A Family Affair: A Novel of Horror by V. J. Banis Read Free Book Online

delivered the tray might simply have forgotten to put the food on it, in which case she would only be making a scene by protesting and making herself unpleasant.
    â€œIt can wait until morning,” she said firmly. She removed the tray once again to the dresser. After all, she really wasn’t hungry. In the morning, after a good night’s rest, she would politely mention the matter of the tray to Aunt Christine, and no doubt there would be a perfectly logical explanation for it.
    With a renewed if slightly less firm patience, she began to undress. She put her simple gray suit in the armoire on the single hanger that had been provided there, making a mental note that she would have to ask for more hangers.
    The light switch was on the wall across the room and by the door, with the result that she stubbed her toe on the stool trying to find her way back to the bed. She stood still for a minute or two, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Amazingly enough, the small opening provided by the drapes did allow a bit of moonlight to filter into the room through the dusty window. After her pause, she was able to make her way to the bed without further mishap.
    She pulled the sheet up to her chin, uncomfortable without her flannel nightgown. Despite her discomfort, however, and a day that had been trying on the nerves, her exhaustion had its way with her. She fell quickly into a deep and dreamless sleep.
    She awoke with a start. For a moment the room and the bed were unfamiliar to her. It came back to her finally—the long drive and its conclusion. She was at Kelsey House, as a house guest. It was the middle of the night and something had awakened her. Someone had called her name; no, that wasn’t possible, surely. She had dreamed it.
    She peered into the darkness, her eyes slowly becoming adjusted to the darkness and the sudden awakening. She made out the dresser and the armoire, and the stool.
    A movement from the direction of the hall door caught her eye. There it was again—faint, billowy, a white robed figure. With a tightening in her chest, she realized that there was someone in her room, someone in white who moved with maddening slowness toward her bed.
    She lay motionless, her breath held in tightly. For the first time it occurred to her that she might be in some danger, alone with a houseful of people she did not know, who from all indications were far from normal. It was this thought that kept her from speaking out, from demanding to know who was there. She clutched the sheet tightly in her hand, watching through half closed eyes as the figure in white drew nearer. She could make out the form now of a woman—long dark hair falling about the shoulders, hands outstretched toward the bed. The face was in shadow.
    Should she speak, Jennifer thought, demand an explanation for the intrusion? Or wait to learn the identity of her visitor. Or perhaps she should leap from the bed, make ready to defend herself?
    Her teeth clenched to keep them from chattering, she closed her eyes, just as she had done when as a little girl she had been frightened in the darkness. Maybe whoever was here would go away. Maybe it was only a bad dream. If she pretended to sleep, it would just leave, surely.
    The seconds crawled by. Frozen with fear, she listened for some sound, some indication of what was happening. The house lay silently about her. The room itself seemed to be waiting, listening.
    Why was there no noise? Had her visitor, as she hoped, gone away?
    A hand brushed lightly against her face, a hand soft and so cold that it seemed to stop the blood in her veins. Jennifer nearly screamed. She bit sharply into her lip to stifle the cry that rose in her throat. Her body trembled and shook, seized by an inexplicable chill, and she felt a warning turn in her stomach.
    Oh God, she thought, I’m going to be sick.

CHAPTER FIVE
    The touch of that icy hand was brief, and did not come again. The room remained silent. At