0.5 Undead by Morning
Undead By Morning
By
Joyce and Jim Lavene
A short story in the
Taxi for the Dead Paranormal Mysteries
Copyright © 2014 Joyce and Jim Lavene
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Cover art by Emmie Anne Studios
http://www.emmieannestudios.com
Book coach and editor—Jeni Chappelle
Undead by Morning
There was a steady humming sound beside me. It was punctuated by an occasional
beep
. It blended in with a nightmare I’d been having, but I couldn’t remember what it was.
“Your turn to get the alarm, Jacob,” I muttered to my husband as I prepared to turn over and go back to sleep for a few minutes.
“Thank God! You’re finally awake!”
That was Addie’s voice—Jacob’s mother. We’d lived with her for the past few years.
“I thought we had this conversation about staying out of our bedroom,” I managed to say, my mouth strangely dry. “What does it take to get some privacy?”
Most of the time, living with Addie was okay. Just every few days she questioned me about something I was doing wrong raising our five-year-old daughter, Kate. Or she razzed me about not being the greatest cook in the world. Or she remarked on Jacob’s underwear not being as white as it could be.
Okay. Living with Addie was a
pain
.
I wished we could have our own place again. I understood that Jacob loved his mother, and knew she couldn’t run the Apple Betty Inn without him. His father was dead. There was no one else.
It didn’t make it any better.
Something wet plopped on my face. I wiped it off, forcing my eyes open to angry slits. “Are you
spraying
me with water? What the hell, Addie? Get out of our room. Jacob, tell her.”
“Skye, you have to wake up. Come back to us.”
I realized something was wrong,
very
wrong. This wasn’t any tone of Addie’s that I’d ever heard.
Forcing myself to focus, I searched her face. She was crying.
Addie is crying.
I’d never seen her cry before. She was leaning close to me, staring hard into my face, and crying.
I tried to be sympathetic, not just annoyed. “What is it, Addie? What’s wrong? Is something wrong with Kate?”
If not, there better be some damn good reason why you’re in here.
“Jacob?” She was his mother—he needed to deal with her.
“I’ve been beside myself with worry.” She wiped tears from her plain face. “Let me get the doctor. Thank heaven you’re going to be all right.”
Doctor?
Like a bad segment from a horror movie, the machines around me slowly spun into focus. I seemed to be attached to all of them. I could barely move. I tried to look around, but all I could see were more machines monitoring my vitals—and Addie’s stricken face.
“Wait! Addie!” I tried to reach out to her as she moved. My hands and arms were taped to boards that held them in place. “What’s going on? Where’s Jacob?”
She didn’t have to answer. I remembered the nightmare I’d been having before I woke up.
* * *
We’d been out for our anniversary. Jacob had sprung for a really expensive restaurant, which was normally out of reach on our combined police officer’s salaries.
We had a champagne toast. Jacob had offered to be the designated driver so I could have a few drinks.
“You’re trying to get me drunk, aren’t you?” I grinned at him as I looked into his handsome face. “You know I’m a sure thing, right? Like in Pretty Woman. I don’t need the fancy extras.”
He kissed my hand. “Maybe you don’t
need
them, but you deserve them. I’m sorry this is the best I can do in that department. You’d better take advantage of it now while you still can.”
I smiled at him. My new, blue silk dress made me feel glamorous and sexy. I could see in his loving brown eyes that he agreed.
“I’m glad Addie could babysit Kate tonight,” I whispered. “Maybe we should take advantage of that, and stay in the city overnight. We can tell her we had a flat tire or something.”
“I like that idea—except Mom has three guests staying at the inn. I don’t think that would be fair to her.” He leaned closer, and kissed my lips. “Besides, we have the turret room. Wait until you see what I’ve done with it.”
“This was carefully thought out, Officer Mertz. Another person might question your motives.” I ran my fingers through his crisp brown hair.
“Well, Officer Mertz—I’d be glad to tell you my motives,
and
my plans for the rest of the evening.” He leaned close and whispered crazy, sexy things he remembered from movies and television.
I laughed, and we kissed as the waiter brought the bill.
It was only a twenty-minute drive to our home outside Nashville. It was fun thinking about flirting and talking all the way home. I couldn’t wait to see what he’d done with the turret room. It was on the third floor of the Apple Betty Inn—a big, stone fireplace in one corner—and a huge old claw-foot tub in another. It was Addie’s most requested room.
“We’ve made it for six years, can you believe it?” I leaned against him as we left the restaurant, and headed for our practical, blue SUV. “Who knows what the next six years will bring?”
Jacob held my hand to help me into the passenger seat. “Many more evenings like this. I love you, Skye.”
“I love you too. Now, hurry up and get us home before Kate wakes up with a nightmare or a stomachache. I mean to get full value out of this evening.”
Nightmare.
It brought me spiraling back to wherever I was. Addie was there again, with a nurse and doctor beside her this time. They were looking at charts, and muttering over numbers.
“Where’s Jacob?” My voice was stronger, but I felt so weak.
Snap out of it! What’s wrong with you anyway?
“Mrs. Mertz.” The doctor’s face was serious. “We need to run a few more tests on you. Your condition is very critical. We have to find out what’s going on inside you.”
“What do you mean?” I stared at him, and then at Addie. “What’s going on? What happened? Where’s Jacob?” An uncomfortable feeling had lodged in my chest and was refusing to leave.
“I believe we’d be better off having this discussion
after
we finish the tests.” He adjusted his glasses. “It won’t take that long. I promise. Just lie back and relax.”
It was hard to breathe. I didn’t want to move, but I made myself lift my head and glare at him. “No tests. Nothing else until you tell me what’s going on. No more innuendoes. Just say it.”
Addie started crying again, soft sobs that shook her stocky frame. The doctor squirmed.
“What do you remember?” he asked.
“I remember coming out of the restaurant, and getting in the SUV to go home.”
That wasn’t exactly true.
Something was coming at us out of the fog. There were two large headlights facing us on the wrong side of the narrow, mountain road. The pine trees and rocks beside us disguised a rugged drop off into a deep ravine.