"TWISTED"

 

B.O.L.O.

(BE ON THE LOOK OUT)

 

COMING SOON TO BOOKSHELVES

and COMPUTER SCREENS NEAR YOU

 

 

 

"TWISTED"
Creepy Tales from a Mothers Mind

Written by: Stacey Bolin

 

A mysterious book of original short story thrillers sure to keep you covered in goosebumps from head to toe and fearing those things that go bump in the night -
with every turn of the page.

 

WILL YOU READ IT? I DARE YOU.

"NIGHT WHISPERS" Chapter One

Disclaimer: This is a fictional story. It is not endorsed or affiliated in any way with any institution, facility, or family. The story is based on places, people, and facts,

but is written entirely from my imagination.

Any use of this story in part or in whole must be approved by sending a written request to the author.

 

Chapter One

 

 

FIVE DAYS EARLIER - Jillian lay silently between the softness of the bed sheets on their queen size sleep number bed, as Nick sat in an upright position, with his legs crossed, waiting for the eleven o'clock news to share their predictions for the upcoming five day forecast. Being in the world of home construction, Nick's business and income weighted heavily on what the weather was doing. Jillian always knew that most of the time the weather for their home town of Eagle Ridge, in the summer, would be hot and humid with a chance of a grumpy husband at the end the day. Not something to look forward too. She hated the mind games that with-out-fail, would accompany his grumpy attitude.

 

She tried her best to pacify herself, not to disturb Nick, by sliding and alternating each leg back and forth letting the cool softness of the sheets caress her skin to calm her senses and take her somewhere peaceful - she was trying to over compensate for the rash and ramped thoughts that were pressing, twisting and spinning in the back of her mind about the events of her day. She felt plagued with guilt. She wished she could take it all back; start the whole day over again. The more she thought about what she had done, the more she realized that she had to be the one to tell her family especially before it appeared in their local Capital newspaper.  She had ample opportunity at the dinner table that evening to open up and be honest, but she feared what she would reveal could break her family’s heart, yet even more so it was the harsh reality that it would be more than heartbreaking and only one word would describe it - devastating. What made the whole situation worse - this would be the first time in her life that she didn't know what to say or how to explain her actions. The only thing she was sure of, there was nothing she could do to change things.

 

“I know at some point I will have to confess and tell them what I’ve done.” She thought silently to herself,  "Maybe If I talk to Nick first he'd understand and would support me when I tell the kids,"  Nick and Jillian had always had an agreement and an understanding that began when they exchange their personally written vows, twenty-seven years ago in front of family and friends. They had both promised to love and cherish one another and included all the typical lines of a traditional wedding, however they also added, for all to witness, that they would always discuss their problems, positive or negative, with each other and never make any big decisions on their own - especially if it would have a serious impact on the family and their finances. Her eyes began to well up, thinking back on their wedding day. She knew it was only a matter of time before he would begin to suspect that something was up as it was odd for a women who normally gave the impression that a strong dose of Ritalin should be on her list of medications, even before bed time, now has found an impressive ability to remain speechless for more than five minute - this was a major red flag that clearly indicated - trouble loomed.

 

Their bedroom was illuminated with only the blue haze given off from the television and the occasional street light piercing the room as the sheer curtains that draped over their windows, danced and rolled by the cool breeze that filtered through the opened window. Outside in the far distant part of town you could hear the sounds of the midnight express freight train whistle announcing its arrival and making its way through the town – Jillian did her best to hear it, but the volume on the television was louder than normal for this Monday evening.

She took several deep breaths and finally mustered up the nerve to confess to Nick what she had done.

“Nick?

“Yeah?” He muttered, more focused on what was on the television.

“Nick…Can we talk? I really need to tell you something.” She waited impatiently for an answer.

“Yeah, ah, can’t it wait for just a second?” his eyes still fixated on the news reporter talking about the a new rain water tax that was being considered in several states on the east coast.  

“NICK!”

He immediately turned around and sharply responded, “Why do you always wait until I’m watching the news or the weather to do all you’re talking? Why can’t you pick a conversation during a tampon commercial or some shit like that? You timing sucks!”

