Dear Diary …. by Kellianne Sweeney

Dear Diary,

Most of you are aware that in June I published my first novel “The One That Got Away”. It is a fictional story whose premise is that reincarnation, ghosts and Heaven are all somehow connected in the big picture. The story is told through the journal of a modern day single mother who feels she has more important things to deal with than these notions that she is ultimately forced to believe. More information about this book can be found here: http://kelliannesweeney.webs.com/ .   My WIP (Work In Progress) is the sequel to this story. Today, I am giving you a teaser for that sequel entitled “Strangers’ Angels”. I hope you enjoy your taste.

Strangers’ Angels:

From a corner of her mind, Anna heard a footfall and a sound like something sliding across a table. Viv was back? Clarice growled low and quietly. It wasn’t her usual cocky, protective growl. It seemed a bit fearful. Anna’s scalp prickled. The tingling sensation crept down her back and traveled to her forearms, resulting in goose-bumps. Anna lay still for several impossibly long minutes while she strained her ears for any additional sounds. There was none. If it had been Viv, or even an intruder, there would have been more noises. Anna had not heard the front door open or close. She didn’t hear any more footsteps. Had Viv come home while Anna had been sleeping? Were the stray sounds coming from the apartment upstairs? Something did not feel right to Anna. She knew she would have to go into the living room to see for herself. The cold chill ran back up her spine and tickled her scalp again as she slowly and quietly sat up in bed and carefully extracted herself from her tousled blankets. She touched her feet to the floor and waited another moment, listening intently. Nothing. She flexed her toes on the smooth, cool wood and took in a steadying breath. She exhaled and stood quickly. The floor groaned in protest. Anna paused. She thought she heard an urgent whisper, but she couldn’t tell if it was in her own mind or outside of her head. She listened again, but did not hear a thing. Even Clarice was quiet. Anna tiptoed to her bedroom door, tightening the drawstring on her cotton pajama pants as she went. She placed her hand gingerly on the doorknob and cautiously began to turn it.

A sudden noise caused Anna to release the knob and jump a step backwards. A dropping sound. Something hitting the floor in the living room. Clarice yelped once and then became silent. Was Clarice out there? No. Anna became increasingly sure that it was a stranded spirit, a ghost of a person, not a living person. She became aware of the telltale whispers inside of her head. But the whispers were garbled. It was as though more than one person was speaking, or perhaps several. Anna had never encountered this before. It was also unusual for a stranded spirit to be in her apartment. She had lived in the same apartment for almost two years with nary a peep from the spirit world on the premises. Some living people had a stranded spirit that followed them because of an important link. Most people that had one were not aware of their existence, but there were some that seemed to sense their presence. If the spirits were benevolent in nature, they were sometimes referred to as Guardian Angels by their living objects of attention. During her life, Anna’s mother had one of those, but this was not the case with Anna herself. Very unusual indeed. Who was out there and why?

Anna gripped the doorknob firmly, twisted, and pushed the door open. The frigid air and a staggering sense of fear washed over Anna causing her to gasp involuntarily at the intensity of it. She quickly regained her composure and rubbed her arms vigorously in an unsuccessful attempt to rid herself of the cold. She scanned the room, but could see no one.

“Hello?” She called quietly. “Who is here?”

Anna took two more steps into the room and inadvertently kicked something that was on the floor. The filtered moonlight glinted off of the shiny object at her feet.