Dead-Ringer Ghost Paranormal Mystery Novelette — Elizabeth Eagan-Cox

Tulah Dorsey goes home to Fredericksburg, Virginia to bury her father. Her return, difficult as is, becomes even more challenging when her cousin wants to reopen the century-old mystery of the Dead-Ringer Ghost and use Tulah's unique talents of empathic energy to solve the case: What was that noise? Footsteps? Tapping? My eyes opened. Footsteps? I sprang up in bed, sitting still, listening. "Nothing, nothing," I whispered into the darkness. I laid back down, pulled the covers over my head and slept, falling deep into the unknown of another world. Cool air kissed my cheek and a watery mist blew onto my face. My eyes fluttered open. A sudden chill caused me to shudder and with my heart racing, I squinched my eyes shut and in a desperate effort to calm myself, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. I counted to twenty using my childhood hide-an-seek mode of saying one Mississippi, two Mississippi…. Deliberately pronouncing each syllable in a rhythmic snail's pace, until I reached my goal. Open your eyes, Tulah. Water splashed onto my bare feet. I looked down and wiggled my toes. Hmmm. This feels good, it feels right to squish the cool dirt between my toes. The tide withdrew and then lazily came back, encircling my toes, surrounding my feet, swallowing my ankles. Where did my feet disappear to? Bubbles of laughter rose from my stomach up into my throat and spilled out of my mouth. "How silly is this?" I asked aloud. The water withdrew and I followed it with my eyes, settling my sight on the horizon. A river. I'm at a river, standing on the riverbank, dressed only in my pajamas, and bare feet.