Read Under the Midnight Stars for Free Online

pulled over. “Why?”
    “Do you think he’s moving back here?” She warily eyed the overgrown wreck of a farm — the very farm that her father had been trying to unsuccessfully purchase from Zeke over the years. It didn’t matter how generous the offer, Zeke had always had the same reply, “Sorry, Roger. Come hell or high water, I ain’t sellin’.”
    “Beats me. Can we go now?” Jack sighed impatiently. His cell phone rang. He pulled it from the cup holder in the center console and answered it.
    “Hmmm.” Brielle wanted to see what Colt was up to now more than ever, wondering what explanation she could give as to why she was there. She smiled and counted exactly thirteen ones and thirty-seven cents from her apron.
    “All right, we have to go.” Jack snapped his phone shut. “I just got called into the station.”
    “Fine.” She opened the door. “I’ll see you later.”
    “What are you doing?”
    “I’m gonna say hi to Colt. Careful out there.” She climbed out and shut the car door. The humidity blasted her senses, forcing her lungs to work harder for each breath. The heavy moisture quickly dampened her skin.
    Jack lowered the passenger window. “Are you sure?”
    Leaning in the window, she reassured him. “Yes, I’m sure. Don’t worry. Colt’s a good guy.”
    After hesitating briefly, Jack sighed. “You’re right. He is a good guy. I’ll see ya later.”
    “See ya, Jack.” She turned and carefully made her way along the thick brushy path to the old run-down farmhouse, shooing away the insects stirring about her face, praying she didn’t step on a rattlesnake. She was glad to have finally reached the front porch, but frowned in dismay at its fragile appearance. She wondered if she’d fall right through it. Carefully, she tested its sturdiness with her white sneaker. Relieved it was sound, she ascended the stairs.
    The front door was slightly agape. She pushed it open, listening as it creaked loudly. Without stepping in, she peered into the creepy abandoned home. It had always given her chills driving past it, especially late at night. Because of its neglected appearance, she’d always assumed it was haunted — that the previous owners had just up and fled their doom one day.
    “Colt?” she called warily, afraid to enter.
    When he didn’t respond she turned and scanned the waist-high jungle for any movement. Seeing no sign of him anywhere, she took a deep breath and stepped into the house.
    “Colt?” she called more loudly, but was still met with an overwhelming eerie silence.
    She began to worry, wondering if the house were either haunted or a makeshift abode for some deranged maniac. Maybe Colt was lying somewhere hurt or unconscious … or dead. She gulped fearfully, eyeing the trashed living space, glad to see no apparent signs of any blood or body parts.
    Standing at the base of the stairs, she eyed the upstairs hallway. Slowly she ascended the stairs. To her immediate right was a bathroom — a foul-smelling one at that. Flies were buzzing around the toilet. Holding her breath, resisting the urge to gag, she quickly shut the door.
    To her left was a large bedroom cluttered with more debris. She continued down the hallway to another door to the right, a larger bedroom, just as littered as the previous. Seeing no signs of blood or bodies, and more importantly, seeing no maniac, she made her way to the door at the end of the hall. Unfortunately, that door was closed. Taking a deep steady breath, with a trembling hand, she reached out and turned the knob.
    The door creaked open slowly. She kicked it the remainder of the way open and peered inside. Its appearance matched the others, including being void of Colt.
    Anxiously she made her way back downstairs. She glanced down the hallway and noticed the open back door.
    “Okay,” she whispered to herself, “he must be out back.”
    She walked down the hallway, toward the kitchen. As she passed the basement door she heard a loud