“Never mind,”

“Oh what now you’re going to be mad at me…I’m just kidding. You need to stop taking me so seriously,” he laughed as he wore a slight sneer of agitation.

The tone in his voice made her feel instantly hurt and unwanted. She tried to tell herself that he was moody from a hot day at work, but suddenly a dialog began forming in her thoughts. She wanted to respond with something to make him feel the same hurt, something like telling him she was tired of feeling like being a person that was only there when he wanted her. That he was always working and when he wasn’t he’d eat, take a shower and then sit and watch endless reruns of the same 80’s sitcoms, night after night that made it feel as if she was being pushed aside and not very high on his list of life priorities. She realized that she didn’t always pick the best times to have some long drawn out conversation, but with so little time spent together, she had learned that to get a moment, you have to grab the opportunity when you see it.

She did her best to respond, but her emotions and the growing aching lump in her throat rendered her speechless, as Nick continued to stay focused on the weather girl doing her best to give the details of a pending weekend storm while trying to look her best in a much to tight clinging red dress while eight months pregnant. Jillian shook her head and decided that best thing she could do was to roll over, snuggle up to her pillows and called it a night.

Fifteen minutes had passed when Nick realized that Jillian had not even bothered to say good-night. Nick rustled around trying to find the remote for the television so that he could turn it off, but could fight it nowhere.

“Maybe it fell off the bed on the other side,” he muttered, “Jilly Bean?” he gently touched her shoulder, “Jilly? Hon, do you have the remote?”

His touch had woken her from a twilight sleep, but she instead she mumbled and stirred briefly playing her best possum. “You find it yourself” she thought.

“Dang it!” he sputtered as he got up and walked around the edge of the bed using his feet like cat whiskers to find the remote, so that he didn’t have to get on his hands and knees. Just before he was about to give up and turn on the overhead light, there it was just as he expected, it was on Jillian’s side of the bed and had slid just under the hunter green dust ruffle.

He turned the television off and then climbed back into bed, unaware that his wife was still awake and coping with the way he had made her feel. He jerked the covers up over his chest hoping in some way he would wake Jillian as a way to be spiteful because she interrupted his news and weather and also because she didn’t’ wait for him to fall asleep with her.

She maintained her perfect possum position as tears slowly rolled down her face and pooled onto her pillow. As the hours slowly ticked by, she eventually fell asleep.

IT'S JUST A DAY AWAY....

Well good morning everybody! So nice to be on here again. Let me first say - WOW!

 

I just can't get over how many people enjoyed the story...and that was just the prologue. Your emails has me thinking that you are all ready to get to reading. I hear you - Oh, and No, I can't tell you the ending yet. *wink* but thanks for asking. However, do to the size of the story, it was suggested that I post this more than just once a week.

 

You got it. Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays are the scheduled days the story will post. So with that said, join me tomorrow as "Night Whispers" gets underway and takes you into one crazy summer mystery thriller - Happy reading and again, many thanks for your continued support, means so much to me.

"Bellows in the Mist" Sneak peak - Due out 2012

Play music link below for full effect. ENJOY!
Please note that the title: Bellows in the Mist" has had a title change to "Deemed Crazy" due out 2012.
"Bellows in the Mist" By Stacey L. Bolin
 Copyright August 2011 All rights reserved

                                              PROLOGUE

“What is wrong with me” she thought. With each cautious step she took around the room, she kept hearing his voice in her mind.  She knew what he told her and she heard him loud and clear – She was never to go there alone, it wasn’t safe.  Her breathing became labored as she tried to anticipate what was lurking within the mist that was slowly entombing the cabin.  Something or someone was out there walking around, and her instinct was screaming for her to get out of there - fast!  Suddenly there was a loud crack, like the sound of a limb breaking from the old oak tree near the front porch that sent a cold, bitter chill of uneasiness through her body. Fear had certainly gotten its grips on her and it had no intentions of letting her go. 

