Page 43 of You'll Be Sorry

That one day, Theo would flash his most charming grin and say hey, let’s make a baby. And that as she opened her mouth to deliver a resounding hell no, she’d discover a strange sensation tightening her chest. Her heart suddenly fluttering with…longing? Anticipation? Hope?

A baby.

A completely dependent tiny little creature, who would look up at her with his father’s gorgeous eyes.

It was crazy the way you could want something you never thought you’d want.

Until one day you were sitting in a specialist’s office, three heartbreaks later, learning exactly how the past had left its mark. And your husband was holding your hand, telling you it was okay. He loved you, would always love you, uterine competency be damned.

And you just kept staring at him, thinking if only he really knew…

The dog, barking at the squirrel now. The squirrel scampering up to a height on the tree trunk where it could confidently chitter back.

Theo loved her.

Theo would never leave her.

And herself?

She gazed around at the property that remained the area’s designated haunted house, where it was clear the most infamous tragedy from thirty years ago wasn’t even the start of this land’s pain.

Like calling to like.

Her therapist’s voice, gentle but demanding. “Bunny, I think it’s time we talk about that final afternoon. Your mother sleeping. Yourself, hiding your siblings away. When did you pick up the axe? When did you know exactly what you were going to do?”

“Dog,” she called out softly. “Time to go back inside.”

They’d barely started for the house when Raquel felt a weird tingling between her shoulder blades. She froze, one leg partially suspended. She knew this sensation. Had often woken up to it in the middle of the night. And her instincts had never been wrong.

Now she directed her foot to complete its journey to the ground. Then she bent over slightly, as if grabbing a stick for the dog. He was at the edge of the drive, nose half-buried in the brush, but one ear already rotating toward the woods.

Hunched over, she tried to peer through the mix of low-growth hemlocks and bare-limbed birches. Nothing from this angle. Straightening, she twisted and tossed the stick behind her, still searching.

There, a flash of movement. Maybe a squirrel leaping across branches, or a bird darting between the trees. But then she heard a crashing from the underbrush that was much too loud for a tiny forest creature.

She darted into the woods, the dog bounding by her side. Reporters was her first thought. The news team from earlier resorting to trespassing to get their precious story. Or maybe another unsanctioned looky-loo, not above sneaking about to satisfy their curiosity. She was both outraged and pissed off.

This house and its tragic past, this property and her and Theo’s fresh start, deserved better than to be salacious fodder for prying eyes. Why, when she caught up with them…

Another cracking limb, this time from off to the right. The dog was ahead of her, not barking, but whining, low and anxious.

She had heard that sound before. Last night, when the dog had taken up position on the corner of the porch.

She frowned, less certain, then resolutely surged forward. She caught a glimpse of wild dark hair, bobbing between the trees. A swish of something lighter, maybe a gray-green jacket. Then a furtive glance, cast over one shoulder.

Raquel tracked the runner’s anticipated path, made some alterations of her own to intercept.

At the last second, just as she started to close the distance…Foot snagging. Body lurching. Herself slamming hard to the ground, the force knocking the air from her lungs in a single whoosh.

She opened her mouth, but no sound emerged. Could only gape like a fish, gaze still fixed ahead, where she caught traces of more movement.

Including…a flash of bare feet?

But that didn’t make any sense. Who…What…Why?

The sounds of the person’s retreat faded from her ears. The stranger disappeared completely, leaving Raquel to gingerly pick herself up off the ground. She winced at a throbbing pain in her ankle. A few tentative steps later, however, it resolved itself, leaving her feeling more confused than physically injured.

She took a second to get her bearings. No more sounds came from the woods, and the tight, tingling feeling had disappeared from between her shoulder blades. Whatever, whoever, had just happened, it was over.