What in the world was Mercy Chalmers doing in his yard, in the middle of one of the worst storms Peter had ever seen?
He guiltily remembered telling her ‘no’ on the bus. He had been so mean and rude. Of course, he had felt awful, and had been deathly sick, but that was no excuse –
Or was it? He had told her no, he didn’t want to hang out with her at her house, and now she was outside his window in a rainstorm. Imagine what she might have wanted to do if he had said ‘yes.’
Peter shuddered.
She would have followed him everywhere.
Another burst of lightning, and the yard and forest were bright as noon.
But Mercy was gone.
9
Peter yawned as he walked to the bus stop the next morning. After Mercy disappeared last night, Peter hadn’t been able to fall asleep for the longest time. At one point he thought he heard a door open somewhere downstairs, and had imagined her climbing up the giant staircase, leaving a sopping wet trail behind her.
Peeeeeteeeeeeer…
But that was his imagination. She must have seen him in the window and, embarrassed to be found out, run home as fast as she could.
Which was kind of insane, because she lived over a mile away. Peter could imagine her trudging through the dark and creepy forest, the rain and wind lashing the trees around her.
Peter shivered.
She really was crazy.
Dill was already down at the corner, squatting on the sidewalk, furiously writing on a piece of paper.
“Hey, Dill!”
Dill looked up with a big smile. “Peter! You okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”
“Cool. You missed a lot of stuff.”
Peter shrugged. “I’ll make it up. Dude, you wouldn’t believe what happened last night.”
“Yeah, yeah, big thunderstorm – I live right next door, remember? No, dude, listen – ”
“Not the thunderstorm – Mercy Chalmers.”
Dill looked shocked. “You heard?”
“Heard? I saw her.”
Dill’s mouth opened like a surprised fish. “You saw her?”
“Yeah, down in my backyard. She was standing out behind the house in the middle of the storm! She’s crazy, man – she’s stalking me now!”
Dill stared at him. “When…when was this?”
“Uhhhh, last night? You were there, remember? Big thunderstorm?”
Dill shook his head, slowly, like something was just plain wrong. “That’s impossible, Peter.”
“I saw her! She was wearing different clothes than normal, but it was still that same jumper thing she always wears, just white. She was right outside in the yard, I swear!”
“Are you…okay, Peter? Are you sure you’re not still sick?”
Peter frowned. “Why are you acting like that? Don’t you believe me?”
“Dude…Mercy Chalmers is dead.”
Peter laughed once…and then stopped cold. This was a joke, right? Peter waited, knowing any second his friend would yell “Psych!” or “Did you know that ‘gullible’ isn’t in the dictionary?” or something else. It was a joke, it had to be.
But Dill looked pale and serious, with no indication that he was telling anything but the God’s honest truth.
Peter had never met anyone who had died. Except for his grandmother, but that was years ago, and he didn’t remember her very well.
He had seen it on TV plenty of times, yeah, but he had never known anyone who had died. And she had been out in the cold and the wet because of Peter.
“What…how did you find out so fast?” Peter asked.
Dill’s brow crinkled. “What are you talking about?”
“How do you know she’s dead? Did she get sick from running around in the storm? Did she die that way? How do you know?” Peter was talking loud now, but not out of anger. It was more like pleading. “You couldn’t have heard this quick – she can’t be dead – ”
“‘This quick’? Peter, she died last Wednesday. The funeral was last Friday.”
Peter’s knees trembled, but he held himself up. The whole word went still all around him. There was no sound except for Dill’s voice.
“You couldn’t have seen Mercy last night, man. She’s been dead almost a week.”
Go buy PETER AND THE VAMPIRES now!
Other Books By Darren Pillsbury:
Imaginary Friends
PETER AND THE MONSTERS Series:
Peter And The Dead Men
Peter And The Vampires
Peter And The Changeling
Peter And The Swamp Monster
Peter And The Mannequins
Peter And The Psycho Trick-or-Treaters
Peter And The Carnival Of Evil
Peter And The Werewolves
Peter And The Frankenstein
Peter And The Gingerbread Men
Peter And The Dark Side
Peter And The Yeti
Peter And The Morgue
COLLECTED VOLUMES OF STORIES:
PETER AND THE VAMPIRES (Volume 1)
(Includes Dead Men, Vampires, Changeling, and Swamp Monster)
PETER AND THE WEREWOLVES (Volume 2)
(Includes Mannequins, Psychos, Carnival, and Werewolves)
PETER AND THE FRANKENSTEIN (Volume 3)
(Includes Frankenstein, Gingerbread, Dark Side, Yeti, and Morgue)
Email me at
[email protected],
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www.DarrenPillsbury.com
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www.Twitter.com/DarrenPillsbury
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