Cia didn’t know what had awakened her. The night was quiet, unusually hushed; the insects and night birds eerily silent. Feeling a chill, her first thought was to get up and close the window. Instead, she pulled up the covers and turned over to snuggle with Will. Touching an empty bed, she opened her eyes, surprised to see him sitting up, his eyes still closed. It was then that she saw the vaporous cloud shimmering in front of him. In stunned silence, she stared as it slowly morphed into the translucent shape of a woman. As though in a trance, Will began to extend his hand to the indistinct figure that swirled and shifted just beyond his reach. Not knowing if she was awake or if this was another nightmare, Cia tried to scream. When no sound emerged, she tried to move forward to wake him but found herself unable to move, as though some invisible force was holding her in check. The apparition floated closer, a skeletal face crowned with snaking tendrils materializing out of churning mist. Seeing spectral fingers reaching out to Will, Cia lurched forward and, with a scream, freed herself from the unseen, vise-like grip. As Will opened his eyes, the wraithlike figure recoiled in fury and with a shrill shriek of rage, began to dissolve into formless mist. But not before pointing a long, withered finger at Cia as well.
Barely awake, Will blinked before lying back on his pillows. Cia moved next to him. “Will? Are you all right?”
When he didn’t answer, she saw he had fallen asleep. Feeling the cold abating and the night sounds return, she let him be. Although her conscious mind told her there was no way she’d be able to sleep, she was suddenly overcome with exhaustion. When she woke up again, it was almost noon. Her first impression was that it was another lovely day, her second that she was alone in bed.
Excerpted from Voices from a Distant Room by Marcia Gloster. Copyright ©2020 Marcia Gloster. Excerpted with permission of The Story Plant. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
