Darkness Within (The Darkness Series Book 1)
Page 14
Mike followed their lead and looked at the house. Looking in the window he saw faded images of Mia and Eli. What the hell, he thought. They stood there, banging on the glass but no sound prevailed.
He could see their mouths moving.
Their faces filled with agony as they gave up on slamming on the window. Mia leaned her head against the glass as if she had been defeated. In a swift movement she jerked back up, and turned to her side, grabbing Eli.
She knelt down over top of him, moving out of sight from the window. Mike tried to move but he couldn’t.
He wanted to run and to scream, he needed to get to them. But he was frozen in place, unable to do anything.
He stared through the window and he saw the darkness hovering behind it.
Chapter 27
Mike jerked up in the bed with an uncanny sensation that he had forgotten something important at the house. He wasn’t sure what it could be but he knew it was important.
What was it? Paperwork? Maybe some tax documents or something?
He didn’t know.
It was like his subconscious took over as he ran out of the room, leaving his things behind, and began the drive back toward the house. It was still dark outside and even though he had thought he succeeded in getting lost when he arrived at the hotel, somehow he managed to know the exact path to take.
Maybe it was just that one always knew how to find their way home.
As he closed in on the town he had previously resided in, snow flurries danced on his windshield. Though it was unusual for it to snow so early in fall, it wasn’t completely unknown in that area. He turned up his heat in the car because it felt like it had dropped a good twenty degrees outside.
Mike focused on the road, turning toward their drive when he heard an innocent voice come from the back seat.
“Can you give me my teddy, Daddy?”
Mike's heart seized as he jerked his head to look behind him.
The seat was empty.
The lack of sleep that night was getting to him.
He was almost at his driveway when he heard a child's giggle come from right beside him.
He looked in the passenger seat but there wasn’t a child there.
In the once empty seat now sat a teddy bear.
Eli’s teddy bear.
Mike panicked as he jerked the wheel. The car slid on some black ice until its back end went into a ditch. The airbags blew, slamming Mike in the face. Glass scattered throughout the car as it rolled on its side, coming to a stop.
He didn’t know how long he lay in the wrecked car. Mike crawled his way out through the smashed windshield, his head throbbing and covered in blood. He was weak and his arms shook underneath him as he moved through the frozen grass, his hands melting the ice beneath him.
When his hand touched a ‘sold’ sign he realized he had wrecked in front of his house.
He looked up at it.
There was a light left on. The kitchen light.
But no one was there. No cars were in the drive and the new owners weren’t going to move in for at least another week.
He didn’t leave a light on, did he?
No, he knew he didn’t.
They did it. They took Mia from him.
They had made him believe he was crazy but he was too stupid to see it.
He gathered what strength he had left and rose to his feet.
“Mia,” he shouted.
Nearly falling and catching his balance, Mike walked as fast as he could to the house.
“Mia,” he yelled again.
They couldn’t have her.
They couldn’t.
Mike stumbled up the porch steps and turned the doorknob. Though he knew he had locked it before he left it opened with ease.
He yelled for her again.
“Mia!”
Fumbling the entire time, he moved throughout the house searching for her.
He leaned on walls for support and rubbed his eyes.
They were heavy.
They kept wanting to close.
He was exhausted.
Mike couldn’t find Mia but he kept yelling for her as he walked down the hallway, back towards the kitchen.
Ring. Ring
The telephone that hung on the wall in the kitchen rang and sent a tremor of fear through him.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
The phone kept ringing.
Mike fumbled into the kitchen and leaned on the counter. “Hello,” his voice was groggy as he answered.
“Hi daddy,” Eli’s voice echoed through the phone. He sounded distance, alerting Mike that he was on speaker. “Dad…Dad, I’m out of school, Dad. And it’s snowing!”
He didn’t understand what was going on. “Wha-what?”
An odd sensation ran through him.
“Yeah, it’s snowing like crazy.” He could hear the stress in Mia’s voice. “Sorry we missed dinner and are running so late, babe. I think going to pull over when I can manage see anything so I don’t go in a damn ditch.”
He straightened out his back as the hairs on his neck stood up. The unforgettable shiver twisted down his spine. He looked straight ahead as the blood drained out of his face.
“Mike…Mike! Are you listening to me?” He heard Mia’s voice in the phone but he didn’t comprehend the words. His mind was distracted with an odd reoccurrence.
That feeling…he knew that feeling.
Mike began to turn his head around as he slowly pulled the phone away from his ear.
It was going to be there…he just knew it.
His palms grew sweaty and he tightened his grip on the phone. His gut ached as it felt like it was churning. The thumping of his racing heart pounded in his ears.
When he finally turned his head around the room became filled with a high pitched screeching as the intangible mass of darkness engulfed him.
THE END
Acknowledgments
The first person I would like to acknowledge, is my husband. Thank you for putting up with me while I’m writing and all of my crazy ideas.
I would also like to thank my brainstorming partners, Steph and Liz. Thank you ladies for being as into my ideas as I am.
A special shout out to Joe Bowers, whose crazy experiences influenced some of my scenes in Darkness Within.
To my editor, Darryl Cook, and everyone at Limitless Publishing, thank you all.
About the Author
Growing up on an old dirty road in the middle of nowhere, as a child Candis used her love for books as a way to escape reality (and her brother constantly trying to kill her—literally). She blames her love of all things Horror on being born on Friday the 13th and will always find joy in scaring her friends.
You will find a little piece of her in every book she writes. She loves a good happy ending, but most of the time she prefers one she never saw coming.
When she’s not writing or reading, she can usually be found chasing her children around. She currently lives in Rome, Pennsylvania with her husband and three children. And her fat cat.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/candis.vargo
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Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5625334.Candis_Vargo