The Gift of Illusion: A Thriller Read Online Free PDF Page A

Fairway
at the park.”
    “She was at the park by herself? Where was Mrs. Mills?”
    “I don’t think Lori ever went next door. I
haven’t talked to Brenda yet about it either. But the fact that she
was at the park by herself isn’t what’s worrying me. It’s the way
she acted when I found her. She never said a word, even though it
felt like she wanted to. Do you understand?”
    James shook his head. "No."
    “You should have seen her. Her face was pale
white. Her eyes were so glossy you would have thought they’d turned
to glass. At one point, I stopped yelling and just stared at her.
And she just stared back, with her mouth open, like she didn’t
remember who I was.”
     
    10
     
    Carol lay in bed with her eyes open. She
turned and looked over at the illuminated alarm clock sitting on
the nightstand.
    It was almost midnight.
    For at least an hour, she tried to clear her
thoughts, tried not to worry about her daughter. But right as she
would fall asleep, a horrible vision would pop into her
head—visions of disease, some even of death. Afterward, her heart
would race, her lungs would tighten, and her eyes would be open
again.
    Fifteen minutes had passed before Carol
finally decided to close her eyes again, and that’s when she heard
the footsteps in the hallway.
    She sat up in bed and listened.
    The footsteps moved closer.
    The hallway light now shined from underneath
the door.
    Carol looked over at James sleeping soundly
beside her and wondered whether to wake him, but before she could
finish pondering, the bedroom door cracked open and her daughter
emerged in the light.
    “Lori,” Carol whispered. “What are you still
doing up? You should be in bed.”
    “I can’t get to sleep,” Lori said
softly.
    “Is there anything I can do?”
    “Can you come tuck me in?”
    “Oh, sure, honey,” she said, swinging her
legs off the bed. It had been weeks since she had last tucked her
daughter in. She missed it.
    James woke, rolled over, and asked: “Where
are you going?”
    “I’ll be right back.”
    Lori was already lying in her bed when her
mother entered the room. Carol walked over to the bed and grabbed
the sheets to pull over her daughter.
    “I’m glad you decided to talk to me,” she
said. “I was getting worried about you.”
    “Don’t worry, Mommy. I’m fine.”
    “That’s good to hear. Would you like a kiss,
too?”
    Lori nodded.
    Carol smiled and leaned over to kiss her
daughter.
     
    11
     
    Not seconds after her mother left the room,
Lori started to feel different.
    Every nerve in her body tingled in an
uncontrollable dance. Her hands shook incessantly like branches on
a tree with the coming of a violent storm. She could feel her heart
pounding inside her chest. The room became piping hot and within a
matter of seconds sweat gleamed atop her body.
    She jumped out of bed and opened a window.
The sixty-five degree temperature outside did little to cool her
and her skin acted as a repellent to the wind. She collapsed back
on the bed and gasped for air. Her bed sheets became saturated with
sweat as the room temperature continued to rise. Her whole body
shook, every muscle vibrating back and forth like an anarchic
guitar string.
    Heat rushed to the surface of her body.
    Skin blistered, popped.
    Her bladder released some of the building
pressure and a puddle of urine soiled the white sheets between her
thighs.
    She could no longer hear the breeze rustling
through the curtains. All she could hear was her heart pounding
faster and faster and louder and louder inside her chest.
    Until the darkness overwhelmed her, and
silence everlasting

Chapter Two
     
    1
     
    Elmwood Police Department.
    “Winters,” called Police Chief Donald
Stevens from across the building.
    Isaac grabbed a cup of coffee and made his
way to the other end of the precinct. Stevens sat down behind his
desk as Isaac arrived at the doorway.
    “Take a seat,” said the husky black man with
a thick, boisterous mustache.
    Isaac sat