Mira quietly advanced toward the entrance of what looked like the walk-in closet. As she looked in, something immediately caught her eye. The floating image of a black woman was at the far end of the room. The apparition appeared relatively young with frazzled, black hair that hung tiredly just above her shoulders. Her face, rough and haggard, exuded a sadness that Mira could feel deep within her bones, and the thin, white dress the woman wore was drenched in what appeared to be blood around the mid-section where long trails of it had slid down to the end. Momentarily frozen by the sight of this woman, Mira's mouth hung open, yet no voice escaped. The woman's veiny eyes seemed to be begging, pleading… for something. Then her hand reached up toward Mira, re-enforcing what the little girl already felt was a cry for help. At that point, a blood-curdling scream escaped Mira's lungs and she darted outside of the room—Wade running behind her.
With a fear of heights that paled in comparison to what she saw in that room, before Mira knew it, she was at the bottom of the staircase and out of the house.
"What's wrong?" Wade called out to her in the yard. "Wait for me, Mira!"
She had run a good distance away from the house before even thinking of stopping.
"Tell me what's wrong!" Wade insisted after catching up to her. "I never saw you run that fast in my life."
"I know I shouldn't have listened to you, Wade. You're a jerk! We never should have come here," Mira blasted, walking hurriedly.
"What did I do?" Wade was confused.
"I don't wanna talk about it right now. I just wanna go home."
While darting out of the house, Wade had dropped the bag of fruits they had collected. The children walked home together without saying another word. Wade knew that he had to get to the bottom of what happened in that house; Mira was not going to fold up on him as she sometimes did. After all, he felt responsible for her and now guilty that she had been so traumatized by something that in spite of her fear of heights, she had run down a tall flight of stairs without giving it a second thought.
After arriving home, Mira went straight to her room and slammed the door. Wade went to the door and knocked lightly. "Mira… what happened back there?" He tried to turn the doorknob, but discovered it was locked. "Open up. I wanna talk to you."
"Go away!" Mira yelled.
With head hung low and feeling worse by the second, Wade asked: "What about the fish? Aren't we gonna fry it before Mom and Dad get back?"
"I don't care. Do what you want with it!" Mira replied.
"Why do you have to be like this? Why can't you just tell me what happened, Mira? You say I'm immature, but you're the immature one!"
Wade waited for a response, but didn't get one, so he went into the kitchen to prepare the fish. After scaling and seasoning their catch, he walked around to the side of the house, made an outdoor fire like he and Mira had done so many times and placed a tin frying pan on top of the heap. As the oil heated inside the pan, Wade sat on one of the two large rocks close by, elbow under chin, thinking of how good their day had been and how it ended up. He felt terrible for Mira and wished she didn't get in those quiet moods sometimes, thus closing herself off to the world. She didn't realize that whenever she did that, he felt completely lost.
After the oil came to a slight boil, he put the fish in the pan and watched as swarms of flies suddenly appeared out of nowhere around it. Shooing them away, Wade refused to go inside and cook on the stove: He and Mira had established something special together out there frying their catch on the make-shift stove and no army of flies was going to change that.
After turning the fish over with a spatula, Wade looked up and saw Mira approaching. She went and sat down on the other large rock near the fire. Wade, elated that his sister had decided to join him, showed no reaction.
"The fish looks good," Mira said, looking at her brother.
Unable to hold back any longer, Wade asked: "What happened in that house, Mira? Why did you leave like that?"
Mira looked down for a moment. "I'm not sure. I thought… I saw something."
"Saw what?" Wade probed, curiosity in over-drive.
"I saw a woman, okay?" Mira decided to just get it out in spite of how crazy it might sound. "She was wearing a long, white dress—looked old fashioned to me—and it was covered in blood."
Wade gawked. "Are you serious?"
"'Course, I'm serious!" Mira snapped. "You think I would've took off like that for nothing?"
"Where was she?"
"In the closet."
"What was she doing?"
"Just standing there," Mira replied. "She seemed so sad. Well, I'm not going back there anymore. I don't care about dillies or anything else. I'm never going back on that property."
"I wonder why she's there." Wade was engrossed in thought.
"So you believe me?" Mira asked, feeling hopeful.
"Sure, I do. I know you'd never make something like that up. Besides, from the way you took off down those stairs, you had to see something." He laughed.
Mira smiled, then laughed out loud. Wade jumped on that opportunity to tease her as they sat and waited for their fish to cook.
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FICTION TITLES BY TANYA R. TAYLOR
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* LUCILLE PFIFFER MYSTERY SERIES
Blind Sight
Blind Escape
Blind Justice
Blind Fury
INFESTATION: A Small Town Nightmare (The Complete Series)
* THE REAL ILLUSIONS SERIES
Real Illusions: The Awakening
Real Illusions II: REBIRTH
Real Illusions III: BONE OF MY BONE
Real Illusions IV: WAR ZONE
* CORNELIUS SAGA SERIES
Cornelius (Book 1 in the Cornelius saga. Each book in this series can stand-alone.)
Cornelius’ Revenge (Book 2 in the Cornelius saga)
CARA: Some Children Keep Terrible Secrets (Book 3 in the Cornelius saga)
We See No Evil (Book 4 in the Cornelius saga)
The Contract: Murder in The Bahamas (Book 5 in the Cornelius saga)
The Lost Children of Atlantis (Book 6 in the Cornelius saga)
Death of an Angel (Book 7 in the Cornelius saga)
The Groundskeeper (Book 8 in the Cornelius saga)
Cara: The Beginning - Matilda’s Story (Book 9 in the Cornelius saga)
The Disappearing House (Book 10 in the Cornelius saga)
Wicked Little Saints (Book 11 in the Cornelius saga)
A Faint Whisper (Book 12 in the Cornelius saga)
‘Til Death Do Us Part (Book 13 in the Cornelius saga)
* THE NICK MYERS SERIES
Hidden Sins Revealed (A Crime Thriller - Nick Myers Series Book 1)
One Dead Politician (Nick Myers Series Book 2)
Haunted Cruise: The Shakedown
The Haunting of MERCI HOSPITAL
10 Minutes before Sleeping
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Lucille Pfiffer Mystery Series Box Set Page 33