"BURN OF DEATH" by Sarah Ryniker

STORY LAST UPDATED ON 20/06/2002

Burn of Death Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Epilogue

CHAPTER EIGHT

I had assumed being pregnant had been the dread I had felt coming to the household. But I was definitely wrong. Celeste was not finished trying to make Mama's life a living nightmare. And if that made making Mama's family miserable, so be it. It didn't matter.
    A spring storm raged outside of my bedroom window. Hunter had built us our own home on the estate that had once belonged to my family. How odd that I had ended up here once again. I was happy, though. In spite of how morbid everyone thought it was, my window looked out onto the graveyard. It didn't bother Hunter any and it made me extremely happy. I still felt the safest there, which, I suppose, made me crazy.
    It was late at night; Hunter was sound asleep in our bed, but I was restless. It was April and I was six months along in pregnancy. That wasn't the reason for my restlessness, however, and I knew it. I wanted to convince myself it was, but I couldn't.
    I sat at my desk, watching the graveyard. What I expected to see there was beyond me, but I watched anyway. Maybe I was trying to gather strength from it. Maybe I knew death was upon me. Whatever it was, it was there, sitting below me, urging me to wait and watch.
    Which was exactly what I did. The rain poured down around the cemetery, and lightning lit it up every few minutes. It was an incredibly spooky sight, but I was unable to tear my eyes away from it. Something was going to happen. I could feel it in my very bones.
    I had been wrong to trust, and soon I would find that out. I could trust the man sleeping next to me in bed. But it was somebody in my family that I could not trust. And that was the worst kind of person to be betrayed by, I would soon find out.
    As lightning crashed and rumbled, it illuminated, once again, the cemetery below. At first, I would swear I saw a ghost. Somebody was in the cemetery, walking, seeming to be waiting for somebody behind them. I waited for the sky to light up again, only to my horror to see the first figure holding a knife up and jabbing it down onto a second figure down below.
    I rushed over to the bed. "Hunter! I think somebody was just murdered in the cemetery!" I cried, shaking him awake.
    He sat up, wide awake, and looked around. "What?" He went to the window and looked below just as the sky was lit again. A figure lay on the ground unmoving, the other figure gone.
    We heard the door below us shoved open and then slammed shut. Whoever had just killed that person in the cemetery had ideas to come up here. I looked at Hunter, fear showing in my eyes. While Hunter went to get a gun that he kept by the bed, I called the police. I was about to explain what I saw when a knife was held to my throat.
    "Tell them with relief about what you saw being a prank," a familiar voice whispered into my ear. "Then put the phone down slowly. I don't want them to hear you dying."
    I did as she said and placed the phone down. "Go away. Please, don't do this, Julie," I begged. I realised that she must have done something to Hunter, and I wanted to look so badly over to the side to see if he was all right. But I was unable to move with the knife pressed against my flesh.
    "Don't beg me, you pathetic fool," she said, not whispering now. "You think I honestly care if you live or die? You took my pity me story and, just as Karen assured me, I got to stay. And now look at the person in the cemetery below." She laughed. "Poor Kit didn't know what to think."
    No, not Kit! my mind begged. "Why did you hurt Kit?" I asked, tears blinding me.
    "Hurt her? No, sweetie, I killed her. I apologised to her, you know. I did feel bad. She was such an innocent girl." Her voice was evil as it flowed into my ears.
    No, my mind begged some more, please, let Kit be okay! But I knew it was false hope. Her figure below was so still, so infinitely still. Never again would I see her beautiful smile shine. I suddenly felt myself gasping for breath.
    I was sure Julie didn't see the figure below moving in the cemetery. Whoever it was stopped to look down at Kit. Then they looked up at the window. When the lightning stopped, however, the figure seemed to have disappeared. I was mentally begging that person to come up here, to find me, to help me.
    The door burst open with such a force I almost jumped, which would have led to my death, for sure. But I stayed still as Julie was ripped away from me. I was stunned to see my father, my blood father, holding her down on the ground. I heard the sirens with relief; glad they had not believed me. It had seemed to take them eternity before arriving here, but they had come. Thank God!
    After they took Julie away and loaded Hunter into the ambulance, I looked over the man that had just saved my life. He was my father. He really did care. But how had he known?
    He knew what I was thinking and went into immediate explanation. "Celeste had a problem with asking me how Ella, my mother, killed your grandmother and attempted to kill your mother. She also had a problem keeping her bragging at bay. I'm glad I got here in time."
    "Thank you so much. I'll never know how to repay you," I said, and threw my arms about him.
    "Don't thank me, Gabriella. Your sister is dead because I didn't reach here in time to save her." The realisation that Kit was dead hit me like a ton of bricks.
    I sat down on the bed, feeling the misery drape over me. Kit was gone forever. Kit would never walk or act or sing again. She would join her father, my father in the cold, hard ground. And all because we had trusted.

Burn of Death Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Epilogue

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