The Vampire's Grave and Other Stories by Amy Cross

Author:Amy Cross [Cross, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction, Horror, Vampires, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal & Urban, Short Stories
Amazon: B00ECIITFY
Publisher: Dark Season Books
Published: 2013-08-04T04:00:00+00:00

Five

"Don't you want to go and play in the woods?"

Looking over at her mother, Eva realized this was the question she'd been dreading. It had been almost two weeks since she'd last been out beyond the garden gate, and she'd slowly learned to have fun in the house. Well, 'fun' was a strong word, but at least she was able to amuse herself, and she'd almost managed to make herself forget about the soldier who'd been living in the tree. In the back of her mind, she'd been aware that she perhaps needed to venture back out there some time and double-check that he was gone, but she'd been putting that day off for as long as possible until...

"Did something happen out there?" her mother continued, putting some more plates in the dish-washer. It was clear that she'd noticed the change in Eva's behavior, and she was obviously curious. After seeming a little vague and zombie-like in the weeks immediately after the funeral, her mother was starting to get back to her old self.

"What do you mean?" Eva asked, worried that her mother somehow knew about the soldier.

"It's just that you always used to go out there, but these days you seem so... Well, you just seemed to stop very suddenly. I just wanted to make sure there's no problem."

"There's no problem. I just felt like sitting inside and reading."

For the next few minutes, Eva sat in silence and continued to read her book. Eventually, however, her mother sat next to her and started watching silently. Eva tried to ignore her, but she knew there'd be more questions eventually.

"Are you worried about something, sweetheart?"

Eva shook her head.

"You know you can tell me, don't you?"

Eva nodded.

"If something's bothering you, I want you to talk to me about it, okay? This is a very difficult time for both of us. I just don't want you to be scared."

"Of what?" Eva asked.

Her mother took a deep breath. "I've been meaning to talk to you about this, sweetheart. What happened to your father happened in a very particular place, at a very particular time. He was in an extremely dangerous situation, but I don't want you to think that the whole world is like that." She paused, waiting for Eva to respond. "The point is, I don't want you to shutter yourself away in the house all the time. I know I can maybe be a little over-protective sometimes, but I think it's important that we both learn to face the world again. You know Daddy wouldn't like to think of you sitting around the house, scared to go outside, right? He'd want you to go out there and have fun. Don't you remember how he'd always tell me to stop fussing so much?"

Eva nodded.

"He used to laugh at me for being worried when you went into the woods," her mother continued, with tears in her eyes. "He used to say that I was too fussy, that I wanted to seal you up in a plastic bubble and never let you really touch the world.

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