“Sally? Where are you?”
She wanted to answer, but how does one answer a dream, when one is wide awake? They open their eyes first, she thought.
Her eyes opened. She held back a scream, the form of a man stood over her. “Get away! Get away!”
The dark figure dropped to its knees. “Sally! It’s me, Uncle Jack.” He stood up. “I found her! Over here!” A flashlight bobbed toward them in the distance.
She looked up at him. “Jack?” It was dark now and hard to see his face. He bent back down and pulled at the rope tied around her.
Sam and Elle came out of nowhere, gushing tears, with shouts of pure joy. It would have been embarrassing, if she wasn’t tied to a tree in a dark forest in Maine. Tears streamed from her eyes, too. “Mom! Dad!”
A man with a flashlight came up beside them. She recognized him as the agent at the farm. He bent down and with his knife, cut the ropes that bound her. Sam pulled her up into an embrace. Elle wrapped her arms around both of them.
Soon, Sally was surrounded by others, whom she knew to be her mother’s parents from the pictures on the fireplace mantel in Ireland. But why were they not quiet? He could show up at any minute! She grabbed her Dad’s shoulders. Panic swept over her. “Shh! He’ll be back!” She whimpered, spasms of fear rippling through her.
“No, Sally,” Elle cooed, kissing her forehead. “He’s at the bottom of the falls.”
She blinked. “Dead?” she said, in a small voice.
“Dead,” echoed Sam.
She’d seen those movies where someone wasn’t really dead and came back again. She shivered. “Dead, for sure?”
Elle pointed toward the falls. “Dead, for sure.”
John sighed. “Good, but we’ll have to come back later and get his body before the coyotes do.”
Jack opened his mouth to speak, but his mother shushed him.
They made their way through the trees and onto the path. Overhead, the sound of a helicopter came near and then passed over them.
“To get the body?” Elle asked, a trace of fear still in her voice.
“Yes, ma’am,” Agent Thompson said.
As they followed the path farther down, misty lights shone from the farmhouse windows, giving the scene a surreal effect—one of peace. They were almost to the door, when Thompson’s radio came to life.
“Agent Thompson. Do you have a copy?”
He motioned for them to go on ahead.
He waited until they had all gone inside and then held the receiver to his mouth. “Copy that.”
“Um, sir, um, where exactly is the body, sir?”
His eyes shot open. “Come back?”
“There’s lots of blood, sir, but there’s no body.”
Author Bio
Author Theresa Sneed graduated cum laude with a BA in education, and loves teaching her 2nd grade students, especially about writing.
Her books are unique; each story taking you places you’ve never imagined before. She writes across five genres: mystery and suspense, fantasy, historical fiction/time travel, realistic paranormal, and nonfiction motivational. All of Theresa’s fiction books have elements of sweet romance, and while none of her books have profanity or sexually explicit scenes, each book is intriguing and white-knuckle intense—the kind you can’t put down.
Her nonfiction books are So You Want to Write: A Guide to Writing Your First Book where Theresa has pulled together her fifteen steps to writing success; Fantastic Covers and How to Make Them, and Facing Mortality: Dreams & Other Significant Things a compilation of Theresa’s paranormal experiences that drove her to write her No Angel series and many scenes in her other works.
The No Angel series is the story about a guardian angel with an attitude, and the ever present, but misunderstood spirit world. There are four published books in the series with many more to come. Book one, formerly called No Angel, is now called Angel with an Attitude; book two, formerly called Earthbound, is now called Earthbound Angel; book three is called Destiny’s Angel; and book four is called Earth Angel.
The Sons of Elderberry series has two books out called Elias of Elderberry and The Wood Fairies of Estraelia. Harry-Potterish—with wizards, fairies, elves, pixies, yōkai shapeshifters, and dragons, this story has it all. Theresa anticipates another three to five books to finish that series.
Escape is the story of a fifteen-year-old girl abducted by a corrupt sheriff in the 70’s. He keeps her captive in his cellar for five years until she escapes with his truck and his young daughter. Escape is book one in the Escape series. You Can’t Hide is book two.
Salem Witch Haunt was intended to be a standalone book, until the shocking ending made it apparent that the characters were not finished telling their story. Hence, Return to Salem, where the second set of trials and hangings in Salem, 1692, are masterfully woven into the story. Salem Bewitched completes this series with the last of the trials and hangings and the peine forte et dure of Giles Corey.
As the ninth great-granddaughter of one of the women hanged as a witch in Salem, Theresa has a vested interest in this epic time travel. Thoroughly researched, all interactions with real people from that era are based on primary sources. In book one, the trial scene with Theresa’s great-grandmother, Susannah Martin, is taken from Reverend Samuel Parris’s handwritten transcript verbatim. An additional book, Stranger than Fiction, is being compiled on the primary sources Theresa used in her Salem Witch Haunt series.
All of Theresa Sneed’s books may be purchased through Amazon or from links on her website at www.theresasneed.com. She loves hearing from her readers and may be contacted through her website or through her email at [email protected].
Stay connected with new releases and free e book offers by signing up at her website or from her Facebook author page at www.facebook.com/TheresaMSneed/
