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| Challenge #14 |
This scene is from my latest WIP, Whispers on Shadow Bay. Its a Gothic Romance so it is supposed to have a bit of a darker feel.
Rosetta is stranded at Shadow Bay, an aging estate on Noble Island, and has gotten turned around on her way back to the house. She's come to the island to start over and to escape a scandal. Simon is the master of the old mansion with secrets of his own.
Whispers on Shadow Bay
Threading through the tall grass, I took the trail to a clearing. Waves of purple and pink flowers swayed in the cool breeze. Their sweet scent drifted over me as they swished with the tumbling air. August back home was sticky and hot. Out here, the whispers of fall chilled the air. I shivered in my t-shirt and looked back over my shoulder at Simon. He wasn’t near the car anymore. I couldn’t see him at all. I’d never reacted so thoroughly to anyone before; blushing and stammering like a school girl with a crush. What was wrong with me?
Extending my arms over the waist-high blooms, I waded through the field and let the petals tickle my palms. The tourist website had described Noble Island as beautiful and foreboding. Given to sudden shifts in weather, it was unpredictable by nature. As if reading my thoughts, a sudden change from daylight to gray drew my eyes skyward. Dark clouds slid across the pale sun and whipped up a wind.
I hugged myself and hurried toward the other side of the clearing to the trees. Halfway there, sudden movement in the flowers caught my eye. I froze. A flash of raven hair rifled through the blooms and was gone. Heart ramming in my chest, I scanned the stems, squinting. Further away, a sound like a child’s giggle distorted by the wind echoed across the field.
“Hello?” I took a step back into the clearing. “Who’s out there?”
Straining to hear more, the field swayed in rivulets with the buffeting wind, but was silent. Thunder rumbled overhead, the dark clouds roiling with flashes of purple. If there was a child out here in this weather, they’d surely get chilled. Another step in to the grasses and I caught sight of a shock of pink material billowing over the flowers but it was gone before I could focus. The hair on my arms spiked with building static, a bright thread of light tore along the sky. It lit up the pale face of a child peering out at me from behind a tree across the clearing. It was gone with the flash.
“Lost?” A voice said over my shoulder.
Gasping with fright, I staggered back and turned to face Simon.
“Did you see that?” I said, hand to my chest.
“What?” He looked past me, his jaw set.
“I thought I saw…something.” Head pounding with a headache, I rubbed my temple.
“I found this in the car.” He held out my sweater and I turned to slip my arms in the sleeves. “With the weather turning, I thought you might be cold.”
“Thank you.” I shook my head. “You didn’t see anything?”
“Come inside, Rosetta.” The teasing smile no longer at his lips, he extended his hand. “It’s not safe out here at once it starts to get dark.”
“But…there’s someone out there.” I glanced behind us as he pulled me into the woods.
The dark look on Simon’s face made my stomach flop. “There always is.”
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