The Haunted - Jessica Verday [5]
Once, twice, three times she slowly moved back and forth in a triangle pattern. She wore a long, flowing white nightgown, and I noticed that her hair was down. I’d never seen it that way before. She normally wore it tied back in a bun, but now the dark brown waves gently bobbed around her shoulders as she swayed in time to the music.
I smiled. So this is where I get my crazy dancing-with-imaginary-partners gene from. It was kind of nice to know it came from her.
Then the song ended. The room grew still.
Stumbling to an abrupt halt, she stood, arms frozen in place. Waiting for a partner who was not there. Who would never be there. Her shoulders shook, and a harsh sob echoed throughout the room. Within seconds it multiplied, and she started to cry like her heart was breaking.
I moved to go to her, and my toe bumped into the bottom of the door. I froze at the sound.
What if she didn’t want me to see her like this?
She glanced up, her eyes meeting mine. I held my breath, waiting to see what she would say, or do. But she only wrapped her arms around herself and sank to the floor, a lonely old woman trying to make it through life with a piece of her heart missing. In some ways I knew exactly what she was feeling. As hard as I tried to forget, there was a Caspian-shaped hole inside me, too.
Slowly, I retreated. Her sobs echoed in my ears the whole way back, and even as I shut my door, I could not escape them. They followed me into my dreams.
I flung myself forward, sitting straight up in bed. I don’t know how long I’d been asleep, but a nightmare had startled me awake. My eyes searched the dark corners, flew to the clock blinking 3:12 a.m., and scanned the ceiling. Looking for whatever it was that had my heart racing.
My mind frantically tried to reassemble the jumbled pieces of my dream.
I’d been… running? No. More like stumbling, really. Hands outstretched in the darkness.
There were things all around me, and I could tell by their shape and feel that they were tombstones. Sharp edges and jagged pieces that left my bumbling knees and shins bruised, my fingers scratched.
I shook my head, looking for the missing scenes.
Stumbling… stumbling… almost falling, always moving. I knew I had to keep moving.
What was after me? What was I running from? I saw myself try to glance behind, but it was too dark. I couldn’t make out what was there.
The dream started fading, and I knew I was losing it. Already the bare fragments of memory were slipping through my fingers.
With a final glance at the room around me, I slid back down onto the sheets and pillows, closing my eyes. Stupid dreams. I should not have drunk that Mountain Dew at dinner. It always gave me the jitters.
And then I sat bolt upright again.
I knew. I knew what the dream meant.
I wasn’t running from something. I was running to someone.
The Haunted
Chapter Two
OUT OF PLACE
To turn and fly was now too late…
—“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
Late the next morning I waited impatiently with my bags by the front door for Mom and Dad to come pick me up. Time was dragging.
I gave my suitcase a kick and nudged it over on its side before sitting down on it. Aunt Marjorie was in the kitchen heating up a store-bought pie so that it would look like it just came out of the oven. She wanted to impress Mom. I scanned the distance through the glass door for the three hundred thirty-seventh time. When will they get here?
A horn beeped.
I jumped up and waited for them to pull in. As soon as they reached the house, car doors started swinging open and then slamming shut. Mom got to me first. I ran into her arms too, and hugged her for all I was worth. Sure, I was still a little mad at her for pushing the issue that I come home early, but she was my mom. And I’d missed her.
Dad came over and put his arms around both of us, and I turned to squeeze him tight.
“Hi, sweetie, we missed you,” he said.
“I missed you too, Dad.”
“Where’s Aunt Marjorie?” Mom asked. “I want to say hello.”
“She’s in the kitchen. I think she wants