Noah had been in the woods for an hour or so by now. Or at least that was what he thought. His phone was dead from the cold, so for all he knew it had been twenty agonizing minutes. His fingers stung as he pushed branches aside and his voice was hoarse from yelling. Occasionally […]

Olivia drove slowly through the dark streets, looking for any sign of Cleo’s mom. She hadn’t seen the woman in a long time, but she’d looked the same since they were seven. Long silver hair, nice dresses. Very quiet and shy, even with Cleo. Her own mom had Mia right now. As soon as Olivia […]

Cleo stood by the front door of her mom’s house and waited for whoever the cops were sending. Her mom was out there. Alone, cold, probably confused. She’s had an hour’s head start on Cleo. Even on foot, that was plenty of time to get lost in the woods. Maybe lose her footing and fall […]

“I’ll be there in an hour,” Cleo said, looking under her bed for her sneakers. “You don’t need to,” her mother argued. “It’s fine, I don’t need any help.” “I know,” Cleo lied. “You already told me that. But I’m stopping by with some groceries and lunch, remember?” “I can get my own groceries.” “Mom.” […]

Olivia’s mother was sitting on the couch, reading a book as Olivia and Andrew walked in. She glanced over as the door opened. “Sorry I’m late,” Olivia said. “It’s fine,” her mother replied. “Is everything okay?” “Yeah,” she said. “It’s fine, I just had a…I had something happen on my way out. It’s fine though.” […]

Noah had woken up at his front door this time. After a moment of disorientation and terror, he’d shaken off the dream enough to realize he had been sleepwalking again. He just happened to be lying in a heap by the door in his kitchen and Gray Lady curled up on top of him, purring. […]

The Blossom Step had been playing a show out in the Berkshires, but Cleo ended up staying at home after they left. She’d been to the last couple, so it wasn’t like Edie felt hurt that she didn’t go, not that she figured Edie would take anything like that personally to begin with. But the […]

The next day passed in a crawling daze as Roman tried to piece together what had just happened and what he needed to do. He hadn’t gotten Minnie out before she died and he had to live with that. And Jamie was going to college in a few years. If he didn’t break the curse, […]

“Yeah, I’ll be home in a little bit, I just have a few things to finish up here. Alright, love you.” Roman hung up and locked the doors at the House of Pizza. He wasn’t sure Celine believed him when he said he was staying after at work, but he also didn’t want to deal […]

It was freezing outside as Noah got to Keegan’s the next afternoon. The wind made his hands raw, and he realized maybe Olivia had a point when she stored hand lotion in her glove compartment. Not that Noah had bothered bringing his truck to work today. He’d left the house thinking, how cold could it […]