Hey, guys! Are you ready for Day 4 of the All Hallows Eve Carnival? I know I am so without any more delay, here is Day 4!
Today's spooky carnival treat is a bone-chilling scary story from author, Emily White (Elemental, May 2012). She has also been really sweet and offered us another treat! She will be giving a lucky winner at the end of the carnival a Pre-Order of Elemental and another lucky winner a Signed Poster!
Hi, everyone! I'm Emily White, the soon-to-be-published author of Elemental (coming out in May through Spencer Hill Press). I feel so honored to be a part of this. I just have to mention that, yes, I do believe in ghosties and demons. In fact, there's been a lot of demonic activity in my life (this story--which is very true, by the way--just happens to be the most recent one).
Enjoy!
It was a clear, warm night. Not dark and stormy like it should have been. Not like a traditional Night of Terrorrrrr would be. But all the same, it was a Night of Terrorrrrr. And it all started in the afternoon, when the sun was still up.
My strapping husband and I prepared our sons for dinner at my parents' house. I wasn't my normal, excited self about it, though. Something was wrong. Something was off. My stomach felt heavy and my skin crawled. I was being watched. I could feel it. Even alone in the kitchen, getting my youngest son's bag ready with his sippy cup and bib, I knew I wasn't really alone.
My husband would not be joining us for dinner. He had to leave for work soon. Which meant on the night when I first felt the eyes watching me, I would be alone to protect the children.
After putting on his work boots and saying goodbye to Gabriel and Elijah, he turned to kiss me and I kissed him back, pretending nothing was wrong. And all the while, I felt the eyes watching, waiting.
The sun was still out, though. And when there's light shining through the windows, it's easy to pretend everything will be all right.
But it was dark when we came back from dinner, and as I walked up the broken, sinking steps of our covered porch with Elijah in my arms, the eyes I'd felt in the kitchen were on me again. And I hadn't remembered to turn any of the house lights on. My skin crawled with trepidation.
Just turn around and go back to Mom's and Dad's house, I thought to myself. We can sleep there tonight.
But I didn't turn around. I told myself to ignore my crawling skin and sinking stomach. I had to be crazy, that's all. No one was really watching me.
I went inside the dark house with my two boys and turned on every light. I put them both to bed. Elijah in his crib, Gabriel in his big boy bed. And then I went downstairs to watch tv and get my mind off the crazy notion that I was being watched.
It worked. While my mind was so occupied, my skin ceased to crawl and I forgot about the eyes I'd felt on my back. At 9:30, I turned off the tv and all the downstairs lights, grabbed a book, and went up to my room to read. The feeling started to come back in doses. I was still pretty sure I was crazy, though, so I snuggled into bed and read for another hour. When I decided I couldn't postpone the act of actually going to be any longer, I put my book down with a sigh and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
I cleaned my face, avoiding the mirror as much as possible. And before I could take my first step out of the bathroom into the hallway, a dark shadow passed over my eyes and my blood chilled to ice. It wasn't just my skin crawling anymore. Every molecule in my body tingled, knowing something dangerous was there. I couldn't move. I stood there for minutes, contemplating if I could make it through the hallway and if I should leave the bathroom light on.
I finally decided I needed to face this. I needed to stop showing fear. So I left the light on and stepped into the hallway. Something popped into my vision directly in front of me, and then flashed away. Whatever was watching me wanted me to know it was there. I froze again, every muscle in my body screaming at me to grab the kids and call my mom to pick me up.
No.
We would not be kicked out of our home. I walked slowly forward, my eyes wide open, and turned off the hallway and then my bedroom light before getting into bed. The moment those two lights were off, I realized my mistake. I should have turned the bathroom light off, too. Whatever was watching me would use the muted light against me. I knew this. My heart seized and pounded in my ears as I ran to my bed and curled into a ball with my blankets wrapped tight around me.
I couldn't sleep.
I knew the thing was behind me. I closed my eyes and prayed to be left alone. Something brushed my leg.
I whimpered and pulled my leg tighter against my body. Through the force of my own will (and after almost an hour of trying), I started to fall asleep. Something put weight on the bed, pushing it down. I jolted out of sleep, sweat pouring down my back and neck.
After another hour, I fell asleep again. This time I dreamed. I was lying on my bed in the dream--curled up and terrified--and an invisible force was pushing on my head, over and over again. I screamed and woke up with my head pounding.
Elijah started to cry.
Elijah never wakes up in the middle of the night. Something was wrong. I pushed my fears away and ran to him. I turned on the hallway light, opened his door, and froze. Elijah stood with his back toward me, facing the wall. It was like he was looking at something. Something I couldn't see.
I walked to him, laid him back down, and went back to my own bed (but not before turning off the bathroom light).
I fell asleep again, my skin crawling the whole time, the eyes watching me.
When I woke again, it was morning and the sun was out. The eyes were gone. I smiled as all the stress of the previous night washed away and made me feel light. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth.
And there on the bench beneath the mirror were the socks Elijah had worn to bed the night before.
Emily White
Emily White lives in NY, wedged between two of the Great Lakes and a few feet of snow and ice. She's spent most of her life running away from the cold, and even spent a year in Iraq, but now contents herself with writing her characters into warm, exotic places in faraway galaxies. When not tapping away at her computer keys, she can be found reading, reading, and reading some more. And when she's not doing that, she's usually playing video games with her husband, peek-a-boo with her kids, or walking through her garden, wondering why the bugs insist on eating all her vegetables. Emily's debut YA Sci-fi novel, ELEMENTAL, will be published by Spencer Hill Press in 2012.
Elemental
For ten years—ever since she was a small child—Ella has been held prisoner. Now that she has escaped, she needs answers.
Who is she? Why was she taken? And who is the boy with the beautiful green eyes who haunts her memories?
Is Ella the prophesied Destructor… or will she be the one who's destroyed?
Coming in May 2012.
B
