Rachel Alton
returned to Whitten’s Grove for one reason and that was to prevent a massacre.
Her attendance at the local wedding of two of her best friends was just for
fun. Then Ben Mitchell walked into the picture. Without warning, her oldest
friend awakens her dormant heart, giving her hope for the future. She struggles
to turn away, wanting to protect him. The clock is ticking, and Rachel alone
fights against the inevitable. When forces from beyond throw Ben into the
middle of the fight, will she walk away, or sacrifice herself to prevent a
tragedy from happening twice?
Excerpt
The room smelled of a
sweet grape and Rachel opened her eyes to a collage of purple. Every shade,
accessory and accent of the color covered the walls and furniture. A young girl
of eighteen sat on her bed, looking at Rachel curiously.
“I can’t find
my scarf, have you seen my scarf,” the young girl asked Rachel, getting on her
knees beside the bed and reaching beneath.
“No, I haven’t,”
Rachel replied, scanning the room.
“Can you help
me find it? I can’t leave without it,” the girl stated as she continued to
reach beneath her bed.
Rachel stood
and stepped toward the closet bursting with clothing all in different hues of
amethyst. Spying a lavender scarf edged with sequined stars hanging from the
doorknob of the closet, Rachel reached for it, the fabric brushing against her
fingers. “Is this what you are looking for,” Rachel asked as she held it in her
hand.
The girl
smiled brightly as she skipped over, taking it from Rachel’s hands. “Do you
like these jeans,” the girl asked as she studied Rachel and then turned to her
closet.
Rachel stepped
toward the photo littered vanity.
“My Dad hates
them, but I think they are the bomb. I got them for thirty bucks at the resale
shop on 4th, do you know it?”
“No,” Rachel
replied, studying the hodgepodge of idols, family and friends. “I’ll have to
check it out.”
“Definitely,”
the girl replied, looking Rachel up and down. “Although your outfit is tight, I
wish I could wear that, my tits are too small.”
Rachel smiled
to herself, but continued examine the contents of the vanity. Endless shades of
blush, lipstick and eye shadow. Lining the edges of the vanity were pools of
hardened wax stemmed by candles.
“How do I
look,” the girl asked.
Rachel turned
to see that she had changed her shirt and tied the scarf around her neck.
Before Rachel could answer, the girl leapt forward.
“Wait!”
Hopping past
Rachel to the vanity, picking up a tube of lipstick, she opened it and put it
on. Looking at herself in the mirror, Rachel watched the girl focus on the
texture of her skin as it lost its moisture and became sullen before her eyes.
“Amanda,”
Rachel said softly as she joined her in the mirror. “Did you know him?”
“Momma always
said that an outfit was incomplete without lipstick,” she said, ignoring the
question and her decaying reflection. Rachel leaned forward, touching her
shoulder, and Amanda’s skin became plump and rosy once again.
“You look
beautiful…” Rachel said with a soft smile.
Amanda stepped
away from the mirror and immediately grabbed her purse.
“Amanda…”
“No…” she
replied as she stopped, staring down at the bed. “I never saw his face. I…I
wish I could help you. I didn’t see him, but I…I can still feel him.”
“It’s okay,”
Rachel reassured as she watched Amanda walk toward the door.
“You know, he
said you would come,” she said in an uneasy voice.
“Who said?”
Rachel pressed.
“Why did he do
this, because of what I am?”
“I don’t know,
I think so,” Rachel replied honestly. “But I swear I am going to everything I
can to stop him.”
“You can’t
stop him…” Amanda replied, her body beginning to quiver. “He… he knows you…he’s…”
“Amanda, what
do you mean?”
She backed up
fearfully against the wall. “He’s here! He’s watching…”
“No, Amanda,
he can’t hurt you anymore.” Amanda went from cries of fear to pain to screaming
agony. Her screams pierced Rachel’s chest sucking away her air like a vacuum. The
girl’s screams stopped, Rachel stood staring into her beautifully jeweled fear
filled eyes before Amanda’s body cracked liked an aged painting and disintegrated
into thin air.
Rachel’s heart
and lungs constricting beyond her ability to cope and she dropped to her knees.
A knock echoed in her mind.
****
Come Find Me!
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