Darkness Released (Darkness Series Book 2)
Page 8
Hailey walked over by the bathroom and switched off a few lights. As she walked through the darkness back to Emily, she could hear the rasping of the Dark Ladies lurking near.
Stepping back into the light by Emily, Hailey leaned down and gave Lilly a kiss on the cheek and whispered, “I love you, sweet girl.”
She reached behind her neck and unclasped her necklace. As she held it in her hands. her fingers danced around the edges, and she gave a small smile.
“Hailey.” Emily’s voice shook.
She saw that Emily was looking into the darkness behind her. so she turned around. The shadow thronged with Dark Ladies. They were everywhere—climbing on top of each other, hanging off the walls, and even crawling on the ceiling.
“It’s okay,” she said as she turned back to Emily. She placed the necklace in her hand, “Make sure Lilly keeps this. If it’s not on her, keep it beside her. Nothing will hurt her. Make sure it gets passed down every generation…to everyone born on Friday the Thirteenth.”
Emily held Lilly tighter as she looked from the darkness, to Hailey, then back to the darkness again.
Hailey gave Emily a quick kiss on the top of her head. “Tell Pat to live for himself and have him take you to Maximus. And Alex…he’s always been so strong. Don’t let him give up on himself. And please, make sure my little niece and nephews know how much I love them.”
“What?” Emily's voice still shook.
Hailey just gave one last smile as she slowly backed up. She held her arms outstretched, closed her eyes, and stepped back into the darkness.
The Dark Ladies swarmed her.
Hands pulled her back farther. Every inch of her body was covered by one of them. Their straggly hair swayed as they crawled on her. Their rasping breath was loud and heavy.
She managed to get out one last “I love you all” before they pulled her into the darkened pits that they come from.
Chapter 17
Five Years Later
Little Hailey suffered from nightmares. They wouldn’t happen every night, but when they did she practically gave her parents a heart attack with how loud she would scream.
This night wasn’t much different.
The blood-curdling scream caused Emily to jump out of bed and run down the hall and into Hailey’s room. Sitting on the bed, she held Hailey in her arms, trying to soothe her as she cried. The lights from the three nightlights in the room danced across their bodies.
“Shhh, it’s okay, baby. It’s okay.”
“No,” Hailey cried. “Where’s daddy?”
A tinge of guilt hit Emily, but she knew it was just because she was daddy’s girl. The two of them were inseparable, and at times Hailey would remind him of his late sister.
“He’s out working, honey, remember? He’s out getting the bad guys.”
“What about the bad girls?”
Emily froze. There was only one thing she could think of when her daughter said that, and that was the moment back at the hospital after she was born.
“What bad girls?”
“Well.” Hailey sniffled. “There’s only one right now.”
Hailey peeked one eye out around her mother, and keeping her hand close to her, she pointed toward the corner closest to her closet.
The only dark corner in her room.
Slowly, Emily turned her head.
She knew exactly what she saw in the darkness; it was one of them.
A Dark Lady.
Looking at it, she knew it wasn’t just any Dark Lady…it was Hailey.
Her skin wasn’t completely whitened out yet, and her hair was only starting to thin and become straggly. She lay there on the floor, her hands holding her hunched body up as the darkness engulfed behind her. Just like the others, the darkness was now her only way of moving, as she had no legs.
Emily stared at her. She didn’t know what to do or say.
She wasn’t sure if she wanted to scream or cry.
The Dark Lady cocked her head to the side, looking at Hailey’s night stand. That’s all it took. Emily knew exactly what she wanted.
Emily reached to the night stand and grabbed the Key of Solomon pendant. Holding it in her hands, she looked back at the Dark Hailey, whose head perked up like she knew Emily understood her. With sorrow-filled eyes, Emily just nodded.
“Don’t be scared, sweetie.” Emily handed little Hailey the necklace. “Remember what I told you about this necklace? How it came from your Aunt Hailey and that it can do magical things?”
Little Hailey didn’t take her eyes off of her mother. “Yeah,” she said, with a shy nod.
“Well, honey, I need you to hold that necklace…and I will do it with you, but we need to go over there and hold her hand, okay?”
Little Hailey shook her head ferociously. “No, Mommy, no!”
“She won’t hurt you, baby. I promise. You know I wouldn’t ever let anything hurt you. I will be with you the whole time. But one of the magical things that necklace can do is help people like her. It can set them free, keep them from suffering and hurting people they love. Okay?”
After a few sniffles, Hailey said, “Okay, Mommy…”
Emily stood up and grabbed little Hailey’s hand. As they walked over to Dark Hailey, the pale woman moved as close to them as she could and slowly reached one arm out. Little Hailey returned the gesture until they grabbed hands.
In the moment before Dark Hailey became trapped in the necklace, Emily swore she saw the face of the Hailey she remembered.
“Thank you,” a soft voice whispered.
Dark Hailey was gone, trapped in the necklace for all of eternity.
THE END
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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.
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