A Catalog's Perfect Match by Bell Thompson

Author:Bell Thompson
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2019-09-07T04:00:00+00:00

7

Adeline

My heart is pounding so hard, it feels like it might just beat its way straight out of my chest. I open my eyes and all I see is darkness. It’s late and the house is still. Everything around me is quiet and shrouded in gloom. Something pulled me from sleep, but I don’t know what it was that did.

I lay there for a minute, my pulse racing and my breathing shallow but ragged. I take several long, deep breaths to calm myself before carefully and quietly sitting up. As I do, I strain my ears to listen, but I don’t hear anything at first. I start to think that maybe it was just a dream that disturbed me. Or maybe I heard Jackson or one of his men moving around downstairs.

Doing my best to shake off the tendrils of fear that cling to me, I am about to lay back down to try and go back to sleep when I hear a noise. But the noise is not coming from inside the house. Whatever it was, came from the yard outside.

Given how late it is, I am surprised to hear anybody out there. It is far too late to be working with the horses or doing any work on the house. I slip out of bed quietly and pad to the window. It is mildly overcast and there is not a lot of moonlight filtering through the clouds, making it difficult to see what is happening.

At first I don’t see anything but the darkness outside. But then, I see movement over near the barn. I have to squint and really strain to see them at first, but then they step into one of the few shafts of moonlight spearing down from above. I do not know who they are but they are definitely not Jackson’s men.

I watch them for a moment, trying to figure out what it is they are doing out there. And it is not until I see the spark of them trying to light a torch that it dawns on me. I feel my eyes widen as my mouth grows dry. They are trying to burn the barn down.

Moving quickly, I act without thinking, grabbing the boots I wore on my hike through the forest and quickly put them on. Still wearing my nightdress, I rush from my room and down the hall where I bang loudly on Jackson’s door. There is not enough time to wait for him to get up so turn and rush back down the hallway, pounding down the stairs, and across the great room.

Jackson keeps a shotgun next to the door so I grab it and throw the door open, rushing out into the cool night air. I bound down the steps and hurry across the yard, bringing the shotgun up as I go.

“Get on out of there,” I shout.

The two men are startled and drop the torch before they can get it lit. They stand there staring at me and time seems like it slows to a crawl.

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