Read Online The Color of Fear by Billy Phillips, Jenny Nissenson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Billy Phillips, Jenny Nissenson
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fairy tales of childhood.
Natalie obviously got it as well. Her eyes had opened like a book. “We’re totally going, sibling.”
“There’s no freaking wa—”
Caitlin’s phone buzzed.
Jack!
Caitlin desperately wanted to tell him that the sightings were positively real.
She lifted her finger to accept the call when a movement she saw out the corner of her eye made her pause. She pivoted. Her heart stopped.
Natalie was sliding down the zombie’s luminous locks. She was headed straight into the wet, muddy pit of the grave.
“Natalie! Don’t!”
Caitlin dove across the mud-drenched ground to grab her sister’s hand. But she only managed to break Natalie’s grip on the zombie’s hair. Caitlin watched, horrified, as Natalie fell into the glowing tomb. She vanished quickly, leaving only a fading scream behind her.
“Yippeeeeee!”
The zombie fixed her dead, enchanting pupils on Caitlin and sighed.
“You have a choice: slide down my hair or fall into the hole like the little one just did. Which will it be?”
Another crack of lightning split the sky. Caitlin felt her chest vibrate as thunder shook the humid air. A split second of silence, then— pow! Bucketfuls of rain poured from the dark sky.
“Hurry,” warned the zombie, “before the rain pushes the dirt back into the passage and the poor kid is stuck there for good!”
Caitlin bit off a sliver of thumbnail.
“What’s actually down there?” she asked.
Long-haired registered a coy smile, which only amplified Caitlin’s anguish.
There’s no choice here. None. My sister is somewhere down that hole.
That’s all that mattered at that moment.
Caitlin set her tablet against the tree trunk next to the grave. She slid her mobile into her front right pocket.
Then she scrunched up her face and climbed onto the zombie’s shimmering strands of hair. She slowly lowered herself into the grave, fully expecting to wake up from the bizarre dream at any moment.
The passageway smelled like a wet dog. She clung to that rope of hair for dear life, her fingers gripping it till her knuckles gleamed white.
Am I really sliding into a grave on a cable of golden, braided hair?
Her mobile rang.
Jack!
But she didn’t dare let go of that rope to retrieve her phone.
“You have to keep moving!” said long-haired dead girl. “You can’t just hang there.”
Inch by inch, Caitlin submerged herself into the hole, holding her breath for as long as she could, then sucking in what she believed every time might be her last gulp of oxygen. Mud pressed against her sopping wet body, and pasty, cold lumps of it clung to her arms.
“Slide!” the zombie shouted from above. “We don’t want the walls to close around us!”
No, we don’t!
Caitlin inhaled. She closed her eyes. She unclenched her grip ever so slightly.
She began her descent.
The lower she dropped, the faster she fell. She was sinking and sliding along the twisting braids The silken tresses massaged her palms as braided folds slipped through her stiff-but-slightly-open fists.
As she continued down the hair, the muscles in her body relaxed.
She opened her eyes.
The mud on the tunnel walls was now dry and hardened. And bathed in pale blue. Bright orange-and-pink streaks of light leaked through narrow cracks, and the faster Caitlin slid through the extraordinary passageway, the faster the streaks of light shimmered by, until she was sliding so fast they ran together into glowing, wide ribbons of color. Downward she whooshed, past lambent waves of light.
She heard a distinct, though distant, meow echoing from high above her.
That cat!
The cry amplified, and a second later the blue British Shorthair whizzed by, heading downward.
The tunnel, now awash in bright color, took a gentle curve, and Caitlin turned with it. The light shifted into swirling greens and twisting pinks.
She finally landed with a thud .
There was an uncanny silence.
Caitlin took a couple of big breaths. She looked around.
Natalie obviously got it as well. Her eyes had opened like a book. “We’re totally going, sibling.”
“There’s no freaking wa—”
Caitlin’s phone buzzed.
Jack!
Caitlin desperately wanted to tell him that the sightings were positively real.
She lifted her finger to accept the call when a movement she saw out the corner of her eye made her pause. She pivoted. Her heart stopped.
Natalie was sliding down the zombie’s luminous locks. She was headed straight into the wet, muddy pit of the grave.
“Natalie! Don’t!”
Caitlin dove across the mud-drenched ground to grab her sister’s hand. But she only managed to break Natalie’s grip on the zombie’s hair. Caitlin watched, horrified, as Natalie fell into the glowing tomb. She vanished quickly, leaving only a fading scream behind her.
“Yippeeeeee!”
The zombie fixed her dead, enchanting pupils on Caitlin and sighed.
“You have a choice: slide down my hair or fall into the hole like the little one just did. Which will it be?”
Another crack of lightning split the sky. Caitlin felt her chest vibrate as thunder shook the humid air. A split second of silence, then— pow! Bucketfuls of rain poured from the dark sky.
“Hurry,” warned the zombie, “before the rain pushes the dirt back into the passage and the poor kid is stuck there for good!”
Caitlin bit off a sliver of thumbnail.
“What’s actually down there?” she asked.
Long-haired registered a coy smile, which only amplified Caitlin’s anguish.
There’s no choice here. None. My sister is somewhere down that hole.
That’s all that mattered at that moment.
Caitlin set her tablet against the tree trunk next to the grave. She slid her mobile into her front right pocket.
Then she scrunched up her face and climbed onto the zombie’s shimmering strands of hair. She slowly lowered herself into the grave, fully expecting to wake up from the bizarre dream at any moment.
The passageway smelled like a wet dog. She clung to that rope of hair for dear life, her fingers gripping it till her knuckles gleamed white.
Am I really sliding into a grave on a cable of golden, braided hair?
Her mobile rang.
Jack!
But she didn’t dare let go of that rope to retrieve her phone.
“You have to keep moving!” said long-haired dead girl. “You can’t just hang there.”
Inch by inch, Caitlin submerged herself into the hole, holding her breath for as long as she could, then sucking in what she believed every time might be her last gulp of oxygen. Mud pressed against her sopping wet body, and pasty, cold lumps of it clung to her arms.
“Slide!” the zombie shouted from above. “We don’t want the walls to close around us!”
No, we don’t!
Caitlin inhaled. She closed her eyes. She unclenched her grip ever so slightly.
She began her descent.
The lower she dropped, the faster she fell. She was sinking and sliding along the twisting braids The silken tresses massaged her palms as braided folds slipped through her stiff-but-slightly-open fists.
As she continued down the hair, the muscles in her body relaxed.
She opened her eyes.
The mud on the tunnel walls was now dry and hardened. And bathed in pale blue. Bright orange-and-pink streaks of light leaked through narrow cracks, and the faster Caitlin slid through the extraordinary passageway, the faster the streaks of light shimmered by, until she was sliding so fast they ran together into glowing, wide ribbons of color. Downward she whooshed, past lambent waves of light.
She heard a distinct, though distant, meow echoing from high above her.
That cat!
The cry amplified, and a second later the blue British Shorthair whizzed by, heading downward.
The tunnel, now awash in bright color, took a gentle curve, and Caitlin turned with it. The light shifted into swirling greens and twisting pinks.
She finally landed with a thud .
There was an uncanny silence.
Caitlin took a couple of big breaths. She looked around.
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