“How can a person with such a passion for horror movies and haunted houses, be such a scaredy-cat?” She muttered to herself.  “Hiding in this place won’t be easy with such an extremely open concept, and hiding in one of the three bedrooms, I’ll be found for sure.” The sound of her breathing, and the endless tick, tick, tick, of the clock was all that filled the air.  Feeling crazed and wanting to protect herself, she grabbed a fire poker from the utensil display on the hearth. Whatever and whoever it was, was going to get a big surprise.

“Maybe it was Jon, maybe he had followed her up here, or someone told him she was going to Bellow Falls.” She wanted so much to think it was Jon and this would be the one and only time she’d be looking forward to an argument.  Heavy footsteps slowly made their way to the front door. She stood there, paralyzed with the horror of what was on the other side of the door. The knob was tried, but she had been smart enough to lock it.

“They can’t get in without a key.” She thought with a small sense of relief, until she heard the sound of metal rattling in the key hole and then a click - the door was unlocked. “Please go away, please, God, make them go away.” She whispered and whimpered.

She’d seen horror movies when zombies and murderers had been bludgeoned to death by a fire poker, so why can’t she do the same, especially if her life was in danger. “I’ve got to hide.”

Trying to make her body smaller and undetectable as possible, she crouched into a fetal position on her legs as close to the floor as she could, but stayed in the dark shadow down by the edge of the couch, while constantly keeping a firm grip on her make shift weapon. The door slowly opened letting the rays of pale light from the full moon filter in through the mist silhouetting the image that stood in the doorway.

“Hello? Is anyone in here?  I saw a light on earlier.  You can’t fool me anymore. Hello?”

She knew the voice, but still feared revealing herself. “I am such an idiot.” She thought. “I’m told never to come up here alone, that it wasn’t safe, but what do I do? I do it anyways, and now I’m hiding, in total fear, in a place that doesn’t belong to me.  What the blazes was I thinking?”

“Look I know someone is in here, I suggest you show yourself!  RIGHT NOW!  I have a gun and I am not afraid to use it!”

Against her better judgment, but knowing she was going to be found sooner or later, she pulled herself up and stood near the couch.

“So, it is you.” The tone of voice was filled with sheer disgust and agitation. Do you know how much trouble you have caused!  What kind of person does this to people! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!”

Sweat began to bead across her forehead as she watched the moonlight dance across the polished barrel of the gun. Something told her, that her wrought iron poker was the wrong choice of protection.

“I should have done this a long time ago! I must have been out of my mind to think you’d just fade away on your own. But no you kept on, phone calls, letters, and text messages! The lies…all the LIES! You didn’t know when to quit! Hurting everyone! Including ME!”  The voice had changed it was different, almost sinister and she knew that she needed to do something, anything or someone was going to get hurt.

“Why are you treating me this way?” She screamed as her heart began to pound deep and hard inside her chest as she watched the barrel of the gun begin to rise up towards her. “We both wanted this!” “It was not just me! Please NO! PLEASE!  I PROMISE! I’LL GO AWAY…PLEASE!”

***

The lake was still as the moon cast its reflection upon the partially misty covered water. The forest would have seemed frozen in time if not for the occasional sounds of an owl that would fill the late night air. All was peaceful and serene as it has always been in Bellow Falls. Suddenly the sound of a single gunshot filled the air and echoed repeatedly across the water towards the water fall. Birds screeched as they flew briskly out of their nests, while the sounds of unknown animals running frantically through the forest indicated they were trying to flee the unknown danger.  The forest was crazy for a few short moments, then just as quickly as it had become chaotic; things once again, became tranquil.

           

Photo by: Allison "Nikki" Greever  Pasadena, Maryland
This photo and the music below was my inspiration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfj3EG1qZRU&feature=related

The Dieters Nightmare

Fun with Food and Fiction

Written by Stacey L. Bolin

Friday, April 30, 2010
Revised, Thursday August 11, 2011

The darkness of the grocery store wrapped around me, my feet, cold, as I walked barefoot across the tiled floor. There was not a soul to be found.  I was all alone. The air felt think and heavy with moisture as I tried to control the fear in my breathing. I kept moving forward, following the unknown sounds. In my mind, I was on the verge of remembering, but the images would not come to me. The sounds - familiar. Snapping, popping, and at times....munching, followed by the distant sound of thunder. I continued to move forward with mixed emotions,

"What was it? Why did this all feel so familiar to me? Why was I scared? What was down there waiting for me?"

