Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 138981 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138981 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Me too.
I could use somewhere to cool my heels for a while.
I walk out into the fading afternoon light and pack myself into my Kia again.
Left at the next street and down toward the woods, huh?
Ugh, small-town directions.
Still, it’s not hard to find.
I enjoy the picturesque drive down a winding street dotted with signs depicting children on bicycles and a twenty-mile-per-hour speed limit. People are just coming home from work and rolling into their two-car garages. A few scruffy fathers in shorts and loafers without socks are already on their lawns with hoses while their kids run in and out of the spray like puppies.
It’s all very Pleasantville.
A girl could get used to this.
I’ll probably be meeting a few of those puppies soon, too. Many of them look young enough to be in my classes.
I try not to be obvious about getting a peek at their faces so I can remember them later.
They’re cute kids. They look happy, and the more happy little troublemakers I see cavorting around with their parents, the more I smile.
The more I think I might’ve made the right decision.
A sigh full of relief slips out of me as the road tapers off and leads me up to the new rental.
The 'Crowder' house at the end of the lane.
My house.
It’s a homey cottage painted a pretty cerulean blue.
Black shutters and a row of three dormer windows set into the peaked black roof.
The door is an eye-popping red.
The well-trimmed yard looks huge, complete with brick-lined dirt beds just waiting to be flush with flowers or vegetables next spring.
No garage, but plenty of room for street parking. Plus, a squat little storage shed in the same blue shade off to one corner of the backyard.
A raw wood fence that isn’t falling down hugs everything. Through the break in the boards and the trees beyond, I can make out the shimmering lake in the distance.
Deep breath.
I wonder if I’ve died and gone to heaven.
Best of all, the house is set off the street for a little more privacy from nosy neighbors. Three steps welcome me up to an open porch.
I could see myself sitting out here on warm evenings, sipping iced tea while I grade papers.
With one more smile that might break my face, I park and get out.
The gate opens at the lightest touch, unlatched, the hinges squealing a little—I almost miss the dull thud of footsteps on grass.
Wait, what?
I freeze.
My heart thumps the same way it did in college when I’d have to walk back to my dorm after midnight alone, just barely escaping the university library at closing time.
I’m being paranoid.
I know I’m being paranoid.
City girl, overly suspicious, imaginary danger lurking around every corner.
Still, I shift the keys clutched in my hand so they point out like sharp little blades through my knuckles. Then I slowly creep around the side of the house.
“Hello?” I call softly. “Hello!”
Nothing.
No one along this side of the house.
I swallow thickly and tiptoe around the back.
I’m just in time to glimpse a dark, blurry shadow vanishing around the other side of the house. It’s a hint of motion, something that looks like an arm before it’s gone like it was never there.
Was it?
Are you feeling okay?
My chest turns to lead as I decide my eyes aren’t playing tricks.
“Hey, wait!” I shout, sprinting across the backyard.
I’m racing toward the point where that flicker of motion disappeared, careening around the other side of the house.
Nope.
Nothing again.
But there’s a weird rustle in the trees beyond the fence.
Trunks of slender poplars waving.
Almost like someone hopped the fence and bolted into the woods.
I fall against the fence, panting hard as I grip the wood, staring into the trees, straining to see something.
But I can’t make out anything.
Maybe it really was a hallucination caused by my own excitement and the long drive. Or I just startled a coyote or a raccoon or something.
“Calm the hell down, girl.” Closing my eyes, I blow out a rough breath.
This is probably what Janelle was talking about.
City girls getting all spooked by nature, freaking out at every tiny sound.
I don’t want to be like them.
I shake my head sharply, annoyed with myself, and push away from the fence. I step around the front of the house again and climb the porch.
This might’ve dampened that little thrill I had at coming here, but it’s not ruined yet.
That happens exactly three seconds later.
I fit the key in the lock and the door swings open at the lightest touch, unlatched.
That last second feels like an eternity.
I stop and gaze into the house as the door opens on squares of sunlight falling through the uncurtained windows onto the glossy hardwood floors.
And a panicked scream lodges in my throat.
Shafts of gold light fall down like crosses over a twisted hand, revealing the ugly secret I’ll never get out of my head.