Betty felt tears begin falling from her eyes. “Oh, Mary, what an awful night,” she said, and suddenly her eyes grew wide and white. “Mary!” she screamed.
Mary looked at Betty and saw her pointing at the kitchen door. Mary looked over and froze. “Oh my goodness,” she whispered as tears rolled down her face. “It can’t be.”
“It is,” Betty whispered.
Mary stood up and took Betty’s hand. “Sarah?”
A beautiful woman with bright red hair was standing in the doorway holding the hand of an old man who was smiling the warmest smile she had ever seen. The woman lifted her hand, waved at Mary and Betty in a way that let them both know she was safe and okay, and then vanished into a bright flash of light.
Betty looked at Mary. “Was that…”
Mary nodded. “That was Sarah and her father,” she whispered and wiped at her tears. “Come on, Betty, let’s go find Brenda.” When Mary walked Betty out of the kitchen and found an open front door and an empty living room, she simply sat down on the couch and put her chin in her hands. “It’ll be morning soon,” she told Betty. “We’ll go get the sheriff when morning arrives.”
Betty sat down next to Mary as thunder shook the living room. “What do we do until then?” she asked.
Mary put her arm around Betty’s shoulder and hugged her. “Sit very still and don’t move,” she whispered. “And when morning arrives, we’re leaving this awful place.”
“Usually a scary story ends differently,” Betty told Mary, feeling a cold draft rush into the living room. “Well, maybe this story is ending exactly as it needs to,” she said and shivered all over.
Mary began to speak but stopped. She lifted a terrified hand and pointed up at the portrait hanging over the fireplace. “Betty…whose eyes are those?”
Betty looked up at the portrait, saw a pair of human eyes looking down at her, and nearly fainted. “Mary…”
“Let’s get out of this place!” Mary screamed. She grabbed Betty’s hand and raced out into the rainy night as a voice began laughing from behind the wall.
When morning arrived, and Mary and Betty returned with the sheriff, all they found was an empty mansion. Sarah, Ralph, and Matthew were all missing—and, even more strange, so was Aunt Gennifer’s body from the care home she had been placed in.
“Let’s go home,” Mary told Betty, “and never look back.”
“And never look back,” Betty agreed. She hurried away from the mansion with Mary as quickly as possible.
Only a mean old dog, hidden in the bushes, remained behind, sitting in a heavy pouring rain waiting for a new night to begin.
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About the Author
Wendy Meadows is the USA Today bestselling author of many novels and novellas, from cozy mysteries to clean, sweet romances. Check out her popular cozy mystery series Sweetfern Harbor, Alaska Cozy and Sweet Peach Bakery, just to name a few.
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Get in touch with Wendy
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Read more by Wendy
Maple Hills Cozy Mystery Series
Nether Edge Mystery Series
Chocolate Cozy Mystery Series
Alaska Cozy Mystery Series
Sweet Peach Bakery Cozy Series
Sweetfern Harbor Mystery Series
Candy Shop Mysteries
Pineville Gazette Mystery Series
Copyright © 2019 by Wendy Meadows
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
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