The Wisp

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There was no conversation in the car. Bara tried several times to talk it out. Her father said nothing. She realized there was no point in explaining. What exactly could she say anyway? Dad, your wife’s a witch. Colin believed her. She doubted her father would. So she turned her head to the window and waited out the ride home. It was a relief when the car pulled up to the house. A short-lived one. Courtney waited at the open door.

Bara got out of the passenger side. Courtney rushed at her. Was she going to attack? Courtney stopped suddenly and regained control. “Are you okay?” she asked.

Bara said nothing and her father answered for her.

“She’s fine.”

They all made their way back into the house. Bara was sent to her room. She did as told but stole one last glance at Courtney before going up the stairs. There was nothing short of satisfaction on her stepmother’s face.

Bara returned to her pink catastrophe of a room. She threw her coat haphazardly onto a chair. It looked out-of-place in the spotless room. The Pink Puketorium was tidy. She’d expected to find it ransacked. Then maybe it had been and Courtney had cleaned up afterward. It hardly mattered. She wouldn’t have found what she was looking for—the diary.

There were footsteps outside the door. Next came a knock. Bara told the knocker to come in and then working at avoidance, grabbed her coat, and went into the closet. When she came back out, her father sat on the bed. He motioned for her to join him. Dreading what was to come, she crossed the room and sat.

“I’m worried about you, Bara Evelyn.” Evelyn—her middle name, her grandmother’s name. She’d obviously really put him at his at wit’s end.

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(The Reading)

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Words and Images are my own.

The Wisp and its sequel, the Tall Man, is available in paperback or digital through amazon and your local libraries and bookstores. Click on any title below to further explore and support my writing.