Between the Darkness and the Dawn, A Short Story

By Paula Cappa

Come visit the Old Manse. Does the ghost of author Nathaniel Hawthorne stalk the front parlor? Edward Fane, ley line hunter aims to find out. Armed with his EMF meters, Edward tests the Old Manse for ghosts that might be streaming the reported ley lines in historic Concord, Massachusetts. What Edward finds is more than just the ghost of Mr. Hawthorne. Edward finds a mysterious woman from Hawthorne’s yesterdays. In this supernatural mystery, more than just shadows exist between the darkness and the dawn. This historical ghost story was originally published by Whistling Shade Literary Journal. From the award-winning and best-selling author of The Dazzling Darkness, a Readers' Favorite Bronze Medal Winner. "Concord, Massachusetts--a town that appears very much today as it did hundreds of years ago--is the perfect setting for a tale of the mingling of time periods. Cappa's "Between Darkness and Dawn" is as nuanced and atmospheric as the stories of Hawthorne himself. Mesmerizing." --Erika Robuck, author of House of Hawthorne: A Novel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paula Cappa
• Release date: Nov 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311842053

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

Between the Darkness and the Dawn

A Short Story

By

Paula Cappa

Copyright © 2014, Paula Cappa

All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced in any form without permission from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

This is a work of fiction.

Between the Darkness and the Dawn was originally published at Whistling Shade Literary Journal, Fall/Winter 2013, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN.

Story cover designed by Gina Casey. Visit her web site at ginacaseydesign.com.

Between the Darkness and the Dawn

Inside the cuff of my dream, within this sluggish consciousness like a muddy river, words release into my ear: ‘What a singular moment is the first one, when you have hardly begun to recollect yourself, after starting from midnight slumber.’

The church clock strikes with heavy clangs. One, two, three …‘the dead are lying in their cold shrouds and narrow coffins’ … four, five, six … ‘yesterday has already vanished among the shadows of the past’ … seven, eight, nine… ‘tomorrow has not yet emerged from the future.’ The seconds pass into a deep quiet. How pleasant the solitude: the rise and fall of my own warm breath beneath the covers, curling me back into that soft space. A distant knock dissipates the last fragments of sleep.

Mr. Fane? Sir, breakfast is here.

Now I am irrevocably awake. I bolt up, focusing my thoughts on the reality of the day. I had arranged for room service to deliver my breakfast at nine o’clock, after my morning shower. I glance at my electrical equipment: cell phone, laptop, three trifield meters all charged and ready. I tie on my robe, rake down my hair, and open the door.

Good morning, sir, the housemaid says, dressed in a costume of long dress with a white apron and lace cap.

The Colonial Inn is famous for their authentic style and