The Haunting of Anna McAlister Read Online Free PDF Page B

and was remembered.  
    Anna saw herself looking down at her body. She was naked and covered with blood. Her stomach was ripped open, and the skin was pulled back to reveal what was inside. She then saw a girl’s wrist being tied with some sort of wire. The wire was tightened until it cut to the bone. Anna felt the searing pain. She saw others, young women and men being tortured, tied, raped and killed. She saw herself dead.
    Anna screamed and screamed and screamed. She couldn’t breath. She saw a knife. She felt it penetrating her body. Again ungodly pain. The knife turned slowly inside her.. Anna saw blood splattering against a wall, a ceiling and a face. It was a man’s face. She knew this man. He was smiling. He had given her the box.  
    Blood filled Anna’s eyes. Screaming. So much screaming. So much pain. Then, Anna saw and felt nothing at all.

 
    Chapter 5
     
    “Anna. Anna, darling,” a voice broke into the darkness in which Anna dwelled. She liked it. It was safe. She could hide.  
    “Wake up, Anna.”
    At the sound of those words, Anna started to scream. She waited for the pain to begin again. The voice . . . his voice . . . Its voice. She felt for the blood. “No! No! No! No! No!”
    Strong arms grabbed her and held her. She was shaking uncontrollably. She started to urinate.
    “Anna! What are you doing?”  
    Anna dug her nails into the side of Tom’s face and pulled down, tearing away small ribbons of skin.
    “Anna, stop!” Tom ducked away. “It’s just me, for Christ’s sake.”
    Anna focused on the voice that she now recognized as being Tom’s. She was awake and suddenly acutely aware that she was in her dining room and quite wet.  
    “I’m so sorry, Tom,” Anna looked at the shallow scratches on Tom’s face. “I thought you were. . . ”
    Anna was about to say a name, but it was lost before she could complete her thought.
    “Who did you think was?” Tom patted his face and checked his hand for blood.  
    “I don’t know,” Anna started to cry. “I don’t remember.” She touched his face. “I’m so sorry.”
    “You have to do something about those dreams,” Tom laughed softly and hugged her close. “And those pee-dyed jeans.” he pulled away slightly and laughed a bit louder.
    After changing her clothes, Anna changed their dinner plans. “We’re going out,” she announced.
    “I thought you bought steaks.” Tom sounded disappointed.
    Anna gave him a look that made his tune change on the spot. “I hate steaks. Out it is.”
    As soon as they walked downstairs, Anna grabbed her car keys and made for the door.  
    * * *
    Anna drove, and kept driving. Neither she nor Tom said a word until 15 minutes had passed.  
    “Do you have any idea where you’re going?”
    Tom had to ask the question twice again before Anna responded with a harsh and clipped, “No.”
    “Okay.” Tom looked back at the road. “I was just kind of wondering.”  
    “I’m sorry,” Anna apologized. She had been thinking about only two things. The music boxes and escape.  
    “Honey, are you sure you’re okay?” Tom touched her arm and stepped softly into the conversation. “I mean these dreams and all? What’s going on?”
    Anna just shook her head and drove faster.
    * * *
    All was quiet in Anna’s house, but it was far from empty. Then, the silence was broken when a single music box began to play.
    * * *
    “It’s the music boxes, Tom,” Anna said while stirring way too much sugar into a cup of coffee.  
    The diner where they finally stopped was an old converted railroad car. It was uncomfortably small and packed full of people and noises. The juke box was blaring out “Stand By Your Man” and the two waitresses were alternately screaming orders to the unseen cook in the back and calling every male customer sweetie . It was just the kind of place Anna was looking for. She finally felt a little safer, at least safe enough to talk.  
    “I don’t think what’s happening is a