The Legend of Woman Hollering Creek by L.R. Patton & L.R. Patton

Author:L.R. Patton & L.R. Patton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Batlee Press
Published: 2022-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

In Which Julian Learns the Name of the Hollering Woman

TWO taps, a pause, and another tap sounded on Julian’s door. It was already dark and almost time for Julian to go to bed so he wouldn’t be the last one up, alone with the hollering woman. He’d started a diffuser that pumped lavender essential oil into his room, turned off every light except for the nightlight, and already climbed under his covers, hoping he’d fall asleep quickly and easily—and stay asleep.

He didn’t want to be awake for what was coming tonight.

Bella poked her head inside his room. “Can I come in?” she said.

“I guess,” Julian said. Actually, he was happy for the company, but it was never smart to let a little sister know that. Then she’d never leave him alone—even when he wanted her to. Not that he enjoyed being all by himself. He could barely even remember when he’d had a room to himself, Papaw had lived with them for so long. Over the years Julian had realized he preferred to share space with someone else; he hadn’t even minded Papaw’s snores. They were comforting most nights, reminding him that he was never alone in the dark.

The breathing at the end, though...

Julian tried to shove that memory from his mind. “What do you want?” he said to Bella. His voice sounded a little strained. He hoped Bella wouldn’t know it was sadness that twisted it up like that, instead of annoyance.

Bella sat down at the end of Julian’s bed. He propped himself on an elbow. Bella had a book in her hands. Julian wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know what she’d read, but he also knew that Bella would share, regardless of what he wanted.

“Mary Wells,” Bella said. “That was her name.”

“The hollering woman?”

Bella nodded.

Did it help, knowing she had a name? Or did that just make it worse?

Already Julian’s heart picked up speed.

Bella lifted her big blue eyes to his. “I think there might be a way to...” She twisted her lips, like she was trying to think of a way to say it. “Put the hollering woman to rest.”

Julian couldn’t help the doubt that stained his words. “After centuries of haunting?”

Bella shrugged. “Maybe no one’s ever put together the clues.”

“So you’re the first one.” The doubt sounded even louder.

“Maybe,” Bella said. “Maybe I’m just the first one who cared.”

Julian thought about that. If ghosts were real, how many people lived with a ghost in their house? How many of them couldn’t see the ghosts, just explained moved things or those icy blasts of air or the eerie sounds in the night as regular-world things? (He didn’t know for sure that ghosts came with icy blasts of air; when Papaw had visited him, Julian had only felt the kind of warmth that spreads from the feet all the way up to the neck. Maybe hostile ghosts were icy and others were warm, like the living people had been.)

He swallowed hard. Why did his thoughts seem to

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