Hallowed Ground

Excerpt One

"That afternoon, Sophia found herself on the lonely plot of land at the intersection of Lily Road and Route 9 locally referred to as the Millers’ property, despite the fact that no one by the name of Miller had lived there since the 1970s. It was in that decade that the son of the original owner, for reasons people continue to speculate about, abandoned the place overnight and tried unsuccessfully to sell it for years before finally leaving the place to ruin. And nature, knowing no other way, reclaimed the property, shrouding it with vines and weeds until the place was virtually hidden. The only recognizable landmark there was a towering oak tree that was easily 200 years old. Its branches, heavy and gnarled, gave it the appearance of a terrestrial Kraken turned to stone by a power beyond all reckoning, or some unnamed trauma. Sophia sat behind the wheel of her car, transfixed by the sight before her. Contrary to local folklore, there were no disembodied voices or strange noises to speak of. Instead, what was most unnerving about the place was the silence. It was heavy and full of tension – like the deep inhalation before a scream."

Excerpt Two

“Ben waited for a laugh or some nonverbal agreement, but again his inquiry was met with silence. He raised his head to tease her for being hard of hearing, but the person he saw at the other end of the table was not his granddaughter. Sophia’s narrow, bright blue eyes were impenetrable and wide like some chasm opened up in her soul and swallowed the light behind them. Her mouth grew so impossibly large it appeared to have become unhinged, and from it escaped a mournful wail that carried the pain of a thousand lifetimes. Ben sat paralyzed in his chair, blood violently forcing its way through his body, battering his fragile veins till he thought they would break through this skin. Yanked from her chair by an unseen force, Sophia was pinned against the wall behind her, nearly three feet off the ground.

‘Help me!!’ she pleaded through a quivering mouth, in a voice that did not belong to her. The bare skin on her arms revealed large handprints, new, and violently formed. ‘They’re gonna kill me!’

This isn’t happening, thought Ben, beads of sweat rolled down his face. Not again.”