Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 121578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 608(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 608(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
“Nothing?” Z asks.
“Nothing. But that heavy feeling in the air persisted.” Margot pauses and her lips tilt slightly. “Then something banged on the first floor.” She claps her hands, the sharp slap ringing through the air. “I nearly jumped out of my skin. I was terrified something happened to the box holding the casket up. I ran to the viewing room and turned on the lights.”
“And?” someone shouts.
“The casket was as we’d left it, and I breathed the biggest sigh of relief.” Margot presses her hand to her chest. “But the room reeked. Damp and earthy. Then I noticed a dark stain on the carpet and my heart jumped right back to terror. I was scared we botched the embalming or something. In school you’re taught about all these nightmare scenarios, and I swear every one of them flipped through my brain.”
“Was the woman pissed about her coffin?” Hustler slaps his hand over his mouth and giggles like he said something really clever.
“No. It was just water.” She pauses, a sinister smile curving her lips. “And the doll was sitting in the middle of the puddle,” she finishes in a low voice.
“Oh, hell no!” Ravage shouts. “Bullshit.”
Margot holds one hand up toward the sky. “I swear.” She nods at Hustler. “I almost peed my pants when I saw it.”
“Nope. That’s when I would’ve run screaming from the house,” Heidi announces. “No way.”
“I wanted to, believe me,” Margot says. “But I was more worried about the water, that a pipe might have burst or something. I placed the doll back in the casket and woke my dad up to help me find the source of the leak.”
Lilly’s eyes widen to saucer size. “You touched the doll after that?”
Margot sighs. “I didn’t want my dad to see it and think April and I screwed something up. So, I only told him about the puddle.”
“What was it?” I ask. “A burst pipe?”
“No,” Margot answers. “That spot on the carpet was the only place we found any water. The casket wasn’t wet, the ceiling wasn’t either. Nothing dripping anywhere. Just this puddle in front of the casket.”
“It had to come from somewhere,” Z says.
“We couldn’t figure it out.” Margot shrugs. “We cleaned it up and my father went to bed. I was on my way upstairs when I heard the tiny jingle of a bell.”
“Oh, fuck no,” I blurt out.
“Exactly.” Margot takes a deep breath. “My heart was in my throat. But I tiptoed into the room, convinced the woman was going to be sitting up in her coffin…”
“And!?” Ravage shouts.
“The coffin was closed.” Margo’s gaze scans the crowd. “But the doll—”
“Noooo,” Lilly moans. “Don’t say it.”
“Yup,” Margot confirms. “This time she was sitting on top of the casket.”
“Bitch really wanted some attention,” Birch quips.
Nervous laughter rolls through the group.
“Help meeee!” A high-pitched voice echoes from the woods.
“Fuck!” Rav jumps off the log and comes closer to the fire. “What the fuck was that?”
Shelby’s muffled giggles follow Rooster’s fading cries for help.
“It’s Rooster, dipshit.” Rock laughs and jerks his thumb over his shoulder. “Story gettin’ to you?”
“No.” Rav runs his hands through his hair a few times, then glances around the circle.
Bonnie and Lala motion for Rav to join them on their blanket and he happily plants his ass between them.
“Aww, look at Rav gettin’ protection from two sweet lil’ bunnies,” Birch heckles.
“Ignore them, Margot.” Z waves his hand in the air, like a conductor instructing her to continue.
Margot flicks her gaze to the sky for a second. “So, now I’m looking at this doll and thoroughly spooked. Questioning my sanity.”
“Did you tie the bag shut the first time?” Swan asks.
“The first time, no. I just placed her in the casket,” Margot says. “But you bet your ass I tied it shut the second time.”
Lilly winces.
“Was the first bang from the window closing?” Charlotte asks.
Margot points at Charlotte and nods. “Yup. I didn’t realize that until the next morning, though.”
“Had it rained that night?” Teller asks.
Margot claps her hands together. “Yes!”
Z slides his gaze to Teller. “Okay, that might explain the puddle, but not the doll.”
“There’s a logical explanation for that too,” Teller says.
“The fuck there is!” Rav shouts. “That’s creepy shit.”
“After that, everything was calm for the rest of the night.” Margot slides her hand through the air in front of her like she’s smoothing out a bedsheet. “When I told April the next morning, she didn’t believe me.”
“I hope you made her stay over the next night,” Wrath says.
“Oh, I didn’t have to make her.” Margot nods at Wrath, then Teller. “She wanted to stay to prove to me it was just something logical that happened.”
Teller chuckles “And?”
“Same thing. Just as we were falling asleep—”
“Wait, were you sleeping together?” Ravage asks with hopefully raised eyebrows.
“Shut up.” I reach down, wrap my fingers around a pinecone and fling it at Rav, hitting him squarely on the forehead.