The Ghost and Mr. Moore by Wendy Dalrymple

Author:Wendy Dalrymple
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wendy Dalrymple
Published: 2022-07-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Carolina watched from the third floor that morning as Joseph and River left for St. Augustine. A sensation that she hadn’t experienced in a very long time spread throughout her like a warm beam of light. Anticipation? Excitement? The idea that her work may finally see the light of day made her feel even more weightless than usual. Emboldened even. Carolina decided to go outside.

This has gone on long enough, she huffed, as she made her way down the stairs. I’ll not be intimidated in my own home. The orchards and the forest are mine as well. If I wish to leave Jacaranda Manor then I will!

Carolina passed silently through the front door and out into the warm autumn daylight. For the first time in nearly a century, she moved away from the front porch with her head held high, and down the gravel drive lined with jacaranda trees. It was positively beautiful outside, and despite the late season, blue jays were screeching, squirrels were chattering, and the wind rustled through the leaves. It was a perfect autumn day where nothing bad could happen. And then, she saw it.

The dark fog.

A heavy charcoal mist galloped toward her down the drive, like dark, hungry riders. Carolina didn’t know what the mist was made of, where it came from or where it led to. All she knew was that the very sight of it filled her with dread. She didn’t want to see what would happen if the mist enveloped her. If she breathed it in. Would she be lost forever in the black fog surrounding Jacaranda Manor, never to return home? Was it a cloud sent from some demon, meant to drag her to the underworld? Or was it merely a means to intimidate her and keep her prisoner in her own home? Carolina didn’t know. And despite her previously confident and determined attitude, with one look at the fog, she turned heel and raced back down the drive, up onto the porch and through the threshold. Carolina returned to her room, where she stayed hidden in the shadows in fear, shaking and silent for a long, long time.

***

“Carolina! Carolina!”

Bong, bong, bong.

Carolina raised her head and opened her eyes. Early morning rays of light streamed through the attic windows as particles of dust floated luxuriously through the air.

The chimes. River.

Carolina rose from her hiding place and exited the attic, eager to speak to the boy. Some time had passed since she had come face-to-face with the fog, that much she was certain of. However, the amount of time that had passed became apparent as she descended the stairs onto the first floor of the home.

As she entered the front sitting room, Carolina covered her mouth in astonished surprise. There, standing proudly at the fireplace mantle with a grin on his face was River, with Boomer wagging his tail and whining at his feet. Joseph was there as well, looking handsome in a pair of slacks and a sweater, his hair freshly trimmed.

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