THE DEAD GAME -- DAY 94

Oasis, Florida is beautiful during the day.
As night falls, evil descends upon the town.

Linda was eating breakfast with Todd the next morning. She asked him, “Would you like to join Shana and me when we visit Charles Wolf?”
“Why on earth would you visit him? I don’t think it’s safe for you to go there!” said Todd, his dark eyes flashing at her.
“Don’t be angry…that’s why we’re asking you to come along with us. His name came up when we’d conducted a search of End House on the internet. He sits on the Board of Directors of a holding company that owns the house.”
”I’ve never liked or trusted Wolf, but I’ll come with you. Never go anywhere like that without me! Promise me!”
“I promise. Can we go right after breakfast and bring Shana with us?”
“Of course, I’ll do whatever you want; just as long that I know that you’re safe. Sam won’t be able to join us today, but I’ll inform him later of our visit.”
When he looked at her with those big brown eyes, all she wanted was to be in his arms, safe and sound. But for some unknown reason, he was determined to keep her at arm’s length. They never discussed anything personal—that is, outside of End House or Oasis. But he seemed to care about her…and worry about her. When she got up from the table, she felt his eyes on her…following her…silently watching her.

THE DEAD GAME–PAGE A DAY–DAY 15

THE DEAD GAME–PAGE A DAY–DAY 15

Linda did feel the extreme tension in the air. She didn’t know if she was imagining it, or if it was only the usual tension between her and Todd. Whenever he was near, she experienced a strange tingling sensation; whenever she looked into his big brown eyes, she felt herself melting inside and getting tongue tied. Today she’d experienced this rippling tension even before she’d bumped into him. She was happy that he was escorting her home, since she did feel safer with him by her side.
Todd accompanied her home and even checked inside her apartment for possible intruders. She followed at his heels. They made their way back to the front door, where Todd placed his hands on her shoulders and gazed into her eyes. “Will you be all right? I can stay here with you.”
Even though this sounded more than tempting, she refused his generous offer. “I’ll be fine.”
She was afraid to have him in her apartment—all evening or even all night. What would she say to him? She was still too nervous around him. She needed baby steps in order to get used to being with him. One day they might even have a full conversation.
Watching her face, he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before turning to walk away.
Linda had closed her eyes, hoping for a brief second that he was going to kiss her on the lips, but instead only felt a small peck on her cheek. Of course, she scolded herself, he wasn’t interested in her in that way and she was just fooling herself again with false hopes and dreams. But as she was lying in bed later that night, trying to fall asleep, she thought that anything could happen at a party…or even the next time they met late at night in the moonlight….