Shades: Eight Tales of Terror Read Free

had been older and wiser, I would have. But I hated her like the devil himself. She treated me like I amounted to nothing every time she could get away with it, and I confess I took great satisfaction in peeking out from the sitting room and watching her come down the stairs that last time. She walked like she was drunk or something. She didn’t say anything to anybody, just tottered out to her car without taking anything with her, and left.”
    “And Robert went straight to Emma?”
    “They were dating within a week. And everybody could tell just by watching them, they were meant to be together. They simply clicked in all the right ways. Soon, there was a new wedding in the planning and nobody was surprised.”
    “What about Priscilla?” Jessica’s eyes now felt gummy and sore, but she wanted to hear the rest of this. After the story, she would go upstairs for a nap while Marge went to do her shopping.
    “At first she disappeared, which wasn’t really surprising. It would have been humiliating enough for any girl. But after the way Priscilla had acted the past few months it must have been ten times worse. I’m guessing she laid low at her mother’s trailer out on the edge of town, or maybe she even left town for a while. Either way, nobody saw her again until the day before the wedding. Then Junior Godfrey said he saw her riding her bicycle on Tin Prairie Road, out behind the cement plant. He said she was wearing her cheerleader uniform from high school.”
    “Uh oh.” Jessica frowned. “T hat should have set off warning bells.”
    “I’m sure it would have, given more time. Especially if she had been seen doing it more than once, but most people didn’t even hear about it till…afterwards. And then it was too late.”
    Marge took a deep breath and got up from the table. Taking her cup, she moved over to the sink and started rinsing it out. Jessica watched her with concern, noticing the tightness of her jaw as the woman scrubbed the little piece of china with unnecessary vigor.
    “Anyway ,” the older woman continued, “the wedding was a big success, and they held the party afterwards at the Empire’s ballroom like it had been planned in the first place…only a little more modest and just using one ballroom. Come to find out, so many guests showed up they opened the second ballroom after all, and Harvey Deiter of the Empire did it on his own dime as a gift to the newlyweds. It was a great party, and everybody had a good time. And then…”
    Marge continued scrubbing the little cup, her eyes focused on something from years ago.
    “…and then it all ended. Robert and Emma left to go on their honeymoon, everybody else went home, and…and the next morning we all heard the news.” She set the cup down and closed her eyes with her hands braced on the sink.
    Jessica reminded herself this wasn’t just some awful town legend, but something that happened to people this woman loved. She regretted ever finding the dress, but knew that now the subject had come up, Marge needed to finish the story.
    “What happened, Margie?”
    “Priscilla did.” A tear formed at the corner of Mrs. Donald s’s eye. “Robert and Emma had wanted to keep it simple, and they decided to have their honeymoon at a little bed and breakfast called The Timber Pine. It was a quaint little place that used to sit out beside Lake Hallisboro. They stopped at Emma’s parent’s house, changed clothes and headed for the lake. Priscilla must have followed them. She snuck into the Wallace’s house and stabbed Betty Wallace to death with a butcher knife. Afterwards, she stole Emma’s wedding dress…and then she went on to Lake Hallisboro.”
    “How did she know where to go?”
    “Who knows?” Marge wondered aloud. “It wasn’t a secret. Priscilla’s mom probably heard it in town.  All we know is she got up there sometime after midnight, and waited until she knew for sure that Robert and Emma were asleep. Then she somehow let herself