Excerpt: Through the Shadows

Beth woke late the next morning, knowing something wasn’t quite right but it took her a moment to place it. The cool morning breeze was a bit stronger than usual and the curtains snapped briskly back and forth. She blinked, rubbing at her eyes, and then realized her window was open. Not just open to the cold, but actually wide open. She got up to look out and saw the screen lying haphazardly on the ground outside.

Ruth chose that moment to tap lightly and open the bedroom door, intending to let her daughter know that she would be late for school if she didn’t get moving quickly.

“Oh good, you’re up.” She half turned to leave and suddenly gasped, staring at the wall over her daughter’s bed. Beth looked up to see what had frightened her mother.

I SEE YOU.

Giant letters, scrawled in red marker across her wall.

Eyes wide, Beth turned to look at her mother, “Mom, it-“

She was cut off by her mother’s scream. Startled, she fell back against the window, catching her elbow on the sill and crying out as pain shot up her arm.

“Your face.” Ruth pointed at her cheek, “Bethie, look at your face.”

Still rubbing her elbow, Beth walked carefully over to the mirror above her dresser. A sharp intake of breath was her only response as she stared at her reflection.

A clumsily drawn heart, the same shade of red as the markings on her wall, marred her left cheek.