Seconds Before Sunrise (The Timely Death Trilogy)
Read Seconds Before Sunrise (The Timely Death Trilogy) Online
Authors: Shannon A. Thompson
SECONDS BEFORE SUNRISE
Book
2
The Timely Death Trilogy
SHANNON A. THOMPSON
This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-10: 1940820049
ISBN-13: 978-1-940820-04-0
Copyright 2014 Shannon A. Thompson
Published
by AEC Stellar Publishing, Inc.
Cover art by Viola Estrella, www.EstrellaCoverArt.com
Dedication
To Calone – for showing how the darkness can be brighter than the light.
Acknowledgements
After a series of terrifying dreams, I found comfort in a notebook. I picked up a black, G-2 pen, and The Timely Death Trilogy was born. It would be seven years before the first novel was ever printed, but those seven years led me the dedicated team that turned my nightmares into a story to be shared. For that reason, I want to thank Raymond Vogel, Heather Hebert, and Ky Grabowski at AEC Stellar Publishing, Inc. for believing in my visions – past and future. I also want to thank Viola Estrella, my cover artist, for morphing an idea into a lovely design.
Beyond my team is a cast of characters I could have never created on my own. I am grateful for my family, and I want to thank them for accepting me, even during the most peculiar moments that come with any artist. I also want to express my gratitude to my helpful friends, my loyal cat, and my laptop for enduring a writer’s dedication.
An artist’s life has many ups and downs, so thank you to all of the writers, readers, and dreamers for their timeless encouragement and inspiration on ShannonAThompson.com. With all of your love, the future will be filled with art.
Table of Contents
It was a humid night in August, and the river trickled past us as if most of the water had disintegrated during the previous months. It skimmed over the rocks, and I hesitated to add to the collection by tossing pebbles across the already waning surface. The darkness was enough.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Crystal
leaned against my arm, and I nodded because it was.
The park was secluded, hanging onto the edge of Hayworth, but it seemed to stretch for miles, past Hayworth, past Kansas, and past wher
ever my thoughts could take me.
“I knew you’d like it, Jess,” Robb said, plopping down next to
me. “Too bad we can’t come here all of the time.”
I wanted to ask why, but I already knew the answer.
Trespassing signs littered the sidewalks surrounding it. I understood the legal ramifications, but it seemed pointless to contain such a consoling place to a single family—the Welborns.
“I’m surprised more kids d
on’t break in,” I admitted.
“I’m not,” Crystal
said, pointing her thumb over her shoulder. The forest was a cluster of shadows behind her. “That’s where she did it.”
“Where who did what?”
Crystal’s bottom lip fell open, but she didn’t speak. Robb straightened up, cleared his throat, and explained instead. “Welborn’s mom,” he said. “She killed herself in there.”
My eyes shot over Crystal’s bleached hair and focused on the looming trees. They were dark, but they weren’t eerie. They swayed just like any trees would
do, but I felt as if I’d seen them before.
Goose bumps cascaded over my body, and I jumped to my feet, r
ubbing my arms. I stepped away from my friends, but I didn’t move forward. I should’ve wanted to run away, but I didn’t. I wanted to go toward it.
“Creepy,
isn’t it?” Robb’s voice crawled over the back of my neck as I turned to him. When I met his eyes, he ran a hand through his hair. “We used to dare one another to spend the night in there,” he continued. “I did it once. It about killed me.”
Crystal sprung up and smacked his arm, waltzing past us. “You big baby,” she said, smirking as she caught my eye. “Zac and him didn’t even stay in there for an entire night. They ran out crying.”
“We were seven,” Robb argued.
Crystal giggled. “And afraid of the dark.”
He folded his arms across his plaid shirt. “I’m not afraid of the dark,” he grumbled as if he were stuck in his childhood. His eye contact was absent, and his confident demeanor had shattered.
Crystal ignored him as she stretched her palm out. “Give me the keys,” she ordered, and Robb,
without question, gave up his Suburban’s keys. It was dark, and we had school in the morning. Summer vacation was over, and our parents would want us home.
“I’ll pull it up to the sidewalk,” Crystal said, walking along the river. “You guys better be ready in ten minut
es,” she shouted, knowing the car was yards away. She disappeared around the corner before Robb spoke again.
“Here’s to the summer.
” He chucked a rock at the river. It splashed, ripples waving against the riverbank, and I cringed. The water moved tiny twigs and shifted the dirt, covering patches of grass with brown dew. The ripples were more like tidal waves against the shore, violent and fast.
“Jess?” Robb’s thick
, brown hair looked black in the night’s shadows. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I breathed, hesitating to pull my eyes away from
him to stare at the river. My gut was contorting with nerves. I glanced to the forest, to the river, and back to the forest again. Everything looked familiar.
“We should probably start walking,” Robb said, heading toward the sidewalk, but I held him back.
“Are there any other rumors about the forest?” I asked. “Other than the suicide, I mean.”
Robb
didn’t move. “What’s bothering you, Jess?”
I held my hands in front of me and dug my nails into my palms. “I’ve bee
n here before,” I admitted.
H
e chuckled. “Come on, Jess.”
“I’m serious, Robb.
” I waved my hands around. “It’s too familiar.”
His laughter was replaced with a grimace. “Are you sure it wasn’t a different park, somewhere you
used to live?” he suggested.
I hugged myself. He could be right. It’d only been eight months since I moved to Hayworth, and it was impossible that I’d walked into the park by myself. Crystal, Robb, and I went everywhere together.
“You’re probably right,” I sighed, and he started walking again. I followed him past the river and ignored my nostalgic feelings until we reached the river’s guardrail.
I froze, gripping the cooling metal, and my blood turned into
chilled water within my veins. I stared at my shivering hands and slowly brought my eyes up to the forest. The entrance was right in front of me, opening up to darkened brush and thickened ground. I only saw shadows, but I believed I could see more. A figure lingered in my memory, a vanishing outline in the darkness, even though no one was there. I fought the urge to shout at the trees.
Robb touched my shoulder, and I jumped. He stepped back, his eyes widened, and Crystal honked from the street.
“Jess?”
“I’m fine,
” I repeated, brushing him off as I rushed past him. I didn’t want him to see my face. I felt like I was crumbling, and I didn’t want my friends, or anyone, to know it. My confusion was mine, even if it was bordering on insanity.
“Run.”
The
sudden voice was barely audible. My heart was racing as fast as my legs were. I leapt over torn up brush and twisted past trees at speeds I couldn’t comprehend. The darkness blended together.
The ground was rigid beneath m
y feet, and I stumbled as I looked over my shoulder. They were after us. I could feel them, their heat and their strength. The suffocating air was filled with electricity, and it burned against my exposed flesh. As suddenly as it had touched me, it was around my neck.
Her black eyes were
boundless, and I lost myself in them before she tossed my body. I flew over her shoulder, easily and helplessly, and collided with wet leaves. My limbs flayed, and I clawed at the ground, attempting to stop my momentum − but it was too late.
My head cracked against a rock, and the sound sh
uddered through my body. Light consumed my vision before it was replaced with blackness, and then I was awake again.