Free The Skeleton Key by Tara Moss

visitor came.
    There was a low rumble beneath me, the earth shaking, and I opened my eyes to observe a figure on horseback approaching. I knew immediately that it was Second Lieu­tenant Luke Thomas, astride his mighty white stallion. The steed’s hooves pounded the earth and the vibrations shook my feet and caused the tree at my side to shrink back into its roots. Yet it was Luke, and so I welcomed him.
    â€˜Lieutenant Luke! I’m here!’ I tried to call out, relieved to see him. But though I tried, I made no sound. The words died in my throat.
    Smiling, my arms open, I watched him ride closer, a mere speck on the horizon at first, then growing steadily larger. He wore his dark blue uniform, his cavalry sword at his hip, the edges of his dark, fitted frockcoat catching the wind. His posture was formal and upright. The stallion he commanded began to neigh and whinny, and when he stopped before me, his horse bent down, kneeling, its magnificent head bowing. Lieutenant Luke removed his cap and inclined his head to me.
    â€˜Thank goodness, Luke,’ I began but again my words would not come out.
    Thunder cracked above us and immediately the bright sky turned a dark midnight blue, the pretty white clouds glowing an eerie green, morphing swiftly into something sinister, some alien force to be feared. They slithered through the air, terrifying and unnatural, coiling as if ready to strike. And that’s when I saw the other figure – a figure in a black suit. I caught the movement out of the corner of my eye as the figure came towards us with unnatural speed, its legs unmoving as it rushed forward. Though all I could see was his silhouette, something about him gave me a terrible sense of foreboding. In seconds he was as close as Luke. So fast. He was already here.
    I stepped back, fear taking me. The tree had been half swallowed up by the ground. Or perhaps it was trying to flee back to the earth.
    â€˜Luke, what’s happening?’ I tried to call out, but still I had no voice.
    Luke lifted his head to look at me.
    And I screamed.

    I woke with a start on Friday morning. My bed sheets were in disarray, the lace-edged pillows strewn across the covers and on the floor. I sat up and scratched my head. Somehow, I felt Lieutenant Luke’s proximity, as if we’d just been face to face, yet I had no idea whether or not I’d been visited by him.
    Luke is gone.
    He had not visited me, I recalled: he was still missing. Yet he’d been in my dream and something about him had been horrifying. What was it?
    Hmmm.
    I looked at the bedside clock. It was already past seven, I realised with a jolt. It was nearly time to leave for work. I needed to hustle.

    â€˜What happened? The date didn’t go well?’
    It was lunchtime when my friend Morticia approached me at my little cubicle, wide-eyed and eager to hear all about my mysterious date. ‘What happened?’ she asked again. ‘You’ve looked miserable all morning.’
    She’d noticed I’d arrived at the office five minutes late, which was unlike me. Pepper, the deputy editor, had noticed, too.
    Oops.
    Grinning one day, miserable the next. Perhaps it wasn’t so good to have a dead boyfriend.
    Yes, I was more than a bit glum and I shouldn’t have been surprised that Morticia had noticed. I didn’t know what to make of Lieutenant Luke’s sudden disappearance, and since then I’d been feeling quite out of sorts. I looked around and saw that Morticia and I had a little privacy, giving us a moment to talk. (Pepper was out for lunch and Skye was just plain out. Or under the ground. It was impossible to know.) But what could I tell Morticia, really? I paused, considering my words, and in the end I merely shook my head.
    â€˜Oh, Pandora,’ she said, and put a hand on my shoulder.
    I shrugged. ‘I’m okay. I’d just rather not talk about it right now.’
    I didn’t want sympathy so I