Free Dark Realms by Kristen Middleton Page A

away.
    “Wait!” my mom hollered. She picked up the
bat and charged after him. “Don’t go out there without this!”
    And she thought I was being paranoid?
    I followed them both downstairs and watched
as he switched on the outdoor lights and threw open the front
door.
    “Be careful!” I hollered, staying back.
There was no way I was going out into that unknown darkness,
harmless bird or not.
    My mom hesitantly followed Nathan outside
while I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to remain calm under
the circumstances.
    This is crazy, I thought, when they closed the door behind them.
I wondered if it really was some kind of large bird checking both
of us out. Maybe an owl or eagle?
    But with red eyes?
    Owls were nocturnal so I
imagined it was possible, although, I was a city girl and didn’t
know the first thing about birds, other than they pooped, a lot , whenever they
felt like it.
    I chewed on my lower lip and stared towards
the dark windows, suddenly wondering if someone or something was
watching me from the other side.
    Oh, my God… close the blinds, idiot!
    I leaped towards the windows, moving the
wooden blinds over the four large plated windows as quickly as
possible. Once they were all covered, I took a step back and began
breathing again.
    While I waited for my mom and brother to
return, I couldn’t help it, I began to pace as the anxiety quickly
built up again. I was definitely wigging out just like she’d said.
I started imaging things like Sasquatches and aliens, freaking
myself out until I felt like I was almost to the point of
hyperventilating.
    Jesus, Nikki, chill the
hell out.
    Frustrated, I went back over to the sofa and
sat down, tapping my foot nervously. Seconds later, my brother
stormed through the front door, followed by my mom, whose face was
as pale as the moon. He picked up the phone and started
dialing.
    My stomach tightened when I noticed the
strange look on Nathan’s face. “Okay, what’s going on?”
    Nathan raised his hand to silence me and
then began speaking, his voice strangled. “Hello? Yes, I’d like to
report a dead body.”

Chapter Three
     
     
    Three hours later, the dead body, which
they’d found near the dock, was examined, bagged, and finally taken
away.
    “Well,” said Sheriff Caleb Smith, who was
standing on the porch. “It looks like it’s the teenage girl who’s
been missing for a few weeks, Tina Johnson.”
    “What happened to her?” I asked, staring at
him. He was taller than I’d thought, standing well over six-foot,
had dark hair that hung just below his collar, and an almost
perfectly chiseled face, except for his nose, which was a little
large. I had to admit, though, for a guy in his thirties, he was
handsome.
    My mother, who was staring up at him as if
he was Superman, cleared her throat. “Before you answer that, would
you like to come in and have a cup of coffee, Sheriff?”
    He grinned widely and stepped inside.
“Thanks; don’t worry about the coffee, though. I really need to be
leaving soon.”
    “So, was she murdered?” asked Nathan, still
freaked out about finding her bloated body sticking out of the
water. He’d described it so many times to me that I could see the
image in my head, as if I’d actually been there.
    The sheriff shook his head. “I don’t think
so. She had a history of drinking and left a party pretty
intoxicated at the time she went missing. She may have simply
fallen into the water and drowned. There will be an autopsy,
however, so we’ll know more later.”
    Nathan, who watched a lot of C.S.I. shows on
television, crossed his arms over his chest. “So, there were no
witnesses? Nobody at the party actually saw her leave?”
    The sheriff put his hand on the wall and
leaned against it. “No. That particular party got a little out of
hand and we ended up arresting a few minors for intoxication that
night. It was an ugly mess.”
    “Goodness,” said mom. “What a horrible thing
for her parents. I can’t imagine