Read Online A Scrying Shame by Donna White Glaser - Free Book Online Page B

looking through. It felt cold. But at Agnes’s—that was the one where the little old lady just died—the fog wasn’t gray. It was green. And it exuded a feeling of happiness.”
    “That is so flippin’ awesome.” Chandra hugged herself.
    Arie smiled at her friend. “I guess it is. That one, anyway.”
    “So, you’re thinking, what? That the color of the fog matches the way they died?”
    “Makes sense, doesn’t it? Leonard killed himself. The gray fog, the sadness. But with Agnes it was like . . . it was the same peace I felt when I was on the Other Side. I think Agnes was ready to die. She was okay with it. But with Marissa—”
    “Marissa?”
    “Marissa Mason. She wrote a book called Rich Bitch .”
    Chandra’s face scrunched in thought. “Her name sounds familiar. I’ll have to check it out.”
    Arie got up, grabbed the book from under her purse, and handed it to Chandra. Making an “ick” face, her friend held it with the tips of her fingers.
    “I wiped it off,” Arie assured her.
    “Oh, hey. I do know her. I read this.”
    “You read this ?”
    For the first time in the  thirteen years Arie had known her, Chandra blushed.
    “Well, I’m not saying it’s great literature, but everyone was talking about it. I was curious, that’s all.” As Chandra paged through it, a stiff rectangle of paper slid out from between the pages and fell to the floor. Arie snatched it up. Creamy white paper embossed with a border of flowers. Gold ink. And just the faintest . . . Arie sniffed the card. Yup, it was scented. Roses again.
    “What is it?” Chandra asked.
    “It looks like one of those wedding programs. You know, the one that tells you when they’re lighting the candles or whatever, and who’s in the wedding party?”
    “Maybe she was using it as a bookmark.” Chandra went back to studying the book. After looking at the table of contents, she flipped it over and looked at the back.
    “I can’t believe she’s dead. She looks  like one of those golden girls. You know the type. Like Barbie two-point-oh. It’s weird to think of her as just . . . gone.”
    “Well, I’m here to tell you she’s not gone. Part of her is alive and well and currently stuck inside my head.”
    “Maybe that’s the difference, then,” Chandra said. “She’s got unresolved issues. Isn’t that the deal with ghosts? She’s haunting you.”
    Arie shook her head. “This isn’t a ghost, or at least it’s not like any ghost I’ve ever heard of.”
    “The important part is that her death is unresolved. What is she showing you?”
    “It’s all jumbled up. It was a red fog this time. And I had this feeling of being lost or trying to find something. She did, I mean.”
    “Marissa,” Chandra whispered.
    “And there were hands at my throat. They were choking me. I can’t even . . . I could feel her dying, and it felt like it was me.”
    Arie could feel her throat close as the memory grew more vivid.
    “Who was it?” Chandra whispered.
    Tears welled in Arie’s eyes. “I don’t know . I can’t see his face. I’ve tried and tried, but . . .” A deep, shuddering sob twisted through her body.
    Chandra reached over and held Arie’s hand. “It’s okay. You’re doing good. How about the hands? What did they look like?”
    Arie pressed her fingers to her forehead and forced herself to stay calm. “I don’t know. But I don’t remember seeing anything distinctive. No scars or tattoos or anything. At the time, I couldn’t really think. It was . . . this feeling that I was about to die.
    “You have to understand. When it’s happening, it’s like I’m them. It’s not like a movie. I’m not watching. It feels like it’s actually happening to me.”
    Chandra squeezed Arie’s hand and took a deep breath. “Let’s take a break. I think we should get something to eat.”
    “I can’t eat.”
    “You have to try,” Chandra said. “You need to keep your strength up. And—I don’t know—you need