With a brick in hand and the full intention of breaking the damned window, I stood there frozen and unable to rationalize what I had just experienced. Was there really some bastard that had broke into my home and mocked me, or was it just another delusional dream, and I was about to wake up soaked like I had pissed myself yet again? The innocent black kitten continued to bat around a small paper ball, oblivious to my staring inside. I dropped the brick. The sound of it hitting wet wood on the deck was loud enough to echo, and the sound reached inside, making the kitten bounce on all fours before he ran to hide under my recliner. Turning, I ran down the steps to the front yard, almost sliding on my ass, drenched and feeling the coldness of wet clothes. But, of course, no one was there when I spun in circles looking around me. “WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT?” I had yelled loud enough that my voice cracked, but I knew if an intruder was there or not, no one would really answer
Unfortunately, I got very sick in early 2023, and in October of 2023, I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma type cancer. I have finished chemo, and it is officially in remission (yay! thank the Lord). I will be updating soon, hopefully, as my energy returns. I want to finish my stories and continue others soooo badly, it is driving me crazy! I am soo sorry for the lack of updating, and keeping in touch. I hope everyone is well and I look forward to writing for you again soon. Please be patient and thank you for waiting on me, I promise to hurry!
“Chrissy, look at daddy baby, look at me. Just hold on, stay with me.” I watched her cry over the sound of wind beating at us with the rain, she yelled for her mommy, and I felt helpless, “Mommy is tired, don’t look back, just look, look at daddy. Just hold on sweetheart, help is coming. Chrissy, Chrissy! Don’t close your eyes! Look at me! Chrissy!” When her eyes wouldn’t open, I felt my scream of anguish and desperation, watching her and her mother not move, covered in blood. I wanted to die with them. I begged for death to take me, too, he had ripped away my purpose for living, but somehow, I would always wake up before he could. I sat up, wiping the cold, clammy sweat from my forehead. Once again, the same dream invaded my mind. It had been months since the last one. The alarm on my phone went off, and I checked the time. It was still early, only 6:45 am. Setting it back on the nightstand of the hotel room, I went to the bathroom. Using the cold water to wash away the remna
I hung up the phone. I knew Eric didn’t realize Sunnyfield was more on the west side of the state, with nothing but farmland and no oceanfront access. So, I didn’t tell him and figured he could find out on his own. I needed coffee badly. My hands were almost shaking from withdrawal, like an alcoholic’s. But I’m not a drinker and never have been. Sure, I could appreciate a cold one on a hot day, but coffee was my drug of choice. The cheap little coffee maker had baggies of condiments and coffee. So, I decided to try using that finally. Damn, decaf in one and just the leftover straw and unused sugar in the other. “Shitty hotel,” I complained out loud, but no one was listening. The thump almost spooked me from the floor above me. There was screaming and yelling that I heard coming from somewhere yesterday after I checked in, but the rooms around me were quiet most of the night. Another loud thump, and some douchebag started yelling this time. I decided it was necessary to head out an
I opened it so she could go in first. As she passed me slowly, the smell reminded me of my late aunt’s home, cigarettes, and baby powder. The putrid smell made me gag inwards. While I looked around, she hobbled around the other side of the long linoleum-covered desk. It was a small lobby with only two plastic Adirondack chairs serving as seating. They sat next to a small brochure and advertisement holder. However, I did notice a makeshift crate table holding a coffee maker and small cups. It’s the small things, like coffee, that I struggle with to make me happy anymore. “One bed or two?” “I, uh, actually have a reservation. It should be under Samuel Lake.” Looking towards me with one eye, she made a deep sound in her throat. I wasn’t sure if she was about to cough or she scoffed at the word reservation, being the MOTEL was a dive. She flipped through a ringed binder and looked down her nose at what was written. Not saying a word, she pulled open a drawer next to her and took o
Getting back in bed, I didn’t turn the lamp on and only faced it to keep the bathroom door at my back. So again, I lay there, wondering if something else was going to happen to disturb my attempt at sleep, but nothing did. I didn’t dream, lucky me, but I woke to a chaos of noise. Somehow, I had managed to roll to the other side of the bed on top of the remote and turn the volume up on the TV, full blast. The preacher man’s voice spouting the same religious tirade from the night before was screaming at me while my phone was ringing. I got up and hit the power button for the tv as I answered the phone, “Yes, what?” “Oh, Mr. Lake, did I catch you at a bad time? It’s Sara from Dirt and Shore reality again. I wanted to make sure you made it to town just fine and confirm our appointment for tomorrow. 10?” My head was pounding, but I didn’t see any point in ruining her mood, “Sure, yes, 10 o’clock.” “Fantastic! I have the room booked for two nights so that you can rest comfortably till
“No, I’m not. How’d you know?” I wondered why a kid his age wasn’t in school or maybe doing the whole college thing. Since he talked first, it would give me an opening at some point to ask. He held up my pack of gum before scanning it, “Most of the men round here are farmers. They smoke or drink. You bought bubblefun gum.” I nodded, and his grin grew wider as if he’d discovered an alien mothership in the sky. “18.43, please.” I handed him the 20 I had shoved in my pocket earlier, “Hey, shouldn’t you be at school,” his hand froze as he grabbed the 20 from mine, “I mean, you look pretty young to be working at a grocery store.” He snapped out of whatever made him pause and entered the 20 into the older register. “I’m homeschooled. After 10th grade, most of us around here are, so we can work on the farm or be helping to support our families. Some still attend their last two years, but they’s families are richer than most of us.” “Ah, gotcha.” His smile had dulled, and I felt sl
Heading towards the shed to check it out, I called the real estate woman, but unfortunately, the signal was still a bust. Opening the shed door, I got the simplest scare I’d ever had. A cat, fat from field mice, came running out, throwing a hiss my way. I almost fell back as I yelled in surprise. “Damned cat.” I looked around to make sure he’d gone, and I didn’t see him. The shed was one of those old metal sheet sheds, half rusted with chicken wire windows. When I looked in, it wasn’t any more significant in size than the common bathroom. Rusted rakes and hoes with broken wood sat covered in web and bug carcasses. There was a blue, dusty old milk crate and some garden tools in a plastic bucket that’d seen better days. On the back side of the shed was a wooden shelf holding an old red metal toolbox of some sort of dirty white ball. It might have been a softball ball, but I didn’t step in to check. Instead, I closed the wooden door and walked over to the tiny house. It only had s