Chapter 2

When I arrived back at my house, the crazy woman’s words were still whirling around in my mind. What did Madam Dianne mean when she said that something terrible was looming ahead of me?

I walked up the pathway toward my front door. As I passed the large lilac tree in the front yard, I saw what looked like a hand jutting out into view on the porch.

I caught my breath, the woman’s words foremost in my mind. I was scared to get a glimpse of what was waiting for me at the front door. With the bushes obstructing most of the porch, I couldn’t see enough of the object to figure out what I was staring at from a distance. When I was just a few steps away, a corpse came into view.

I stumbled backward in horror. A motionless body lay sprawled out in front of the door to my house.

I gingerly approached the body, my heart beating fast. At that moment, my two cats ran up to me and meowed. Hawthorn looked up at me and hissed before looking back down at the body. The ginger and white cat, Willow, hissed at the body and then darted off into the bushes.

I forced myself to look at the body. The pale, bluish tone of the body’s skin caused my skin to crawl. I reached for the man’s wrist and touched it with two fingers. There was no pulse, but the body was so cold that it sent shivers down my spine.

I shook my head and tried to think what to do next. The first thing that crossed my mind was that my house might have killed the man. Perhaps he was robbing the house, and the house spat him out a little too violently. I shuddered at the thought. And what about the cats? They were reacting weirdly. “What did you do now?” I asked the house.

Obviously, I had to call the cops, but I figured I should get help from my neighbor, Camino, first. If the house had something to do with it, I needed to speak to her before the cops looked around.

I took off next door to the elderly woman’s home. When the front door opened, Camino stood there, her hair up in curlers as she greeted me with a big smile. “Hello, there. Wait, what’s wrong?” She motioned for me to come inside.

I shook my head and swallowed the lump in my throat. “I just got home and found a man lying on my front porch. His skin was pale and cold. He doesn’t have a pulse. He’s dead! What if the house did it?” I covered my face with my hands and then massaged my temples.

Camino, however, seemed to take the news calmly. “Well, I can assure you that your house had nothing to do with that,” she said slowly. “Houses don’t kill people. Not even yours.”

“Maybe it’s not just the house,” I said with mounting hysteria. “What if the cats did it?”

Camino shook her head. “Your familiars certainly aren’t to blame, either,” she said. “They are spiritual creatures that can sense things that you and I just don’t understand until it’s too late. They were probably watching over the body.”

I sighed. “Well, who is that man and why is he on my front porch?”

“That’s something that I couldn’t possibly answer. Have you ever met this man before?” she asked me. “Perhaps he had business for the store or something?”

“I don’t believe so,” I replied. “Anyway, what do we do now?”

Camino frowned. “You haven’t called the police?”

I shook my head, feeling like an idiot. “No, I wanted to speak to you first. I was worried that the house did it. I mean, what if he was robbing the place and the house overreacted?”

“I’m sure the house didn’t do it,” she said, “but let’s go back and have a look before you call them.”

We got back to find the cats were still on the porch, but rather than being calm and quiet like earlier, Hawthorn was happily chasing Willow around, leaping to and fro as if the body wasn’t even there.

“At first, all I could see was what looked like a hand sticking out. I guess I’m happy that it wasn’t just a hand, though,” I added.

“Did you happen to see any marks or anything on the body?” Camino asked, crouching beside the corpse.

“No, I didn’t, but this means that Madam Dianne was right,” I said.

Camino raised an eyebrow. “Who is Madam Dianne?”

“Oh, she’s the woman that opened the psychic store in town. She told me that she saw something terrible ahead of me. This must be what she meant.”

Camino sighed and shook her head. “That woman is probably selling a load of nonsense and nothing more. I wouldn’t lend any credence to her words.”

I bit my lip. “Maybe, since she did get everything else wrong, but it’s still a strange coincidence, isn’t it?”

“Aren’t all coincidences strange?” Camino replied.

“I guess so, but it’s still a bit spooky.”

Camino shrugged. “At any rate, the house didn’t do this,” she said. “Call the police now.”

I pulled my cell phone from my jeans pocket and made the call. After several rings, a voice greeted me on the other end. “Bayberry Creek police. How may I help you?”

“I just came home to find a dead body on my front porch!” I said.