The storm broke just as Beth arrived home from her meeting with Ethan Hollingsworth.
She just made it in her front door when the rain came down with an intensity she had not experienced in ages. Great,she thought to herself,flicking the light switch and finding that the power was out.
Although it was still the middle of the afternoon,for some reason her house was uncharacteristically dark and it annoyed her to no end.
She made her way up the stairs to her bedroom and threw herself on the bed,laughing to herself as she remembered how Ethan had made her feel.
He was such a gentleman and yet there was something about him that she found very mysterious.
It had been so easy for him to get her to open up about her life,yet he revealed very little of himself.She knew he was Polly’s son,he was a lawyer and that he cared greatly for the environment,being involved in many ecological causes and that he was very charming and very persuasive.
Also,despite her best intentions,she had snuck a peak at his hand.His ring finger in particular and saw it was unoccupied.
Foolish of her she knew,but it certainly didn't hurt to know.It surprised her that she was able to have this attraction to him.For so long she had focused on healing from the divorce that she had forgotten what it was like to live in the moment and be open to new experiences.
As Emma so often told her “Edgar had turned her into an old woman before her time.“ She smiled,snuggling deeper into her pillows.Maybe,just maybe…
It occurred to her that the woman was an idiot for having feelings for him. Did she not see,did she not know what he was? The situation could work to her advantage though.
The closer he got to the woman sleeping so peacefully before her,the bigger his pain would be when she took her away. She laughed soundlessly into the darkness. The time for him to pay for what he did to her was near,very near….
The storm was still lashing outside when Beth awoke to the sound of her cellphone ringing.Glancing at her bedside clock she saw it was just after 7,which meant she'd slept the afternoon away.
“Hello,”she answered groggily.
“Are you sleeping?”Emma's voice came through.”This time of the day?”
“Oh hey Em,I was just totally beat when I got home.”
“So how did it go?”Emma asked excitedly.”Any plans to see him again?”
Beth gave her a quick rundown of what had transpired during her meeting with Ethan. “So no Em,no plans to meet again anytime soon.”
For just a moment,she wondered why that thought was so disappointing to her.Its not like Ethan had declared his undying love to her,or given her the slightest hint that he was even remotely interested in her.
If not for the necklace,he wouldn’t even know she existed.
Once her conversation with Emma ended,Beth snuggled back into her pillows,her thoughts dominated by Ethan and the effect he had on her.
After the divorce,a few guys at the hospital had expressed an interest in her,but she'd turned all of them down,always clinging to the idea that someday Edgar might return to her.
She remembered how she used to fantasize that he would show up on her doorstep,declaring he’d made a mistake and needed her back in his life.
A fantasy indeed.He was still holed up in his lovenest with his homewrecking hussy who wouldn't know love from lust,if it walked up to her and introduced itself.
Now,this stranger...this very attractive stranger...was turning her head his way,making her feel as if she had the right to actually find happiness again.
Then again,no matter how Ethan made her feel,it was simply not mutual.He would never see her as a man sees a woman he desired,coveted and cherished above all others. Still,she could hope couldn’t she?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of voices drifting from downstairs. Strange,she thought to herself,can’t remember leaving the telly on.
Grabbing her robe to guard against the chill in the air,Beth opened her bedroom door,now hearing the voices like a children’s choir,so much clearer now.
“Yes Beth,”she said to herself,”you left the tv on.”
Feeling the chill even more,she made her way downstairs and then froze in utter shock... In the center of her livingroom,stood an open casket.
Catching her breath,it seemed to Beth as if she were moving and breathing in a dream and at any moment she would wake up,drenched in a cold sweat.
In her livingroom stood a casket.
It reminded her of the caskets her parents had been buried in,only difference was,this one was open,whereas those of her parents had been sealed beforehand,to spare her the horror of seeing their bodies,burnt beyond recognition.
“Its for the best,”their kindly neighbour,Mrs Feeney had said,”you must remember them as they were.”
Mrs Feeney had held her close when their caskets were lowered into the ground,when her sobs had racked her body so much,she was convinced she had no more tears left to cry.
Now,this vision was taunting her with a reminder of her most painful memory.
