A Witch's Curse by Paul Martin Read Free Book Online

He will be there in a couple minutes.”
    “ Thank you.”
    “ Where in the house are you?”
    “ I’m in my bedroom on the second floor. Can you tell him to hurry? I hear someone coming down the hall.”
    “ Is the bedroom door locked?”
    “ No.”
    “ Lock it and don’t open it for anyone but the officer.”
    Carolyn dropped the phone, jumped from her bed, rushed to the door , and turned the key. Quickly, she ran back to the bed, diving under the covers. Picking the phone back up, she asked, “Hello? Are you still there?”
    “ Yes, I am, Miss. I will stay on the line with you until the officer gets there.”
    “ Oh, thank you. Oh, no! I hear him at my door now. Oh, no, the door handle is turning, he’s coming in. What do I do now?”
    The door swung open. A woman dressed in white stood in the doorway, her face hidden behind a lace veil and wearing the same dress as the one Caroline had on in the portrait downstairs. The woman’s hand raised, a gnarled finger pointing at Carolyn. “Get out,” she said in a long, drawn out, shrill voice. “Get out of my house.”
    Oh, no. Aunt Caroline is coming to get me for making love to her husband!
    Carolyn instinctively reached to her nightstand, desperately searching for something, anything to throw. Her fingers wrapped around a small round vase, and threw it at the ghostly figure, striking the apparition in the head. The woman in white staggered back a step then ran away as a shrill, pulsating siren shattered the night air.
    Carolyn ran to the still open door and peered into the hall. The woman had vanished. Chester raced passed her and down the stairs just as Carolyn heard an insistent pounding on her front door and a deep male voice shouting, “Police. Open the door.”
    Cautiously, Carolyn crept downstairs. When she didn’t see the strange woman anywhere, Carolyn sprinted to the door to let the officer in.
    “ Are you all right, Miss?” he asked.
    “ Yes, I think so.”
    “ You called about an intruder?”
    “ I did. I think she was a...a woman.” Carolyn had enough sense about her not to say a jealous ghost broke into her bedroom. She didn’t want to spend the rest of the night in a padded cell.
    “ You saw her?”
    “ Yes. She came into my bedroom. I hit her with a vase and she ran off.”
    “ Do you know where she went?”
    “ No. She sort of disappeared.”
    The officer’s concerned expression changed to disbelief. “Disappeared?”
    “ Yes. I don’t know how to explain any better than that. By the time I got to the hallway, she was gone.”
    “ Okay, Miss. Try to remain calm. Stay here while I check the house and make sure the perp is gone.”
    The officer pulled his service revolver and a flashlight and began searching the upstairs first, then the main floor. “Is this door always open?”
    “ No. That’s the door to the basement. I always keep that closed, and I know I locked all the doors before I went to bed.”
    The officer nodded before he went down the steps, re-emerging moments later. “All clear down there. Whoever she was, she's gone now,” he said as he holstered his pistol.
    “ You’re sure?” Carolyn asked.
    “ Yes. She or he is gone. Excuse me for a minute.” The officer clicked on the mic attached to his shirt collar. “Sally?”
    “ Go ahead, Chief.”
    “ Get Herman out of bed and send him right over, will you?”
    “ Sure thing, Chief.”
    Smiling, the officer extended his hand to Carolyn. “Herman is our C.S.I., Miss...Waters?”
    Taking his hand, she replied, “Yes, Carolyn Waters. And you are?”
    “ Chief Eric Rose. Don’t you own a store in town?”
    “ Yes, I do, Herbs and More .”
    “ Ah, yes, I remember now. You’re Ester’s granddaughter.”
    “ You knew my Grandmother?”
    “ You find that surprising? Harrisonville isn't that large of a town that I wouldn’t know someone living here as long as she did. Now, while we wait for Herman, and provided you feel up to talking about what happened,