The Haunted Forest Tour by Jeff Strand & James A. Moore

Author:Jeff Strand & James A. Moore [Strand, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-02-17T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Mindy looked at Tina, and any pretense of cheer slowly fell from her face as she mulled over what the younger woman had said.

Just to make sure she'd heard correctly, she repeated Tina's statement in the form of a question. "A big bird swooped down and snatched Christopher from the tree?"

She realized that she must have been staring bloody murder at Tina just then, because Tina flinched and nodded silently.

"Yes, ma'am."

"I want to make one hundred percent sure I heard you right, Tina." Mindy was trying to discuss things in a logical and sane manner, but her ears were ringing and she was feeling a bit dizzy and she wasn't really sure if she was doing a good job being logical or sane. "A big black bird zoomed down out of the sky and snatched my baby boy like an owl grabbing a mouse. All this after Eddie accidentally shot him. Is that right?"

Tina nodded her head and did her best to hide behind something while standing perfectly still. Mindy closed her eyes and tried to imagine her son being stolen away by a gigantic bird with blazing red eyes. Despite everything that had happened, it wasn't as easy to do as she would have expected. Not because she had any trouble dealing with the idea of a giant black bird, but because it was impossible to imagine her world without Christopher in it.

He was more than just her son; he was her best friend and the one person she could always depend on. When her husband Thomas died, it was Christopher who took care of the funeral arrangements and stood by her side and gave her strength. She could remember seeing him in his suit, looking like a little boy playing dress-up for all the sorrow that he was drowning in, but he still managed to handle all of the details and arrange for the viewing and the wake. Christopher was stronger than he knew and, damn it, the idea of a world without him for moral support was a bleak one.

In a much smaller voice, Mindy asked the question she dreaded the most: "Is he dead?" She kept her eyes closed, because if she opened them the tears would start. She didn't want to cry in front of these people. They were strangers, really. The man on the ground, the boy now once again sitting in front of the computer and drawing on the desk, and the woman who'd just witnessed her son being ripped away from her life, her world.

Tina shook her head. "I don't know." Her voice came in hitches, and Mindy opened her eyes to see the woman cover her face to hide the tears.

Mindy nodded her head and rose from where she'd been sitting near Tina's husband. Brad seemed to have recovered a bit from his earlier troubles, and though he wasn't speaking, at least he didn't seem to be suffering quite as much. Good for him. Good for Tina. Peachy, really. But at this moment Mindy couldn't stand the idea of being around either of them.

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