Mystery of Moon Lake (Book 1, The Mysteries of Lucy Alderidge Series)

Chapter One- Part One.

Copyright © 2022 by Nicola Marie Rattley.

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Prologue.

The pale blue eyes leered at her, goose flesh rising on her skin as she stood frozen in place as she could not tear her own cognac brown eyes away.

They were demanding eyes, accusing eyes, as if she knew what she had done.

The room was bare, grey concrete walls that held too many shadows, gravel that crunched under every step, and it felt as if you were not alone.

It was enough to give anyone the creeps, to make them run back out into the sun.

But still she could not move, as if the presence would not allow her to do so.

As if it were keeping her here to punish her, forcing her to look upon what she had done, what she had caused.

To feel the guilt, the dread and the terror.

"It should be you!"

Chapter One.

Lucy awoke screaming, wailing in fact as she bolted upright in bed, sweat pouring off her like a wave of water.

She frantically fumbled for her bedside lamp, trying to light up the room as quickly as humanly possible.

Panting in fear she nervously scanned the room over as soon as she got the light on, terrified something was coming out of the shadows for her.

Her heart felt like it was being crushed, as though someone had it in their hand and was slowly squeezing it, draining what little breath she had from her lungs.

Eyes still wide and terrified Lucy scrambled out of bed, stumbling to the bathroom, grabbing onto the wall for support.

She didn't even bother to take off her clothing, turning on the shower she climbed inside and basically collapsed to the floor, sliding down the wall.

She couldn't care less that the temperature of the water was cold, she just put her head between her knees and took deep breaths.

This wasn't her first panic attack, and she knew it wouldn't be her last.

Tomorrow was her first day of going back to work, she had already taken 6 months off and the closer the day drew near the more frequent the attacks came.

But she couldn't stay home and hide for the rest of her life, not that that had been working anyway, the nightmares followed her wherever she ran.

The only thing she could do was get back to work and try to redeem herself, to make up for what she had done, if that were even at all possible.

Her hazelnut mocha brown hair clung to her cheeks, it was a bob with choppy ends, only she didn't know if it was sticking because of the sweat that had been dripping off her or if by now it was the water.

Leaning back she allowed her face under the running water, attempting to let it wash everything away.

The memories of what had occurred, the fear, and the guilt.

Standing back on her wobbly legs Lucy turned off the water, still gripping the tiles to hold herself up.

Her eyes closed as she shuddered, her breath still uneven but better than it had been just moments before.