As I got closer to the sounds, I began to hear whispers, saying my name over and over. "Stacey, come to us, we're over here. Come to us."

Suddenly a bright light shown over me and I was surrounded, but surrounded by what? When I looked down, I couldn't believe what I was seeing,

"Say it wasn't so" I thought.

I was surrounded by hundreds of fruits and vegetables from isle one, they were trying to keep me from making that last fateful step into isle six - The Snack Zone. The chips and cookies were threatening to spoil any fruit or vegetable that got in their way. It was a fight between good and bad.

Trembling and confused I screamed out, "What do I do?"

I only had to ask this question once, for I knew the answer - "Will power, I was going to be good."

I then leaned down and picked up a red delicious apple, then took a bite to make the fear and the cravings for chewy, sugary, chocolaty, high calorie, bad for me and my backside, snacks, quickly go away. Yes, I had done it. I had made the right decision.

Now I am not sure, but I think I heard the apple scream out..."Save yourselves! Go back to produce!  this gal is HUNGRY!"

When I finally woke up, I was still in my bed with no signs that I had raided the snack cabinet in our kitchen.  Phew! I was safe from that Supermarket horror and intense cravings, but how long will it last? I wonder?

Temptation Tuesday

I woke up this Morning full of ideas for my newest book entitled: "Bellows in the Mist".  It's a Murder, Mystery Suspense, and Thriller, which I was inspired to write about when a person I knew got caught in a lover’s triangle. Now whether the triangle was intimate or not, that I'll never know, but just the idea of someone caught up in a situation like this, does wild things for a uniquely different type of mind, like mine, to add a creative twist to their fictional writing. I have quite the imagination and it can run rapid when the writing atmosphere is just right. My husband tells me that I watch too many "LMN" (Lifetime Movie Network) shows. Little does he know that I get my greatest inspiration and ideas when just listening and watching people.  I can't tell you how many conversations I have overhead just being at a restaurant and a couple behind us, is having a small spat and believes that they are the only ones that can hear what they are saying. Sometimes I'd love to turn around and politely say to them, "Excuse me. I just want to say that I can hear what you fighting about and I want to thank you. I just figured out how to write chapter 23 in my book." and then give them a wink.

There has been other times when we have been with friends out dancing and you over hear someone on their cell phone trying to assure the person, on the other end of the phone, that they love them and will be home soon, while at the same time they keep rolling their eyes and telling the lover of the evening to keep quite.  (Come on, I know you have seen this before. You don't have to be dancing or at a bar to witness this...Heck I've see this happen in Grocery Store before.)Hum? Is this being deceptive? Maybe it is, and then again maybe it's not? I don't ever get the facts of what was really going on, for all I know it's all innocent and they were talking to their mother who is in town who wants to spend more time with family. On the other hand, it could be a spouse that is tired of being lied too. Who knows, but what I do know... it does spark the brain to come up with some outrageous, off the wall, I can't believe you would think of that, type of twisted plots that result in one heart shocking outcome. My inspiration to add places and descriptions that are the surroundings of my characters, come from many things throughout my life, both past and present. Then having the right music playing as I sit before my computer, brings the words from my soul to my fingers to then type it into my windows program, and before I know it the words are alive in front me. So as you have probably already realized, the Chapter I am in the process of editing right now, is about a woman scorned and her plans for revenge.

This makes the title of today’s blog, “Temptation Tuesday” an excellent choice of words. But don't be fooled folks, I heard you, "Wow, did she just tell us what the book is about and who did it?"  No, I didn't do any such thing. I promise you....You'll never in a million years believe who did it. To me, there is nothing better than giving the reader a great read with the shock of shockers in the end.