He tapped his fingers on the dashboard, humming a little tune he had heard in a commercial. The rain was beating against the windshield terribly hard, and it was giving Greyson a headache.
"Don't worry honey, our new house'll be great."
And then everything went dark.
~~~
Greyson and his mother are moving into a new house, a new neighborhood, with people he had never met; And the worst part was that his stepdad was coming along. Being a synesthete since birth, Greyson tastes strange things in the house. The people who he shares the house with are unusually secretive, and after things start going awry and people start to disappear he begins to question the house- and its inhabitants.
~~~
Excerpt~
He lied on his back and stared at the floor above him contemplating what he had just done. A small drop of water fell between his eyebrows, leaking from the rotting wood above his head. He could hear the frustrated shuffling of police boots above him, and he could feel the concrete below him. A flashlight shone through the floorboards and onto his arm, revealing the splattered Crimson on it.
"He's under the floorboards!" One man shouted.
Greyson pulled a knife from his back pocket in the limited space that he had to move.
"You found me" he smiled.
A criminal mastermind makes a bold move against a wealthy client to put himself in a position to retire in comfort. He has no idea what he's up against when a young widow, desperate to make ends meet, sets her eyes on earning the bounty set on his head.
***
Newly widowed housewife Melody Scott needs to earn some major cash, fast. When her bright and busy children learn that a priceless ruby bracelet has been stolen and a six-figure reward is being offered, they convince her to try to do what the police, museum security, and the best private investigators have failed to do. Working against them is a notorious thief who has met people from around the world, but who has never once encountered a woman like Melody Scott. When the sweet innocence of the Scott family clashes against criminal forces more dangerous than they ever imagined, Melody is all too aware that a mom's got to do what a mom's got to do to protect her family.
The Widow, Melody Scott is a 2021 Watty Award Winner!
Content Warning: This story does contain depictions of stalking behavior.