Free Ghost Girl in Shadow Bay: A Young Adult Haunted House Mystery by R. Barri Flowers

marriage work half as well as the
first one?
    "Good," Vance said. "Once you start school,
you'll get even more acclimated and can start to focus on your
future."
    "What's wrong with focusing on my present ?" Peyton challenged.
    "Nothing, per se. But there's more to life
than having fun and being waited on hand and foot. You'll learn
that as you get older."
    "Uh, I think I know that now, Vance." She
sneered. "And I'm certainly not aware of anyone around here
waiting on me hand and foot!"
    "I'm sure he was only trying to make a
point," Melody said, circling her fork around her food.
    "Why are you always defending him?" Peyton
glared at her mother.
    "Oh, honey, I'm not taking his side over
yours."
    "Sounds like it to me."
    "We're all on the same side, Peyton," Vance
insisted. "I'm just trying to prepare you for life beyond the one
you have today. In less than two years you'll be eighteen, off to
college soon after, and we won't be there to guide you every step
of the way."
    "Who says I'll need you to?"
    "Now you're being childish," Melody said
harshly. "Vance isn't your enemy, Peyton. He only wants to help
you."
    "Then maybe he could help by not trying to
run my life so much--as if he's my real dad!"
    "Peyton..." Melody's eyes narrowed.
    "It's okay," Vance said. "She's right. I'm
just the stepfather and not entitled to Peyton's full respect as a
father. But I am still the man of this house and I'll
continue to do the best I can for this family, even if it sometimes
makes me come off as the bad guy."
    Peyton wasn't sure what had come over her.
Normally she didn't allow herself to get so easily riled. She
wondered if it had something to do with the notion of growing up
too soon when she was perfectly happy right now at sixteen.
Hopelessly attracted to Bryant Neville, Peyton just wanted to
freeze-frame this moment in her life, as though it would soon
vanish forever.
    Another part of her felt trapped in a time
where she was unsure what was real and what was her imagination,
wanting only to get past it and see what else life had in
store.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
     
    It was a feeling of déjà vu for Peyton as
she crept into the house. Her soaked nightgown clung to her like a
second skin and her bare feet ached like she'd been walking on hot
coals.
    Peyton padded across the floor of the
darkened house and up the stairs, guided only by the sounds from
above. She moved down the hall till she reached the master bedroom.
The door was wide open.
    In a trancelike state, Peyton stepped
inside. She saw a man standing at the foot of the bed holding a
shotgun. He was shouting at someone she could not see.
    The man stopped talking and turned in
Peyton's direction. She quivered, expecting to be shot. Instead, he
seemed to look right through her. She turned her head and saw
another man sprawled on the floor. A gaping bullet wound spewed
blood from his chest.
    Horror-struck, Peyton faced the one holding
the shotgun. Again his fierce gaze did not regard her directly, but
seemed to go beyond her. She heard footsteps and saw a teenage girl
rush past her. Their eyes locked and Peyton felt like she somehow
knew the girl, even if not sure how. She watched her move brazenly
up to the man at the foot of the bed.
    Peyton was stunned as the girl, wearing only
a nightgown, grabbed the barrel of the gun. Only then did Peyton
notice the woman on the bed. Her pale face was etched in fear.
    "Get out of the way, Caitlyn!" the man
shouted at the girl.
    "No, I won't, Daddy!" she spat. "Don't hurt
Mama!"
    He tried to shake the gun barrel away from
her as if a mere nuisance, but she showed grit and determination to
protect her mother.
    In the process of their struggle, the gun
went off and the girl pedaled backwards, clutching her stomach with
blood spilling out. She fell down onto her back. Her nearly
lifeless eyes seemed to focus on Peyton, as if asking for her
help.
    Peyton looked at the girl's father and cried
in desperation, "Please, stop this! Don't shoot anyone