Surrounding the casket was a group of children,all dressed in white,each holding a flickering candle,singing ‘Amazing Grace’,their voices a haunting crescendo of beauty.
They stopped when they saw her and moved away from the casket,beckoning her to come closer.
An unknown peace came over her as she inhaled deeply and felt her horror and apprehension dissipate as she crossed the short distance between herself and the casket.
Looking down,Beth stared at her own face.
“How is this possible?”she asked,touching her hair,her face,her arms,as if to make sure she was still breathing and living.This was unbelievable.She was staring at her own corpse in morbid fascination.
The tallest of the singing children,a beautiful young girl with the voice of an angel,was the one to answer her.
“That is your future Beth.You will die if you are not careful.”
“What do you mean?”Beth asked,stretching out her hand into the casket,gently caressing her own cold,frozen face.
“The darkness is coming for you,”the girl answered.”When it does you must be strong.She won’t spare you.”
“She?Who are you talking about?”
“The lady in the shadows.The one who watches you and wants you dead.”
Wrapping her robe even tighter against the deepening chill,Beth was more certain than ever that this was either a very vivid dream or a complete hallucination.Nothing the girl was telling her made any sense.What woman in the shadows wanted her dead?What did that even mean?
“I have no idea what you're getting at,”she said to the young girl.”What are you speaking of?”
“She has lived in the shadows for a long time,watching and waiting for you.”
“You’re not making any sense,”Beth replied,agitation rising in her voice.
“Have you not felt her Beth?Here in your home?She watches you,growing stronger every day,she wants your life and she will end it when she’s ready.”
Now Beth was getting mad.Were hallucinations supposed to be this annoying?
“I have no idea who you are or what you want,but I want you to leave me alone!”
The girl took a step closer to her.“I was sent by someone who loves you very much,someone who wants you to know what you will be facing...I have done that now...More I cannot say or do.It's up to you now Beth,all up to you.”
“You don’t have to look at me like I’m crazy, Em,“Beth said, as Emma rolled her eyes and gave her numerous ‘poor you' looks.“I know what I saw.”Then again, the entire evening had been so completely bizarre, she guessed she could understand why her best friend was about ready to cart her off to the looney bin.How was she supposed to make Emma understand when she herself was so lost on the topic?She had seen herself in a casket for heaven’s sake!“Beth,”Emma said ever so sweetly,“honey,are you totally sure you weren't having a dream?You must realize how this sounds!All this talk of caskets and corn children giving you ominous warnings….did you watch a horror movie before bed?You know how those upset you.”Beth composed herself as best she could.”No, I didn't watch a horror movie Em.I came downstairs thinking I’d left the telly on and there in my living room was a casket with me in it!And a choir of childre
“Bethany, my dear, how lovely to see you!”Mrs Feeney held her in a tight embrace as they entered her warm and comfortable cottage in the countryside.She’d moved here 8 years ago after her husband had passed on.After his death, Emma had made her the kind offer of staying with her in the city, but Mrs Feeney had decided to continue with the dream she had shared with her late husband, of eventually retiring to the country.By doing that she was honouring his memory as best she knew how.Beth smiled, feeling the most amazing sense of peace in the familiar embrace. Mrs Feeney was the only one who ever used her full name.“I’m so pleased to be here Mrs Feeney,”she said as the embrace ended.”It’s been so long since our last visit.”“Too long,” Mrs Feeney replied.“I’m an old woman you know.Sometimes I forget that you young people don’t write letters anymore.It's all these e-mails and text messages, none of which hold any interest f
Mrs Feeney backed away as the stench of death emanating from the vile spirit became too much to bear.Dear God,the evil of this was overwhelming.“So you asked who I am and now you know old woman,”the spirit said,as the shadows drew closer to her.Mrs Feeney saw this.The dark spirit was exerting herself,getting weaker and drawing strength from her guardians.“I asked for your name spirit and you have yet to answer me,”Mrs Feeney said,bile rising in her throat.”You play games,nothing more.”The spirit smiled,showing her decaying teeth once more.“Why is it so important for you to know who I am?So you can find a way to stop me?”“I will stop you regardless.You will not hurt Bethany!”“Really?”the spirit asked flippantly “Then how about your dear Emma.”Momentarily Mrs Feeney felt a shudder go through her.The spirit would be capable of anything once her full strength was restored.Emma was as precious as Bethany to her.She
