Her Chance Encounters Read Online Free PDF

well concealed by the blackness. The child must not be spooked easily. Even though she was a grown woman, Adrienne could not help but feel threatened. It was almost as if a powerful force was guarding the house, warning off all strangers.
    Adrienne made herself push past her concern. There was a young child roaming around the old house. She had to find her. The lumber of the rickety old front porch groaned as she ventured up its stairs. Half expecting to fall through a rotten piece of wood, she let her eyes adjust to the light provided by her car.
    "Cherice, this house does not look safe. You really need to come out of there right now, before you get hurt." She used her principal tone, honed from years of training to deal with children.
    Adrienne's fingers reached up to clasp the door handle of the old oak front door. She swiftly yanked it back when a rather large spider scampered across the cool surface. Swallowing back a curse, Adrienne stood back so the lights from the car shone directly on the handle. It was covered with cobwebs and dead insects. No one had used this entrance in quite a while. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Something was extremely strange about this whole situation. How did the child get inside if she had not used this doorway?
    "The window," the principal reasoned. There were several large, framed windows along the wooden porch. Adrienne carefully examined each of them. They were infested with cobwebs and showed no signs of being disturbed recently. "Okay, not the windows," she muttered, refusing to give into the urge to flee.
    She probably went through a back entrance. Without the car's headlights, the back of the structure was pitch black. Far off the flares of the oil refinery shone in the distance. She had to use her fingers to guide her. This entrance was on the ground level. A double glass door was positioned near the middle of another porch. The glass felt cool against her damp forehead as Adrienne pressed her face against it to study inside. It took a while for her eyes to adjust, but she did manage to discover old furniture cluttering the main hallway. Cherice could be hiding behind any number of things there.
    The glass doors proved to be locked shut. The rear windows had been sealed by wooden hurricane shutters. Adrienne felt defeated. Even if she did manage to get inside, without a flashlight, it would take her hours to search the old house. Things really were looking hopeless. Her only hope was to get the child to come back outside on her own accord.
    "Cherice, this is ridiculous. Stop playing games. Come out here this instant." Many a student and quite a few adults rushed to listen when she used that authoritarian tone. Knocking on the glass panels, Adrienne's eyes scanned the shadows inside. "You don't belong here."
    Behind her, a tall figure slowly moved toward Adrienne's location without a sound. Unaware of the danger, when the person addressed her in a grave tone, she screamed and jumped several inches. "You are the one who does not belong here," he spat back. Adrienne spun around so fast, she nearly lost her footing. "Who are you, lady? What the hell are you doing on my property?
    Blinded by the glare of the intruder’s flashlight, she instinctively raised her arm to shield her eyes. Would the craziness of this night ever end? "Your land?" she stuttered. "Unless you're the ghost of Stanislaus Hymel, I really don't see how that could be." The last comment was more to herself than the person standing in front of her.
    "Adrienne, is that you?" the voice boomed.
    "Uncle Stanislaus?" Adrienne whispered, wishing she would wake up from this horrible dream.
    Lowering her arm, she attempted to focus on the face of the man. The beam of his flashlight bobbed up and down as he approached. Recognition finally dawned, and she threw herself into the man's strong arms. "Chance, oh, thank goodness. I am so glad it's you. You had me terrified for a moment." Then his earlier comment