I sank to the floor trying to puzzle out which path had led me to this place. I now knew the secret of the unseen, but too late as dear Molen was now gone. In a pique of sorrow-fueled rage, I hurried down the stairs to the study and snatched the cursed journal from the desk and began tearing pages from it with feverish intent. I barely noticed that, with each page I pulled loose from the binding, a small cut opened on my left hand. Soon it dripped crimson as I threw the remains of the journal into the empty fireplace and threw a lit candle atop it.
My body was wracked with pain as it felt as if my hand were burning. Through no volition of mine, it began to spasm and jerk as if going through its last struggle for life. I ran to the hallway where several stacks of newspaper sat collecting dust, and, with wicked determination in my eyes, I began to feed the fire with all of the prophecies that the book had summoned until it was no more than ash and my hand was crippled from pain.
Now, two years later, I still shudder to think of that journal, and of what power it possessed. But I was never certain if the power lay in the journal or in the hand that wrote on its pages. Only now do I know how severely I wronged Molen, and, in fact, my uncle, and I shall carry that guilt on my shoulders for all my days. My withered left hand is a constant reminder to me, of both Edwin Grey and Molen, and of those wrongs I visited upon them. And that I nearly shared the same fate as my uncle, murdered by forces beyond my control, and yet within my own hand, has set my beliefs of what is and is not real in this world to crumbling.
In addition to being a professional writer, Scott A. Johnson is the Paranormal Studies Editor for Dread Central (www.dreadcentral.com), where he writes a twice-monthly column, called Cold Spots, about real haunted places in the world. When he's not writing, he teaches martial arts classes, plays golf (poorly) and spends time with his wife, Tabatha, and their two children, Anna and Zoe. He currently lives in San Marcos, Texas, where he works for Texas State University.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books (Fiction)
Cane River: A Ghost Story (2007, Augusta, Harbor House Books)
Deadlands, Augusta, Harbor House Books, 2005
An American Haunting, Augusta, Harbor House Books, 2004
Books (Non-Fiction/Folklore)
The Mayor's Guide: The Stately Ghosts of Austin (2007, Augusta, Harbor House Books)
The Mayor's Guide: The Stately Ghosts of Augusta, Augusta, Harbor House Books, 2005
Short Stories
"The Dinner Party"—Until Someone Loses an Eye, MA: Bradford House Publishing, 2006
"Second House from the End of the Block"—Haunted Encounters: Living in a Haunted House, Dallas, TX: Atriad Press, 2006
"The Girl Next Door"—All Hallows (Canada), 2006
"A Little House in the Woods"—The Corpse Magazine, July 2004
"Jock Itch"—Alien Skin Magazine, October 2003
"The Drowning Pool"—Alien Skin Magazine, July 2003
"Chained to the Pel"—Persona Literary Journal, 2002
"Mimes"—The Rectangle Literary Journal, 2002
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Visit www.nakedsnakepress.com for information on additional titles by this and other authors.
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