Alright, I did it. I decided to enter the challenge... I just couldn't stay away!
But, this intro decided to grab at me and generate a delicious idea in my head. So, I figured I'd share it with you.

To refresh your memory, here's the wonderfully intriguing intro:


Something whispery soft and sticky tickled her face and she jumped back in disgust, wiping the remnants of the spider web from her skin. She shuddered with distaste and peered into the gloomy interior of the abandoned house. She’d come here on a whim – following a nearly non-existent lead on a case that was rapidly turning cold – and now she was regretting it. She should have reported in. Waited for someone to come with her. The flashlight she had brought was next to useless – it’s weak beam barely highlighting the dust particles that rose into the air as she walked down the hallway. There was just enough light to make out the dust-covered furniture in the expansive great room. Her imagination began to run wild as her eyes skirted over the grotesque shapes. A couch or settee, a table…even a grand piano – all cascaded with stark white sheets that fluttered eerily in the autumn breeze coming in from the front door which she had carefully left open.

“There are no such things as ghosts,” she told herself sternly, forcing one foot in front of the other as she moved into the shrouded room. She was here, she might as well do a preliminary check and then, if she found what she was hoping to, she’d go back to the car and call in. Unable to shake the creepy feeling that was only growing with each second she spent in the deserted house, she carefully directed her flashlight around the perimeter of the room first. Determined to take her time and do a thorough job she failed to notice two things. First, the dust-smudged footprint in front of the piano and second, the sudden blast of wind that shut the door with a resounding thud.


AND, here's where the ride begins...

She wrapped her arm around her torso, trying to warm herself against the heavy wind that passed through the room. It lessened, and she could have sworn that she felt a thud resonate through the hard wood floor. This place is just giving me the jitters. There’s no one else here. A faint burst of air brushed against her cheek, as though someone across the room had shaken out a gigantic rug, Slowly, she crossed toward the direction of the breeze. Her flashlight flickered, and she smacked it desperately against the palm of her hand. The beam returned. Weaker than before, but steady. She was about 2 miles from the main road; there were a few streetlights out there, but they did nothing to illuminate the eerily empty house.

Vibrations suddenly wracked the floor—fluid, but violent. No, not an earthquake. The house stood still; only the floor shook beneath her, not strongly enough to be anything outside the house. Something inside had caused it.

Her flashlight went dead.
*****

Intriguing start, waiting for more

very intriguing

looking forward to more

cath

Geez, Lizzy...you better not leave it there very long...no sight, no sound...makes me really scared for our Sue.

Seriously, great start...I'm nervous.

I'm already back here!!

Sam

yeah me to

Glad you entered the challenge, Lizzy.

WOW what a start......keep going I want more please


~laura michelle~

I'm sooo glad to see you here writing another story!!


Her flashlight went out?!!! Yikes!! Can't wait for more!

You have me hooked!!!

Joy

I'll sit by Trace - hot chocolate?

Glad to see you Lizzy!

The startling vibrations continued, and Sue cautiously continued toward their source. If she remembered correctly, she was headed in the same direction as before, towards the center of the draft, which had since subsided. As the vibrations strengthened, each nerve ending in her body stood on high alert. With the darkness, she was lost, as with every passing second, fear intensified within her. Her instinct told her to run, hide, crawl up into a ball, but her training reminded her of the case she was trying to crack.

The crime was severe. They had a serial killer just one step ahead of them. They’d gotten close, but he’d gotten even closer. Every time they had him, he slipped out of their fingers. They had never seen his face, but he had seen theirs. He sent them photos, anonymous, always void of fingerprints. He watched them, snapped shots of them, capturing moments from breakfast in the morning to driving home at night.

He’d already killed twelve women, and he continued to capture and kill them, even whilst torturing them, as a team. Each day that he’d send a new letter, a new photograph, there would be another victim. They’d come to deeply dread the days when a new manila envelope would arrive. The writing would always be different, but they’d always know it was him. By the time the mail was in their hands, the next woman was already dead, a woman they couldn’t save.

They had twelve photographs, one of each of the guys, two of Tara, two of Lucy, and one of Sue. Obviously, he enjoyed the women. God forbid there’d be another victim, it was obvious that the next picture would be of Sue. He’d honed in on the women, the “vulnerable;” he knew it infuriated the men to no end, and he told them so in his letters.

The woman is mine. There is nothing you are capable of that can save her.

That was the last note; there was no set time he waited for. He killed randomly, and he killed random women. He left no clues behind. The only way they could connect the murders was by the mail he sent.

He addressed them from the location where each body was left.

With an echoing clack, the last bit of light within a two mile radius was obliterated. Sue couldn’t hear the sound, but she could see the difference. Each curtain in the windows surrounding the room dropped in one moment. Uniformly, their descent cut off the light from those distant streetlamps.

If it was possible the room was even darker than before. Blackness surrounded her.

The vibrations continued.
*****

What is causing the vibrations, Is it an earthquake?

Dianna

eekk!! This is creepy, I'd be running away from it not searching it out, is sue okay? I'm sure that jack will rescue her and then everything will be again! Great start, I love it!!

XOXOXO,
Chrissy

Wow great post I need to already

great post, hope they catch the sicko soon

cath

Much as I would like to think so too, DC isn't really in the earthquake zone.

Lizzie, it isn't him, is it??

I hope they catch the nutcase soon and be careful Sue and I want my mummy!!!!

Sam

ok this si absolutly creeping me out

i love it

If the killer doesn't get Sue, Jack is going to kill her for going into that house by herself!!!

Joy

Lizzy, I've been waiting for something from you!!! I adore your writing!!! The detail you've included is just astounding!!! Is the vibration music (the creepy kind freaky killers play when they are stalking their victim)??? As if it was him speaking, it wouldn't be loud enough for her to feel the vibrations.

