What's going on in the fog of October?
copyright 2007
Available from By Grace September 28th
After Dark spooky anthology
In the dark, a light appeared at the top of the old lighthouse.
It hung in midair, like a lantern being held aloft by a steady
hand. There it remained for a good five minutes before it
disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.
Across the campground, a trio of lights bobbed along through the
trees. Aimless in their wandering, they moved with a certain stealth
that belied their random route. After a minute, these lights also
disappeared.
Tabitha Ann Nelson rubbed her eyes, overjoyed to be awake in the
middle of the night in a haunted campground, yet more than just a
tad unnerved by the odd lights. She drew the blanket that covered
her sleeping bag up under her chin, holding on to the edge of the
fuzzy cover like a scared child.
She didn't want to be camping out in October to begin with, much
less in a campground that was infamous for being haunted. Not that
she believed in the hauntings. People did tend to get fanciful about
local folklore, after all, and it was par for the course. Camping in
October, well, that was an entirely different matter. Tabitha blamed
her older sister Veronica for this entire shambles of a Nelson
family weekend.
*It will be fun, Tabbie! You have to admit, the Nelson family does
need to renew their familial bonds.*
Oh, yeah. Tremendous fun. What a joy, sleeping on a cot under the
stars because sister Gloria didn't want to sleep in the same tent
with Tabitha. And if she had to, she was going home. Insert pout,
worthy of the youngest sister of the three.
Tabitha growled with remembered irritation at the yelling match that
had ensued after Gloria's display of temper. How all the yelling had
been directed not at Gloria, because she wasn't making a good faith
attempt to get along, but at Tabitha herself, because she didn't
offer to sleep outside the tent on a cot fast enough. Go figure.
Same old, same old.
The wind rustled through the leaves on the trees. A shiver raced up
Tabitha's spine and she couldn't help but glance around to see if
any Civil War soldier ghosts were sneaking up on her. Wide awake,
she couldn't take her eyes off the lighthouse that loomed against
the night sky. The very top of the structure stood dark against the
full moon. She could hear the water quite well now in the late night
calm. At the very tip of the peninsula, the waters of the Potomac
River and Chesapeake Bay met and clashed.
An owl hooted in the distance. The crickets kept up their relentless
song. Several bats flapped overhead, diving after insects Tabitha
couldn't see.
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