Got family in the area? The taxi driver, a young, cheerful man who was a little too forceful with the accelerator, had tried to start a conversation several times during the drive, but Adrienne was terrible at small talk even on her best days, and that morning was shaping up to be a long way from her best.
The massive grey tabby turned his sea-green eyes towards her and projected abject misery in the way only cats are capable of. Sorry, buddy, she whispered when he mewled for what felt like the hundredth time. He was even ignoring the treats she’d poked through the cat carrier’s bars, and he never rejected treats. Wolfgang was normally an even-tempered and silent cat he had to truly hate the drive to protest so often. Adrienne tried to match his smile, but her heart wasn’t in it. Adrienne and the woman watched each other through the mirror until the car rocked around a corner, taking the turn far too quickly, and the house was hidden from sight by a thick copse of trees.Īdrienne’s mother didn’t speak but sucked in thin, panicked breaths as the tears continued to bleed mascara down her cheeks and mix with the drops of blood sprayed across her neck.Įvery time Wolfgang wailed, the taxi driver grinned and chuckled as if it was the funniest thing he’d heard all day.
The silhouette was incredibly tall and dressed in a long black gown.
As the house grew smaller in the rear-view mirror, Adrienne thought she saw a figure appear in the open doorway. Her mother jumped into the driver’s seat, the ignition roared, and the bald tyres screamed against the dirt as they struggled to find purchase. She twisted to glimpse the house through her window and caught sight of the front door gliding open. Her mother had never forgotten to buckle her in before. Her mother didn’t buckle her in, and that frightened Adrienne. She fell into the passenger seat, and the door slammed shut. Wild animals screamed in the woods around them, and insects flicked out of the long grass as Adrienne’s mother ran through it, carrying her to the car parked off the side of the dirt driveway. The sun had not long set, and traces of deep, angry reds and pinks tinged the undersides of the storm clouds. Its white paint was flaking off to expose grime-streaked grey wood underneath, and the black windows seemed like dead eyes watching over the lawn. Tracks of mascara ran down her blanched cheeks, and she flinched when lightning cracked across the sky, blindingly white behind the house’s silhouette.Īshburn rose huge and twisted above them. Her ears were full of pounding feet and gasping breaths, and her mother’s arms held so tightly it hurt. Huge raindrops hit Adrienne’s exposed arms and face as her mother carried her out of the porch’s shelter and down the groaning wooden steps.
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