Aftereffect (The Order of Ravens and Wolves Book 1) by T.L Hodel

Author:T.L Hodel [Hodel, T.L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-09-08T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Riley

Why was it so dark? I didn’t like the dark. That’s where the boogeyman lived. I needed to get to Mommy and Daddy’s room. I tried to get up, but my hands and feet were tied. Dread rocketed through my heart. Did the boogeyman get me? I wasn’t in my room. The bed I was laying on was too hard, and it smelled like Grandma’s flowerpots. I tried twisting around to see where I was, but everything was so dark. I needed my night light.

“Mommy?” I cried out.

She didn’t answer. Why didn’t she answer? Mommy always came when I called.

“Mommy! Mommy, where are you?”

I turned my head, searching for the comforting shine of Minnie Mouse. Nothing. Hot tears rolled down my cool skin, making me shiver.

“Mommy?” I tried again. “Daddy? I’m scared.”

Were they mad at me? I didn’t mean for Charlie to get hurt. I tried to hold onto his leash. He was just so fast.

“MOMMY! MOMMY! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it!”

A man’s voice cut through the air, silencing my screams. “Calm down girl.”

My heart settled a bit when a soft glow lit up part of the room. I sniffed and watched a man in purple robes light more torches along the wall. At least the boogeyman can’t get me now.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Louis, child,” he answered, lighting the last torch. “We met at the park the other day.”

“We did?” I asked, searching for something familiar. There was nothing. Not in the man, and not in the room. Just gray stone walls and the soft echo of water dripping. Rope was around my wrists and ankles, tying me to a stone bed. Why would anyone want a stone bed? It was hard and uncomfortable.

“Where are we?” I asked, my nose crinkling at the musty earth smell in the air.

“The basement.”

This place looked more like a dungeon than a basement, like the ones in the princess stories Mommy read to me. I shivered at the shrill whistle the wind made tunneling down the stairs. If this was what it was like to be a princess, I didn’t want to be one anymore. I didn’t need the pretty dresses. I just needed Mommy and Daddy.

“Where’s my Mommy?”

Louis walked over to a table draped in purple cloth. “She’s not here.”

“Where is she?”

“At home, asleep in her bed.” He pulled the cloth off the table, making things clatter together. I really wished I could see what was on it. “She doesn’t even know you’re gone.”

“Liar!” I yelled.

Mommy always knew where I was. She had eyes in the back of her head. Told me so when she caught me in the cookie jar.

“Where is she, then?”

“I don’t know.” I frowned. Where was she?

“You see,” he said, “she’s not here, so you can stop screaming. Maybe she’s mad at you?”

Was she mad at me? Daddy told me bad men lied to little girls, and I shouldn’t listen to strangers.

“My daddy will arrest you!” I insisted. “He’s a policeman, and you’re a bad man. He puts bad men in jail.

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