by CJ Heck
Home alone, the sound of breaking glass wrenched Maggie from sleep.
Waiting, listening, afraid to breathe, her heartbeats mingled with a wooden creak as someone climbed the stairs in the hallway.
Her door was open, she thought. Oh my God! The door was open!
Icy tendrils of fear prickled the nape of her neck, yanking the wisps of hair and standing them on end.
Perspiration beaded her forehead and neck, the little runnels slipping down between her breasts, soaking the front of her nightgown.
Suddenly a shot rang out in the darkness. The bold flash was all at once blinding. Her ears were stunned to silence and a scream tore from her throat.
She waited in the hushed gloom, her eyes again adjusting to the night.
The smell of burnt gunpowder and blood filled the air and it was nauseating.
Afraid of the dark, but more afraid of turning on a light, she picked up the phone and dialed.
“Nine-One-One. What is your emergency?”
“1010 Hilltop Drive. Help me! I’ve just shot an intruder. Hurry! Please hurry!”
Smoke clung to her like a shroud, its gray wisps still rising from the trembling .38 as Maggie crept through the doorway and into the hall to wait ...
[From the Book, "Bits and Pieces", by CJ Heck]
“A writer soon learns that easy to read is hard to write.” ~CJ Heck
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