Dark Realms(23)

My bedroom was several feet from the ground, and truthfully, I really wasn’t sure what I’d seen. Obviously, it had to be some kind of animal. “I guess that’s possible.”

She held out a hand to me. “Come here and see for yourself. Look how far up we really are.”

Of course, when I looked back outside, common sense told me that we were too high for any person to be looking in.

I closed my eyes. “Yeah, okay, maybe it was just a stupid bat or something.”

“Honey, you’re obviously very tired. Why don’t you go to bed and get a good night’s sleep? I’ll bet that tomorrow, you’ll be laughing about this.”

“Is everything okay in here?” asked Nathan, standing in the doorway in his blue flannel pajama pants.

“Everything’s fine,” she answered with another reassuring smile. “Nikki just saw a bird or something outside and it scared the hell out of her.”

Nathan’s eyebrows shot up. “Seriously? You know, I thought I saw something out there, too, when I was in my room watching TV. It freaked the shit out of me.”

I turned to see her reaction.

“What?” she asked, staring at both of us, amused. “Come on… it’s some kind of bird. You know, there’s no possible way a living person could stand outside of your bedroom windows and look in. Unless Spider-man is vacationing in Montana and has decided to scale this particular cabin to check us out. You two are wigging out over nothing.”

“Still, I think we should take a look outside,” said Nathan as he turned and walked away.

“Wait!” my mom hollered. She picked up the bat and charged after him. “Don’t go out there without this!”

And she thought I was being paranoid?

I followed them both downstairs and watched as he switched on the outdoor lights and threw open the front door.

“Be careful!” I hollered, staying back. There was no way I was going out into that unknown darkness, harmless bird or not.

My mom hesitantly followed Nathan outside while I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to remain calm under the circumstances.

This is crazy, I thought, when they closed the door behind them. I wondered if it really was some kind of large bird checking both of us out. Maybe an owl or eagle?

But with red eyes?

Owls were nocturnal so I imagined it was possible, although, I was a city girl and didn’t know the first thing about birds, other than they pooped, a lot, whenever they felt like it.

I chewed on my lower lip and stared towards the dark windows, suddenly wondering if someone or something was watching me from the other side.

Oh, my God… close the blinds, idiot!

I leaped towards the windows, moving the wooden blinds over the four large plated windows as quickly as possible. Once they were all covered, I took a step back and began breathing again.

While I waited for my mom and brother to return, I couldn’t help it, I began to pace as the anxiety quickly built up again. I was definitely wigging out just like she’d said. I started imaging things like Sasquatches and aliens, freaking myself out until I felt like I was almost to the point of hyperventilating.

Jesus, Nikki, chill the hell out.

Frustrated, I went back over to the sofa and sat down, tapping my foot nervously. Seconds later, my brother stormed through the front door, followed by my mom, whose face was as pale as the moon. He picked up the phone and started dialing.

My stomach tightened when I noticed the strange look on Nathan’s face. “Okay, what’s going on?”

Nathan raised his hand to silence me and then began speaking, his voice strangled. “Hello? Yes, I’d like to report a dead body.”





Chapter Three





Three hours later, the dead body, which they’d found near the dock, was examined, bagged, and finally taken away.

“Well,” said Sheriff Caleb Smith, who was standing on the porch. “It looks like it’s the teenage girl who’s been missing for a few weeks, Tina Johnson.”

“What happened to her?” I asked, staring at him. He was taller than I’d thought, standing well over six-foot, had dark hair that hung just below his collar, and an almost perfectly chiseled face, except for his nose, which was a little large. I had to admit, though, for a guy in his thirties, he was handsome.

My mother, who was staring up at him as if he was Superman, cleared her throat. “Before you answer that, would you like to come in and have a cup of coffee, Sheriff?”

He grinned widely and stepped inside. “Thanks; don’t worry about the coffee, though. I really need to be leaving soon.”

“So, was she murdered?” asked Nathan, still freaked out about finding her bloated body sticking out of the water. He’d described it so many times to me that I could see the image in my head, as if I’d actually been there.