holster before the fog could swallow him.
“No. You can’t have any more of the people I love,” Jennifer said as she took aim.
The sound of gunshots shattered the sudden stillness as Caleb raced from his bedroom.
“Everly? Ma?” He stopped, horror filling him, as one more gunshot pummeled the air. He fell forward, and the world grew black around him.
TOM MADE HIS WAY AROUND the hospital hallway, a routine he’d fallen into ever since Mae appeared at Jennifer’s. Such a tragic day that was, and the loss of life still weighed heavily on him.
“Hey,” he said, as he stopped at the doorway and pulled the curtain back. “I was nearby and just wanted to stop in and see how you’re doing.”
Caleb turned in the direction of Tom’s voice. He still had a bandage wrapped around his head from where the bullet had grazed him. His eyes were swollen and had deep, dark circles surrounding them, and he hunched against the bed. “Why could I be dead, too?”
Tom took his hat off and sat in the chair next to Caleb’s bed. He had no words of comfort. Caleb had lost more than anyone else in a long time. He’d just buried his mother and Everly was still missing. Or so Caleb thought.
Tom hadn’t had the heart to tell him Everly was dead, her body cremated. He didn’t know when or if Mae would ever return, but he knew he would be better prepared next time. Life would continue on, whether he wanted it to or not. Rickdale always persevered, whether anyone wanted it to not.
For Better or for Cursed
Bella Emy & Alyssa Drake
CHAPTER 1
A soft tickle brushed over her shoulder, almost as if a feather were being dragged across her skin. Lara moaned, her eyes closed, and swiped at it. The feather jumped, and traced a trail of goosebumps down her arm, caressing the crook of her inner arm before sliding up the side of her breast.
Lara sat up with a start, a scream hovered in her throat. Her hand clutched the sheet to her heaving chest as her eyes darted around the room, searching each shadow. She was alone.
A shiver rolled down her back. Her teeth chattered. It was too early in the morning to deal with this.
“What do you want, Milo?” Her weary question was met with a chuckle.
“How did you know it was me?” His hypnotic voice swirled around her.
“The room got colder.” Lara tucked the sheet under her armpits and scowled at the empty doorway. She didn't actually know if Milo was standing there; he could be sitting right beside her, but it made her uneasy to think he was so close to her.
“It's morning,” he taunted, her hair ruffled. “You left the window open.”
Lara's gaze flicked to the window. An invisible breeze pushed the lace curtains toward the bed.
“That could just be you doing it.”
He chuckled again, obviously amused by her annoyance.
“It was.” Milo's outline shimmered beside the window. He flashed her a winning smile. “Did you miss me?”
“No.”