By: Joy Preble
I’ve been scared many times – that breathless, stomach dropping sensation that comes with illness, being broke, doing poorly on a test or at a job; worry that my child might be in trouble of one sort or another – the normal stuff, really.
But the spookiest true event I’ve ever experienced happened for about two weeks straight not long after my mother passed away from a sudden heart attack. Her death was totally unexpected; we’d spoken in the morning and by the afternoon she was gone. It would be a long time before I came to terms with it.
We’d had a routine, my mom and I. Every afternoon around five o’clock, either she’d call me or I’d call her. Usually I was home by then – trying to figure out dinner or supervising my son’s homework or whatever it is one does after a day of teaching and parenting and life. We’d talk for five minutes or ten or sometimes longer. I don’t remember what we said to each other; I doubt it was anything special. But it was a given. Somewhere between five and six in the evening, we connected. If the phone rang then, I knew without looking at caller id that it would be her.
Maybe when someone dies so abruptly, things are different. I don’t claim to know or understand. But the week after the funeral, around five thirty, my land line rang. When I picked it up, no one was there. It wasn’t a dial tone or a wrong number. It was just dead air until I hung up. It didn’t happen again that night. But the next evening, the phone rang. Same thing – just silence. I pressed the receiver to my ear and said hello. But no one answered.
Every evening for the next two weeks – and I swear this is true – my phone rang. Every evening there was silence. Eventually, it stopped.
I’ve chosen to believe that maybe she just wasn’t quite ready to go. Because what other explanation is there? Two weeks of phone malfunction? Two weeks of merry pranksters? Or my mother – reaching out to say hello, a few last times before she finally slipped away.
Joy Preble
Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble Publisher: Sourcebooks Reading Level: Young Adult Paperback: 310 pages Series: Dreaming Anastasia, book #1 What really happened to Anastasia Romanov?
Anastasia Romanov thought she would never feel more alone than when the gunfire started and her family began to fall around her. Surely the bullets would come for her next. But they didn't. Instead, two gnarled old hands reached for her. When she wakes up she discovers that she is in the ancient hut of the witch Baba Yaga, and that some things are worse than being dead.
In modern-day Chicago, Anne doesn't know much about Russian history. She is more concerned about getting into a good college—until the dreams start. She is somewhere else. She is someone else. And she is sharing a small room with a very old woman. The vivid dreams startle her, but not until a handsome stranger offers to explain them does she realize her life is going to change forever. She is the only one who can save Anastasia. But, Anastasia is having her own dreams…
Prize:
- 1 winner will receive a signed copy of Dreaming Anastasia and stickers and bookmarks.
Rules:
- You must be at least 13 to enter.
- Name and email must be provided and counts as 1 entry.
- Extra entries are possible and links must be provided.
- Contest is US ONLY and ends October 27th.
- Once contacted the winner will have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address.
- The form must be filled out to enter.
Haunted, book #2 in the Dreaming Anastasia series will be released January 1st, 2011.
- Thanks so much Joy for the story and the book and swag donation!
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Book Trailer
* Check out Lisa's Haunted Halloween post.
*Reminder: If you are interested in the COMMENT CONTEST, remember to include your email address with your comment for an extra entry! Please read full entry rules here.
