The Burning by R.L. Stine Read Free Book Online

her pleas, Simon pulled Angelica toward her father’s bedroom. They stopped short in the doorway when they saw Henry Pierce lying sprawled on his back on the bedroom carpet.
    His face was bright purple. His mouth was frozen open. His lifeless eyes gazed up at the ceiling like clouded glass marbles.
    â€œSimon … I—I—” Angelica gripped Simon’s sleevè. “Is he—dead?”
    â€œThe doctor will believe it was his heart,” Simon said softly, unable to keep a smile from forming on his handsome face.
    â€œNo!” Angelica cried, dropping to her knees beside her father’s dead body. “Father!” She raised her eyes slowly to Simon.
“You
did it? You did it for me?”
    â€œFor us, my darling,” Simon replied. “I murderedyour father before I came into the sitting room. I knew it was the only way we could be together.”
    â€œOh, thank you!” Angelica cried, jumping up and throwing her arms around him. “We are wealthy now, Simon. We are wealthy—and free!”
    They hurried back to the sitting room and raised their silver goblets. “Let us drink!” Angelica urged. “To us!”
    She clinked her goblet against his. They both drank.
    â€œDelicious,” Simon declared. “So bitter and sweet at the same time.” He smiled at her knowingly. “It isn’t wine—is it?”
    â€œNo,” Angelica replied, returning his grin. “It isn’t wine. It is blood.”
    Simon snickered and stared into the goblet. “You are full of surprises tonight, Angelica.”
    He wrapped an arm around her slender shoulders. Then they tilted the goblets to their lips and drank, allowing the rich, dark liquid to flow down their chins.

Village of Shadyside
1900

    N ora Goode dropped the pen and tried to stretch the cramps from her aching fingers. Yawning, she stared at the narrow window on the bare gray wall.
    Morning sunlight cast a small yellow rectangle over the dark floorboards.
    Soon they will be coming, Nora thought, turning her eyes to the door.
    I must finish my story before they come. I must leave this written record for all to see.
    The evil that has followed the Fear family through the generations must be known. Otherwise it will never stop.
    She raised the crust of bread from the metal pan of food that had been left for her and dipped it into the cold, yellowish gravy. Stuffing it hungrily intoher mouth, she glanced at the stack of pages on the small desk.
    So much more to write, she thought, picking up the pen and dipping it into the half-empty inkwell. The story of Simon Fear is so long and so frightening.
    Simon and his precious Angelica were married in 1846. Now I must move my story to nearly twenty years later.
    It is the year 1865. The War Between the States is drawing to a close.
    Simon and his bride have moved North to Shadyside Village, where they built an enormous mansion in the woods, away from prying eyes. They used Angelica’s money, of course.
    They lived there with their five children: two daughters, Julia, seventeen, and Hannah, sixteen, and three sons, Robert, fourteen, Brandon, eleven, and Joseph, the youngest at five.
    The family seemed happy and prosperous for a while. But with so much evil lurking within the walls of the Fear mansion, their happiness could not last.
    Nora scraped the last of the yellow gravy from the pan. Then she picked up her pen, bent over her pages and began writing feverishly….

PART TWO Shadyside Village
1865

Chapter 10

    â€œW hom will I be seated next to at the party tonight, Father?” Julia asked her father.
    Simon Fear glanced up from the documents he had been reading. “Hmmm. I believe I have you seated next to the mayor, Julia.”
    â€œOh, no!” Julia leapt up from her chair by the fireplace and marched purposefully to her father, who sat behind his small writing desk. “Please, Father. Must I sit next to Mayor Bradford? You