Connie Myres – Author

TEN

“I’m stopping at Lenny’s,” Jess said. She slowed the car and pulled into the grocery store’s parking lot. “You’re going to need something strong to drink to get through this.”

“Liquor?” Maggie frowned and looked at Jess as she pulled into a parking spot and turned off the car. “I suppose you’re right, but I’ll probably start bawling anyway once I start going through our things.”

“It’ll make you feel better.”

“It’ll make me feel hung-over.”

Maggie and Jess walked into the store and up to the speedy checkout where the lottery tickets and liquor were kept. Jess bought a bottle of bourbon whiskey while Maggie bought one instant lottery ticket. Continue reading “Chap. 10—Sinister Attachments: A Paranormal Psychological Thriller (Rancor, #1)”

NINE

Maggie had the couch moved away from the door where it had acted as a barricade during the early morning hours. Now it sat unusually close to the door, but Maggie did not care. She knew that if she did not get a better lock on the door she would have to use it again tonight. If she had a skeleton key, that would most likely open the other doors on the floor, who else was in possession of one. She would ask Mr. Zimmerman about the key if she could ever get a hold of him to ask the question.

Susie sat across from Maggie at the small kitchen table, not touching her cereal or milk. Instead, she held her dirty looking teddy bear, smoothing its ratty synthetic fur. Continue reading “Chap. 9—Sinister Attachments: A Paranormal Psychological Thriller (Rancor, #1)”

EIGHT

Shortly after ten o’clock, a cold gust of wind blew in through the apartment windows, causing Maggie to shiver. She stopped typing and got up from the dinette table where she had been working the last few hours and went to close the windows. When she had finished pulling down the final window sash, there was a knock on the door. That must be Debbie, she thought.

Before unlocking the door, she looked through the peephole. Just as expected, Debbie and Susie were standing on the other side.

She opened the door and welcomed them inside. Debbie was wearing a white nurse dress; she even had a nurse cap pinned to her pulled-up hair. Maggie did not think nurses even wore those antiquated nursing clothes anymore. She was used to seeing nurses in colorful scrubs. Continue reading “Chap. 8—Sinister Attachments: A Paranormal Psychological Thriller (Rancor, #1)”

SEVEN

Maggie adjusted the bag of dirty clothes and held it at her side as she stepped off the elevator and into the dimly lit basement. She knew the washer and dryer were down here, but Mr. Zimmerman had not shown them to her when she came to see the apartment and sign the lease.

She looked down at the dirty concrete floor. Moisture oozed from the corner where the dingy white painted concrete walls met the floor. Looking up, she saw old fluorescent lights flickering and heard them hum a continuous noise down the length of the long corridor.

To the left was the stairway and to the right was an open door to a dark room. Thinking it could be the laundry room; she reached inside and felt for a light switch. Finally finding the switch, she flipped it on. A light bulb hanging from an electrical cord came on, revealing boxes, bins, and items that seemed to be in storage. When she looked farther back into the space, she noticed hospital beds, old-fashioned wheelchairs, and stretchers. The reminders of the building’s history made her shiver. She wondered how many people had died there. Continue reading “Chap. 7—Sinister Attachments: A Paranormal Psychological Thriller (Rancor, #1)”

SIX

Jess had already showered and dressed by the time Maggie got up. She walked into the kitchen where Jess was finishing a cup of coffee.

“It’s been a blast, Maggie,” Jess said, sarcastically. “But I need to get out of here. Do you want to come with me?”

Maggie laughed. “There has to be a logical explanation for what happened last night.”

“Like what?”

“Like maybe Debbie came home drunk and forgot which apartment was hers.” Continue reading “Chap. 6—Sinister Attachments: A Paranormal Psychological Thriller (Rancor, #1)”

FIVE

Jess awoke from a fitful sleep. It took a few seconds for her to realize that she was not home in her nice cozy bed, but instead inside Maggie’s haunted apartment building. She lay on her side in the dark, looking at the closed bedroom door. All she heard was the distant drip of a faucet. Might as well get up, get a drink, and use the bathroom, she thought.

She pushed the stale smelling sheet aside and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She stood and walked toward the door. When she opened it, a sense of dread came over her. What was it about this place? Oh, yeah, it is haunted, she thought to herself. Continue reading “Chap. 5—Sinister Attachments: A Paranormal Psychological Thriller (Rancor, #1)”

FOUR

The door buzzer sounded like a bumblebee trapped inside the wall, jolting Maggie from the imaginary world of her story. She had been up early that Thursday morning, working to beat her book’s deadline. She rubbed her eyes, quickly saved her document, and rushed to the intercom.

“Hey, Maggie, it’s Jess, let me in.”

Jessica Pinter has been Maggie’s best friend since third grade. They know each other better than anyone else does, including their families. Maggie knows that Jess backed her car into the boss’s parked vehicle, leaving a big dent in the front quarter panel of Mr. Hall’s black Cadillac. She never reported it or told anyone, except Maggie. She told her how he ranted for a week about it and that he knew whoever did it had a white car because of the paint left on the crushed metal. Since the bumper of Jess’s car had black paint on it, she was afraid to drive it to work anymore, fearing she would be fired if he found out she did it and never told him. So she started driving her brother’s car, telling him hers was in the shop. Continue reading “Chap. 4—Sinister Attachments: A Paranormal Psychological Thriller (Rancor, #1)”

THREE

Maggie finished putting away the food, opened a can of pop, and then placed the laptop from her backpack on the dinette table. She plugged it in and opened the top. This would be a good place to work, she thought as she looked out the kitchen window next to the table. A far off sailboat floated in the haze of the distant horizon while a flock of seagulls flew down toward the beach. A little distracting, but she could handle it.

She took a sip from the cold can while replaying in her mind what the women at Lenny’s Grocery had said to her. They thought no one was living here; she whispered as she watched the laptop wake up. No one here? Of course there was. Mr. Zimmerman was here, and there was a car in the parking lot. Continue reading “Chap. 3—Sinister Attachments: A Paranormal Psychological Thriller (Rancor, #1)”