Richard awoke and lay still, cautiously sifting through his dim recollections of the previous day. The loss of his mother was still razor sharp. Everything else was disjointed and distorted by a haze of migraine pain. He recalled the shock of a stranger looking out at him through Harriet’s eyes and realized that he had seen that strange look in […]
Joshua parked in front of Gina’s house and waited for his sister Rachel to come out. He had been relieved, when she decided to spend the night with her friend. There would never be enough time to come to grips with his mother’s death, but it was a relief to be able to grieve in peace and quiet the first […]
It had been an exhausting afternoon filled with hard truths and tough decisions. Dealing with Rachel’s drama had aggravated Joshua, but it also enabled him to put off dealing with his immense sense of loss. On the drive back to the nursing home, reality abruptly intruded on his thoughts. Joshua pulled into the nearest spot on a grocery store parking […]
Richard awoke in degrees and turned over, nearly falling out of bed. He was startled alert and then confused by the narrow mattress. His bed wasn’t this small. The room also smelled different. A warm hand closed over his, on top of the covers. Richard opened his eyes to Harriet’s concerned gaze. “Are you alright? We got scared when you […]
Both paramedics passed the sitting room with an empty stretcher, walking it out to the ambulance. The siblings saw this and looked to one another uncomprehendingly. Rachel smiled nervously. “Look at that, mama didn’t even need to go to the hospital. They must have gotten her stabilized. I guess it was just a false alarm.” Joshua and Richard brightened. That […]
Reverend Mother’s children were not allowed to see her, after she went into respiratory arrest. Huddled together in the hallway outside of her room, they caught only glimpses of the nursing home staff trying desperately to revive her, each time the door opened and one of them rushed in or out. Rachel attempted to intercept and question several of them. […]
Sundays were family days in the Blackshear household. It had been that way, since the siblings were small children. The day started bright and early with a light breakfast, then it was off to open the church and prepare it for the services. In Reverend Mother’s absence, her adult children continued the practice, each automatically attending to duties they had […]
The morning after the fire, Reverend Mother called home three times. Samentha avoided the calls. Now that the job was done, Reverend Mother was most likely attempting to get her to visit so she could use the spirit whistle to force Samentha back into the recesses of Harriet’s mind. No good deed went unpunished. The reward for Samentha’s hard work […]
Nicole out having drinks with friends, when the head of homeowner’s association in her subdivision phoned. She looked down at her screen and frowned, not understanding why he was calling in the middle of the night. Probably some nonsense about the height of her bushes or something. Nicole decided that whatever it was could wait. She ignored the call. Her phone […]
Samentha handed the drugs from the stash house off to Thomas with instructions for him to notify her the minute, he had them planted in Nicole’s basement. It took quite a bit of convincing, but he had reluctantly agreed to do it. Now, all Samentha could do was wait and pray that he didn’t lose his nerve or get caught. […]