Abasteron House

By Paula Cappa

Come to the Abasteron House by the sea ... at low tide ... in a dead calm ... Is there something haunting the attic?

Readers' comments: “I loved this–the writing, the pace, the detail, the word choices. A haunting tale with an underlying thread that stays with you.”

"Haunting is certainly true of this piece."

"Great tale. If you like ghost stories, worth reading this short but chilly tale. Love the little scare tucked neatly into the final line, and an effective one at that.”

“Very good indeed, creating an electric atmosphere from the opening lines.”

"An engaging read."

“Brilliantly depicted.”

This short story (flash fiction) was originally published at Every Day Fiction. Paula Cappa is the recipient of an Eric Hoffer Book Award, Readers' Favorite International Bronze Medal for supernatural suspense, and a Gothic Readers Book Club Award Winner.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paula Cappa
• Release date: Aug 23, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301199839

Paula Cappa

Paula Cappa is the recipient of the Gold Medal at Global Book Awards, the Chanticleer Book Award, and American Book Fest's Best Books Award Finalist for her novel Greylock. She also earned the prestigious Eric Hoffer Book Award, The Silver Medal at Global Book Awards, The Readers' Favorite International Bronze Medal for Supernatural Suspense, and is a Gothic Readers Book Club Award Winner in Outstanding Fiction. She is the author of Greylock, The Dazzling Darkness, and Night Sea Journey—print editions published by Crispin Books, Milwaukee WI. Night Sea Journey was featured as an on-air reading at Riverwest Radio, Fearless Reader Radio in Wisconsin. Cappa's short fiction has appeared in ParABnormal Magazine, Coffin Bell Literary Journal, Unfading Daydream, Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine, Whistling Shade Literary Journal, SmokeLong Quarterly, Sirens Call Ezine, Every Day Fiction, Fiction365, Twilight Times Ezine, and in anthologies Journals of Horror: Found Fiction, Mystery Time, and Human Writes Literary Journal. She is a freelance copy editor and writes a short story blog, Reading Fiction, at paulacappa.wordpress.com. Paula Cappa is Co-Chair of the Pound Ridge Authors Society in Pound Ridge, NY.

Book preview

ABASTERON HOUSE

A short story

by

Paula Cappa

Publisher’s Note

Published by Paula Cappa on Smashwords.

Copyright © 2013 by Paula Cappa.

This short story (flash fiction) was originally published by Every Day Fiction in March 2013.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, locations, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without prior written permission of the publisher and copyright owners.

The fall of noon. That’s what Grandfather called it. I never really understood how noontime could actually fall, but he liked to say it that way. Evening rises, was another. Morning booms, he’d greet the day.

My childhood summers at Abasteron House by the sea were filled with colorful sunsets, juicy blackberries off the backyard vine, and sea-lavender abundant in my bedroom. Late at night, Grandfather would wake me and point to the window.

See the waves shining under moony light. Observe! The shivering flakes of night.

Poetic, yes, but Grandfather was a genealogist. He tracked family origins, tracing ancestry back through the centuries. He especially enjoyed the history of angels and demons; he spent his life teaching the evolution of their mythologies from primary cultures to the Age of Reason.

Look, Davida, he’d say sweetly. "The sea’s wind leaves ancient face prints on