Short Story Written by Using
113 Paranormal Prompts Written by M. M. Harrington
Chapter 1
An alarm yells at me as I roll over to get more sleep, my eyes refusing to open. I groan and slip my arm from under the covers, hitting the clock to turn it off. I shove the covers off and sit up, groggily looking around my bedroom. Eyes from my fairy and mermaid posters stare down at me as I climb out of bed and stretch my arms up over my head. As soon as I am more awake, I look at my phone to see that not only is it the weekend, but it is also my 16th birthday.
I let out a quiet whoop since my parents are still asleep and grab my exercise clothes for my morning jog. I quickly change and head out into the misty Tennessee morning, breathing in the fresh mountain air. I put my long auburn hair into a ponytail, put in my earbuds, turn on my upbeat country music, and run down the driveway heading for the back of the house. I stop at the beginning of the trails that sit on our land, deciding which one I felt like jogging today; an easy one, a medium one, or a hard one.
Turning up the music, I take off down the trail that leads to my left, feeling the need for a bit of a challenge today, jumping over rocks and fallen tree limbs along the way. From somewhere behind me, the wind picks up, and the sky darkens, but I am too preoccupied to notice, enjoying the jog already as I push myself to leap over another rock. The trees at the edge of our land bend in the wind, nearly being ripped out of the ground by the sheer force. I run around a corner on the trail just as the wind calms down and two people appear in the empty field beside our house.
They look around for a moment, admiring the view before they walk towards the front wrap-around porch. They stand in front of the door for a few moments, staring at it confused for a split second before one of the people figures out to hit the round doorbell that sits against the wall beside the door.
A sweet chime echoes through the house, and the two people still sleeping in the Cal-King bed upstairs moan against the sound, trying to pull them out of sleep. Again, the chime invades their sleep, and the couple opens their eyes, staring at one another.
“Why does Charlie have to ring the bell before her runs sometimes?” the woman groans as she pushes the covers off of her. She gets out of bed, slipping on a robe and house shoes that sit at the end of their bed, and heads for the stairs.
Her husband mumbles something, then rolls over to fall back to sleep. His wife laughs and heads down just as the doorbell rings two more times, one right after the other.
“Coming! Hold on, Charlie,” my mom calls out towards the door. “You better need something very important to be waking us up so early, young lady.”
She pulls the door open expecting her bright blue-eyed daughter to be standing in front of her but there are two strangely clothed adults, one male with straw colored short hair and the unmistaken same almost turquoise blue eyes I have and a woman with ruby red long hair that sits in a braid on her back and crimson green eyes.
My mom crinkles her forehead as she eyes the two standing on our front porch, “Good morning. Umm… may I help you with something? Are you two lost and need directions? I would be happy to help.”
The two don’t talk at first, just stare at my mom for a few moments. Finally, the woman peers behind my mom, looking around as much as she can see from the front door. “You have such a beautiful home, Priscilla,” she says to my mom.
My mom stares at the stranger a bit in shock that she knew her name, and closes the door a bit to shut out her home from the woman, “How do you know my name?” Priscilla asks, stepping back into the house. She glances around for a weapon but sees nothing in reach that she can use against the strangers.
“Don’t worry, Priscilla, we won’t hurt you,” the man tells her, his voice bringing my mom’s attention back to them.
She narrows her eyes when a memory flutters in the back of her mind, one she hasn’t thought of for years, “Jack?”
The man smirks, “Hello, love.”
She then looks over at the woman, her hand raising to her face, “Darlene?”
“It is so good to see you after these years. It has been what? Sixteen years?”