Come back and tell us!!!!

Jen

Scary!!!!! This is amazing! I am so excited you decided to enter the challenge Now... can I with someone? I think I need a hand to hold.

Em

The next photograph would be the last thing they’d expect. It was obvious that they expected one of Sue… but they expected one of her alive.

They were in for a surprise.

He continued to play the rattling old piano, and watched as Sue struggled around the room. She was searching for him, not knowing what, or where, he was. She was terrified. He could hear the strains of silence ringing in her deaf ears. He could see the fingers of darkness wrapping around her beautiful neck. A mere squeeze, and that loveliness would be lost.

He relished the idea.

Continuing to play, he lifted one hand to adjust the goggles on his face. With them, the night was no hindrance; he could see through the dark. He could stalk his prey from the piano bench, watching and waiting for her to find him. It was destiny.

She was his.
*****

I am staying here

Great post

I've decided this is one I definitely should NOT read before bedtime!!!

Ahhhhhh!!!!!!! Where is the rest of the team?!?!?!?!?!

I'm still here... and I'm staying here until Sue is safe!

Em

MOG...What the heck is going on......HELP


~laura michelle~

Florida isn't either but we had a 6.7 one in the Gulf about a month ago that I felt and I understand they felt it all the way into S. Carolina, so while it is not probable it is possible

Dianna

yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cath

Where is Jack???

Sam

Lizzy!!!! This is so very creepy! I'm glad that I'm reading this in the morning rather than at night (Thanks to Janet for warning me that might not be a good idea )...it isn't quite daylight yet, but it will be soon, at least...

Very suspensefully written so far!

Okay, I'm going on record as saying I'll be reading all my posts in the daylight. Lizzy, you're creeping me out and doing a fantastic job...why do I think that's what you were intending. Well you've accomplished it well.

Ummmm, is this going to be a short story?

I'm reading this in the daylight and it's still creeping me out.

Wonderful job with the suspense, Lizzy.

that's so creepy

A little snippet...
*****

Her heel caught on something soft, like fabric. Cautiously bending to the floor, her fingers were covered in the coarse sheet. Sheet? Then it clicked. It must have been covering something. When I first came in, they were draped over everything. Now…

It made sense. The breeze she’d felt? If the wind had caught on the sheet, it would have blown off whatever furniture it had covered.

She nervously blew out a ragged breath. I left the door open. It was a windy night. That explains it.

Sue picked up an end of the sheet, her hands following its path to the other end. It led her back down to the floor. The other edge was caught underneath a thin... leg. Her blood ran cold, as her fingers froze around the sheet, clutching it in fear. She didn’t even realize that the vibrations had stopped.
*****

Now, Lizzy....(taps foot impatiently) you aren't going to tease us through this whole story are you? Do I need to wait several days before checking back????????? Or should I just go ahead and take another blood pressure pill and chill?

Come on back and post us a full-length post.....ending with Jack swooping in to save the day, errr...night....whatever. JUST SAVE SUE!!!!!

Now, flip, a post like that would ruin all the fun....



With a little investigation and a lot of courage, she realized the leg was one of four. The piano bench,Sue reminded herself. She had seen the grand piano before her flashlight died. Reluctantly releasing the breath she’d been holding, she dropped the sheet she was still clutching. She grasped the edge of the piano bench, rising, then sitting. It felt so good to sit down and relax.

She felt better oriented, now that she’d found the piano. It had a sense of familiarity to it, and the fear that had gripped her lessened. The dark wasn’t so frightening now, despite the fact that she had no idea where the front door was.

Scooting to the center of the seat, she reached out to feel for the piano. The lid usually covering the keys had already been lifted, as if it were ready, waiting for her. Her hands skimmed the ivory blocks, searching for what she thought was middle C. She didn’t know many songs, but she knew a few. Eerily appropriate, she began to play Silent Night.

As she played the aged instrument, her relief made her forget the pieces of the puzzle already presented to her. The curtains dropping altogether… the vibrations in the floor… and the pieces she was so oblivious to—the footprint, the slammed door... She had no idea there were predatory eyes trained on her, piercing through the darkness, watching her every move. She had no idea that the very man drawing her deeper and deeper into his plot had just been sitting where she was, playing the same piano, generating the same vibrations she was at that moment.

The man in the corner smiled. She would wake up to every exit locked, every window sealed, unbreakable. She would be trapped, and the solace she felt at that moment could not save her from her ugly fate. Death would be sweet, a relief. She would be desperately yearning for it, by the time she was released. No, not released to life. Released to the depths of death.
*****

OMG where have I been, to have missed the beginning of this story.

I hope Jack comes to Sue's rescue.

Can't wait for more

oh yikes

cath

Okay I am staying put Tell me when's it's safe to come out

You're right, Lizzy...What would be the fun in saving Sue so quickly? Go ahead...keep her held hostage...full of fear...frightened beyone belief....having no hope of surviving.....

I'll just sit under here and read.

okay this is really creeping me out!!

post soon!!

WOW very suspencefull......

~laura michelle~

This guy is too creepy!!!

Lizzy, while it's good to see a story from you, I didn't realize this one would scare the you-know-what out of me! GREAT start to your story, and I can't wait for more!

AHHH!! Poor Sue.. I'm almost as scared as she is. What a creepy, horrible man! I see you down there, Lizzy, another post maybe?

Wow, Lizzie, those were really spooky snippets and posts!! I'm having goosebumps all over!! I think I need my teddy.. Or panda, in this case..

Lizzy this is really creepy!!!

Sam

ok did i tell ya that this is creeping me out.....well it really is.


wow what a halloween story.....