Read Online Just a Little Reminder by Tracie Puckett - Free Book Online

anything.”
    I nodded once, and Luke backed away.
    “Night.”
    “Night,” I said, watching as his chest rose with one deep breath. He backed across the threshold—still watching me with a blank expression—and then he turned, opened his bedroom door, and ducked inside.
    I walked across the room, opened my bag, and pulled out a pair of pink cotton pajamas. I tossed the rest of my stuff into a corner and carried my night clothes to the bathroom (which—to no surprise at all—was immaculate from floor to ceiling).
    I admired the glossy white tile beneath my feet before letting my eyes study the rich navy paint on the walls. And it wasn’t until my gaze landed upon Luke’s shower stall that I caught a breath in my throat and closed my eyes.
    Unlike our bathrooms at home, Luke’s place didn’t have a shower-tub combo.
    It was just one, single, solitary shower stall.
    I hadn’t stood in a shower since Piqua….
    Suddenly feeling a little lightheaded, I took a few backward steps and sat down on the closed toilet seat. I dropped my head in my hands and pressed my eyes together to shut out the light.
    And in a flash, I saw Conan Milton’s twisted face as he ripped the shower curtain back. I felt the striking pelts of hot water as it slammed against my skin. I sensed his evil presence lurking above me—watching me, taunting me, waiting for me to beg for mercy. I watched him hold the gun to my face, and I saw the life drain from his eyes as his body crashed to the floor.
    And there it was all over again…hopelessness, abandonment, fear….
    “One,” I whispered, taking in a deep breath. “Two,” I said, letting the breath pass through my barely open lips. I normally continued to ten, but after only counting to two, I found myself gaining a little clarity.
    I opened my eyes and lifted my head.
    No longer feeling the need to clean up after a long and hurtful day, I stood up, retrieved my folded pajamas from the counter, and started toward the door. It was only then that I noticed that the door I headed for was one of two doors in the bathroom. The other, I guessed, must’ve been a small closet or a secondary entryway to Luke’s bedroom.
    Wanting nothing more than to go to sleep and put the day behind me, I ignored the second doorway and exited from the same one I’d come in through.
    I passed Luke’s bedroom as quietly as possible and reentered mine. I changed quickly, pulled the sheets back, slid in, closed my eyes, and prayed that the night wouldn’t be the same as all the others.
    But I already knew that it would.
    The moment I closed my eyes…the nightmares would start again.
    And there was nothing I could do to stop them.
     

Chapter Seven
    “Mom?” I asked, and my voice bounced off the barren walls. I glanced around the room and waited for another sign of life, but emptiness in my gut told me I wouldn’t get a response. Something was wrong… something was seriously wrong…. “Dad? Luke?” I asked, and my eyes filled with tears. “What’s going on, guys? Where are you?”
    I dropped my head and wiped away a single tear that had fallen to my cheek. And as I opened my eyes again and stared down at my feet, I suddenly realized that I’d been standing in a dark pool of liquid.
    “Blood,” I said under my breath, and then I heard my mother’s shrill scream. 
    “Mom!”
    I ran for the stairs as fast as I could. I didn’t know where the strength had come from, but I’d somehow fought the gravitational force that’d tried to paralyze my body. I fought it, and I moved so quickly that I tripped over my feet as I rushed up the staircase and closer to the sound of my mother’s cry.
    I reached the second floor and darted for my parents’ bedroom, but the room was empty.
    Another scream.
    I followed the sound back down the steps, stopping dead in my tracks as I reached the middle of the staircase. I clung to the banister as my eyes fell to the pile of dead bodies stacked at the foot of the