Continued from scene twenty-five
“Why did you choose Isabella?”
“She was my friend, and we had a pact stating the other could use our body as a verifiable should we die at home. It’s not uncommon. Shifters do it all the time, and it’s the only way to get a verifiable body as the death is never reported. In other words, there is no doppelgänger problem.
“What happened?”
“Pneumonia, three years ago. It caught us all off guard. She was the picture of health, as you can see.”
I grinned at that.
“Do her parents know?”
“Horace does. Her mother Nelly was killed in a car accident.”
“His name sounds familiar.”
“It should. Remember the laughs he got from his reptilian joke the night you fainted.”
“Horace Turbeville, the old jokester himself.”
“He meant no harm, and he thinks the world of you. Laughter helps him cope. He fell into a deep depression after Isabella died. It was over a year before I saw him smile. I can’t say as I smiled much either that year.”
“It must be weird for him to see you in her body.”
“On the contrary, our families were very close. And Horace and I are the only ones left. Mom, Dad, and Ethan Wright, Isabella’s husband, were also in the car the night Nelly died. Ethan volunteered to take them home after an Elysian meeting while Horace, Isabella, and I cleaned up. Dad was Chief back then.
“Thanks for telling me. It means a lot to have you finally open up.”
“You’re welcome. Now we need to get off this emotional roller coaster. I have a wedding to plan.”
I took her place by the window as she picked up the phone.
“Linda, we’ve moved the wedding up to Halloween. Can my maid of honor pull off a miracle?”
I don’t know what Linda said, but the laughter coming from Karen was music to my ears. As they talked, I looked out the window and I saw two white crosses nestled inside the tree line. I’m not sure how I missed seeing them before.
Shift is an online work of fiction.
This is the first draft of my manuscript Shift – Don’t judge a book by its cover. I am writing it online in sections as I go. So feel free to comment, good or bad. If you see mistakes, point them out.
The story centers around shapeshifting.
I’m currently working on chapter nine.
Timothy French 