Triplets - Part 6

Good morning, Friday Fiction Fans,

How has your week been? Mine has been filled with Little League games, writing a new short story, trying to work on blog posts, sending emails, and some reading. Not my normal week things, but that's okay. The Little League US and International Championship games are tomorrow. Then the World Championship game is Sunday afternoon. After that, well, Little League games are over for another year and life will return to normal.

Normal? Wait, what's that?

All the things that are coming up are going to keep things busy. I have a new book release tour starting on Monday, then I start teaching writing classes again in September, I have a Five Fall Favorites blog party coming before too long, as well as other things. So yeah, life is going to stay busy.

Oh, I did want to mention though, that if you are an author and have 1 or more books and would like to see those books as 3D images, I'm going to be making them for others for a month. After that it will probably be a while before I do it again, so now is your chance to get images. Just contact me if you are interested. You have a month from today to get your order in.

And now, here's the next part of your story. I hope you enjoy it.

Triplets

Part 6

    “Mrs. Shannon!”
    Geneva and Sofia turned and stared at their sister in confusion.
    “Grandma said to go to her if we ever needed anything. And Mrs. Shannon said the same thing. Why didn’t we think of it sooner? We’ll just call Mrs. Shannon, and I’m sure she can find out where Grandma is.”
    Sofia pulled out the cell phone. “But what if Grandma tries to call while the phone is busy?”
    “Since she hasn’t called yet, I doubt she’ll try now. Where’s the phone number?” Vienna turned to the fridge. The paper was no longer there. “What happened to that paper?”
    No one knew. Drawers were looked in, and Geneva got down on her hands and knees and peered under the fridge. No paper.
    “Then we’ll just have to go over there,” Vienna said firmly.
    “I’m not going past that scary, old building at night alone,” Geneva said, straightening her glasses which had become crooked during her search.
    “I don’t think any one should go alone,” Sofia said. “You know Dad always said to stick together when it gets dark.”
    Vienna sighed. “Then two of us can go, and the other can stay here with the phone.”
    But this suggestion didn’t meet with approval, for no one wanted to stay alone, and no one was willing to go to Mrs. Shannon’s alone, except Vienna, and her sisters protested.
    “Well, we can’t just sit around and do nothing! We’ll leave a light on and a note for Grandma, to tell her where we’ve gone. Then we’ll all go see Mrs. Shannon. But we’d better go now before she goes to bed; it’s almost ten o’clock.”
    With reluctance, Sofia and Geneva agreed. The note was written and set on the kitchen table under the salt and pepper shakers, to keep it from blowing away since the windows were open. Leaving a lamp lit in the living room, but locking the door, the triplets left the house. Geneva walked in the middle clutching a hand of each sister. Sofia held the cell phone and Vienna the flashlight. The streets were dark and quiet. Only two streetlights gave pools of light to the pavement and sidewalks, while most of the houses were wrapped in slumber or only showed a soft glow from a window. Though they had lived on the streets for several years with their dad, the girls had never been allowed to be out and about at this time of night without their dad, and they found it almost frightening.
    As they turned the corner and approached the old brick building, Vienna felt Geneva’s hand tighten on her own. “It’s okay,” she whispered, her voice sounding loud in the stillness. “It’s just an old, unused building.” Though her words sounded brave, her own heart was pounding unusually hard as she remembered the strange sounds from earlier.
    They came closer and turned on the street toward Mrs. Shannon’s. Vienna kept her face averted from the building. She didn’t want to see its shadowy form in the moonlight. Maybe they should have gone the other way, even if it was longer.
    “If it’s just an old, unused building,” Sofia breathed, and Vienna thought she detected panic in her voice, “then why is there a light coming through that side window?”
    Startled, Vienna turned her head and looked. Sofia was right, light spilled from the window near the roof and lit the leaves of the trees.
    “Let’s go!” Geneva gasped.
    Sofia needed no urging and half pulled her sisters down the street to the Shannon home. Vienna, even though she felt shivers racing along her spine, wanted to investigate. No, she didn’t want to investigate, she just wanted answers. If there was a light on, someone had to be inside. But who? And what were they doing?
    “Vivi!”
    Vienna turned reluctantly from her questions about the building to the present. “Did you ring the doorbell?” she asked in low tones.
    “N . . . no,” Geneva whimpered. “You do it.”
    Finding that Sofia had a death grip on the cell phone, Vienna pushed the glowing orange button. She could hear the chimes from the porch and cringed at the sound. Were they going to wake anyone? What if Mrs. Shannon wasn’t home? What if they had accidentally gotten the wrong house? What if–
    The porch light flashed on and the door opened. Blinking in the sudden brightness, Vienna saw a man standing before them. “Is . . . is Mrs. Shannon home?”
    “Yes.” The man looked quizzical. “And you are–?”
    “We’re Doris Brown’s granddaughters.”
    Understanding flashed over the man’s face, and he smiled. It was followed almost instantly by a look of concern. “Is something wrong?” He opened the screen door and motioned them in. “Come inside so we don’t wake up the neighborhood.”
    As Vienna stepped inside, pulling her sisters along with her, she felt the refreshing coolness of the air conditioning, and a sense that all would be okay. She even forgot, for the moment, the strange light in the brick shed.
    Mr. Shannon, as Vienna assumed him to be, motioned the girls to be seated. “Let me call Abigail.” He stepped to the bottom of the stairs and called up, “Abi, Doris Brown’s granddaughters are here.”
    “I’ll be right there!”
    He turned to the girls. “She’s coming.”
    Light feet ran down the stairs moments later, and Mrs. Shannon entered the room. “Why girls, I didn’t expect to see you so late. Is something wrong?”
    “Grandma never came home tonight,” Sofia blurted. “We’ve had the cell phone on all the time, and it’s charged, but she never called.”
    “We would have called you,” Vienna put in, “but we couldn’t find your number.”
    “And we can’t go to bed not knowing where Grandma is,” Geneva added with a sniff, squeezing her sisters’ hands as they sat side by side on the couch.
    “She hasn’t come home?” Mrs. Shannon glanced at her husband. “Did you try calling her cell phone?”
    “Grandma doesn’t have one.” Vienna stared down at her worn shoes. “She said she didn’t need one and gave it to us.”
    “Did you call her work?”
    The three girls shook their heads. “We don’t have a phone book and don’t know the number.”
    “Did she say anything about working late?” Mr. Shannon asked.
    “No.”
    “Where does she work?”
    Vienna looked at Sofia, for she couldn’t remember the name. She knew it was some dollar store. Sofia named it and the street it was on, and Mr. Shannon nodded.

Would you have felt scared walking in the dark?

What do you think is causing the strange light?

Do you want any 3D cover images?