From his bedroom window, Ethan watched Beth emerge from the car he had sent for her, a vision of elegance in a simple white dress, showing her figure to perfection.Her beauty was breathtaking to say the least and yet again he was overwhelmed by the rush of emotion she was able to awaken in him by her mere presence alone.For so long he had denied himself the pleasure of sharing his life with a woman, especially one as enchanting as Beth Collins, but now, no matter how difficult it would be, he found himself wanting that more than anything in his life.Beth was the woman he could build a future with, of that he was certain.From her radiant beauty, to her dignified demeanor, to the way she carried herself so proudly and with such strength, all of these things fascinated him and sent all reason flying out the door.He made his way downstairs to meet her in the hall.Seeing her standing there, it took everything he had within him to stop himself from sweeping her in his
The young man sleeping peacefully on the spacious bed could not have been more than 18.Handsome,with dark spiky hair, he looked like any teenager taking a nap.His bedroom walls were adorned with posters of his favorite musicians and the comic books tossed casually on the nightstand along with his cd’s was typical of a carefree young man.The only thing that belied this image was the wheelchair standing next to his bed.Beth peered through the open bathroom door.Like the wheelchair, the shower too had been adapted to his special needs.“This is Marcus,”Ethan said,as Beth put her hand in his, her heart breaking for the young man before her.”My stepson.”“What happened to him?”she asked.”He’s so young.”Ethan’s eyes misted over.It was obvious he loved the boy very much, as if he were his own son.“There was an accident,”he said in a broken voice.”Marcus is now tetraplegic.”Beth was shocked beyond words.Tetraplegia was paralysis of all four limbs, usu
“A lady no less,”Beth teased.”I’m impressed Mr Hollingsworth!”Ethan laughed,once again putting a comforting arm around her shoulders.His warmth and his closeness almost made Beth forget about the portrait until he spoke of it again.“My mother hated this portrait.While I was growing up,she always told me how much it unsettled her.In fact the whole manor disturbed her in some way.After my father died,I returned from abroad to open my practice and she simply packed up and traveled the world.She never stayed here much.She had a small place she rented in the city.”Beth pondered his words for a moment.It was difficult to imagine Polly being unsettled about anything,least of all a portrait in her own home where she had spent her entire married life and raised her son.“Why do you think she had this aversion?”Beth asked.”I never thought of her as the kind of woman to be upset by anything.”“Well,my mother was a very sensitive woman Beth.She firmly
December 20, 1810I am convinced that Fallon is suffering from some disease of the brain.She sulks all day and speaks to no one.In all the months that she has been here,she has yet to say a word of what happened in Egypt.It is almost as if she has erased the memory of that time from her mind.We have no idea what happened to her over there or how the deaths of her parents have affected her.Not even the celebrations we have planned for her birthday in two days time have been able to elicit a smile from her.She is like the walking dead,a shell of the girl she once was.Charles tells me she has taken a shine to reading and she spends some time in the library with him.Not speaking,just reading.I am truly taken aback by this girl,what can I possibly do to help her?The servants tell me that she leaves the Manor in the dead cold of night and walks around the grounds while speaking to herself.The snow which has fallen does not even deter her.What frightens me the mos
In the afterglow of their lovemaking,Ethan gathered her in his arms,holding her close to his chest as the pulse of his racing heart matched her own.She held him even closer,her body feeling tender and achingly satisfied.He was well versed in the art of lovemaking,Beth wantonly thought to herself,remembering how Ethan had taken her to the heights of exquisite pleasure,more than once….Now,she was lying naked in his arms,his hard body pressed against her in the most tender agony she had ever known.At this rate they would never sleep,not that it would be a problem.Making love with him had been an experience she could relive again and again.He knew just what to do,where to touch,to give her maximum satisfaction.When it was over,she had pulled the sheet up,which he then unceremoniously had flung to the floor.“I want to see you,”he’d said as his lips led a trail of fire from her neck to her breasts,his hands roaming her body,awakening her desire once more.”G