Query
A teen nurses' aide
shakes with fear when the man she thinks she killed in self-defense disappears,
leaving her to discover if she’s crazy or if an evil force is at work.
Sixteen-year-old
southerner, Samantha McQueen, chalks up the murder and disappearance to stress
from the death of her Momma. When she sees more murders and a suicide, she
consults a psychiatrist, tries rune reading, and even delves into the BOOK OF
THE DEAD to find an answer. To complicate things, she's assigned a death and
dying school project with none other than the weird, but thrilling, Aiden, as
her partner. He tells her the murders and suicides already took place, and they’re
the undead, trying to enlist her help.
When Samantha discovers
she must help the undead cross over before Christmas, she rushes to understand
her abilities before the crossing-over portals close, and Momma and the other
undead become eternal wanderers.
I won 1st place for
paranormal romance from the Virginia Romance Writers Association and 2nd place
for fiction from the Florida State Writing Competition. PALM PRINTS, the
University of South Florida's writer's journal, and RIVERWALK have each
published one of my short stories. I'm an avid contributor to YALITCHAT.ORG.
First 250 words:
The moon casts eerie
shadows through the window of the Georgia State Mental Hospital geriatric unit.
I feel a cold chill in my bones and shiver. Something awful's going to happen
tonight the way it did last time.
While I finish up my
nurses' aid chores, I breathe in the back of my throat so I don't have to smell
the pee and rose deodorizer. I dump the soiled linens down the laundry chute
and wash my hands before I slide into my chair at my station outside the
nurses' office.
Footsteps echo from
somewhere down the corridor.
I hold my breath.
That must be Nurse
Patchett because we're the only two on duty tonight. A door slams at the end of the hall, followed
by three muffled thuds, and the sound of a medical cabinet crashing to the floor.
"What was
that?" I stare into the shadows, then glance back at Nurse Patchett who's
somehow appeared. She stands in front of me in her shiny white shoes and
starched uniform. I wonder if that's a drop of blood on her collar, but I'm
afraid to ask.
"What was
what?" She lowers her thick eyebrows so they meet above her death-bright
eyes.
Goose bumps march up my
arms. "Didn't you hear the door slam or anything?"
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