In the Dead of Winter

By Madisynn Silverstein

It was a dark and stormy night, yeah, no that’s not right. It was “dark and stormy” but that was only because it happened in the middle of winter. What else was the weather supposed to be like bright and sunny? Please. You should know by now that line is just a scare tactic nine times out of ten though this is a horror story of the truest form. One that I never could have imagined let alone would have seen coming; I never thought it could end like this, nobody did. My name is Paige. I’m just your average twenty two year old woman. I was normal before all this. I work, or rather used to before all murders happened, in a rustic little restaurant called Mama Bear’s Cabin. Well it was a coffee shop slash cafe that served amazing pastas for dinner but you get the idea. I was normal and happy in my old life. Everything was prefect, at least that's what I thought when everything went horribly wrong.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Madisynn Silverstein
• Release date: Apr 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310444869

Madisynn Silverstein

I don't particularly care to talk about myself. All I can say is that writing is my passion and I suppose that is all that really needs to be said.

Book preview

Prologue

It was a dark and stormy night, yeah, no that’s not right. It was dark and stormy but that was only because it happened in the middle of winter. What else was the weather supposed to be like bright and sunny? Please. You should know by now that line is just a scare tactic nine times out of ten though this is a horror story of the truest form. One that I never could have imagined let alone would have seen coming; I never thought it could end like this, nobody did. My name is Paige. I’m just your average twenty two year old woman. I was normal before all this. I work, or rather used to before all murders happened, in a rustic little restaurant called Mama Bear’s Cabin. Well it was a coffee shop slash cafe that served amazing pastas for dinner but you get the idea. I was normal and happy in my old life. Everything was prefect, at least that's what I thought when everything went horribly wrong.

I lived in this backwoods one horse town in California called Crestline. It was a beautiful mountain town where everyone knew everyone. Except for me, I was the odd child who stayed away from everyone. I lived there my whole life then when I turned sixteen I started working at Mama Bear’s as a bus girl. Afterwards I moved up the ranks until I became a waitress. Now no one was surprised I worked at Mama Bear’s I mean it was a cozy place that made bookworm types like me feel at home it was like Starbucks meets Panera but better. Warm natural colors such as Sage green and Mocha brown covered the walls and trim of the cafe. There were pictures of fancy tee sets and happy patrons on the walls as well as some nature shots of places on this very mountain. The booths were big stained oak with animals carved in the sides from floor to ceiling and boy were the maroon cushions comfortable. You could nap on those suckers for days. I did on my breaks, you know when pulling doubles as I did a lot of the time. Though the shop was very small, hey I called it cozy for a reason, it was a very busy and relaxing place to be. The owner made extra sure of that.

I saved enough for a car and a down payment on my cottage then as soon as I turned eighteen I had saved the rest of the money to make the cabin all mine and I have lived there ever since. Now his cottage was undesirable so saving up for two years to buy the place wasn't impossible. To be perfectly honest I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't bought it when I did the owners would have paid me to take it off their hands. Everyone in town was less surprised and more convinced than ever that they needed to stay the hell away from me when they saw that I lived here. Remember I told you I was the odd child they already wanted to stay as far away from me as possible when I wasn't working. That seemed to be the only time anyone wanted anything to do with me after buying my home and here is why I was living in a dank dark suffocating, to other people, one bedroom cottage on the edge of the lake or rather across the street from the lake with a secret path to it. The place screams haunted starting with the fact that it is two hundred and fifty years old and you can tell just by looking at it but it is my home and I love it.

This honestly isn't the only reason that the house is undesirable and helping people deem me a freak. It doesn't just look haunted because its over two centuries old. There have actually been quite a few deaths due to accident or homicide in that house. When the lake was being built in the early 1900s there were a lot of deaths due to the rain storm that lasted so long it had created the lake where Old Town Crestline was said to be. There were still houses down there that they were still tearing down as people were moving out of them. When the flood created Lake Gregory earlier than expected a lot of people lost their lives and they say that the negative energy created by all of the deaths created a negative energy on the trail around the lake and my home. Not a lot of people believe the story or the bad energy thing they just believe the house is creepy because of the homicides and how old it is. Most people actually feel that the lake is peaceful and go there to clear their heads.

I was one of the people who believed that there was some negative energy if you went there in a bad mood or if you were a negative person. I had always found comfort in my home and in the lake until the night it all went wrong. Now that you have some background on me let’s get back to the murders, it all happened about two years ago and I still have nightmares about it every single day. I was twenty when they happened. They were my best friends and this is their story.

Chapter One

Paige! I hear someone shout my name from across the room. I look over my shoulder to find Anya standing in the door way of the restaurant waiting for me. Finishing with the table I'm cleaning I pick up the tip my last customer left me, walk over to her and ask her what she’s doing there. She laughs and says I’m here to remind you to have a social life my dear. I look at her funny then look at the clock and realize I worked three hours past shift end. Again. It’s a miracle my boss doesn’t kill me for it but she tends to not schedule me for a few days to even out the hours since I always work well over my scheduled hours. It also helps that she absolutely adores me.

Anya taps her foot at me agitated that I wasn't ready the second I saw her. The woman has no patience. She is this a tall red head with the attitude to boot. Meaning a temper the size of Texas and even that is an understatement. When I say tall I mean tall, she is about six feet tall and wears stiletto heels. She is thin as a board and looks like a model. Her hair is a natural auburn and down to her ass. She wears a lot of dramatic cat eye type make up to enhance the yellow green of her eyes. She has the face shape of a feline a small cat like nose and thin wide lips. Every aspect of her face screams meow.

Twenty minutes later I am clocked out, Anya walks me to my car and she is following me to my place so I can change out of my work clothes. We go inside and as I change Anya starts telling me about how I really need to get out more and that work doesn’t count. I only half listen because she does this all the time. She just wants someone to brag to about her perfect life. Anya is the leader of our little pack, or so she thinks no one cares to correct her on this fact. There’s Fey who is dating Dustin A.K.A. Dusty, Nicole who is dating Jake and Caleb who is dating Anya. I’m the only single one but I don’t mind it. I like being the outsider. A relationship sounds like way too much maintenance and I am just not prepared to deal with another human in my life I mean come on now I have enough human contact at work.

Nicole is a beautiful tan girl who is about average height and extremely curvy. She’s thin but the poor girl has issues finding jeans that fit those hips right. She has what her mother calls child baring hips. One of her greatest features is her eyes; they are a light green blue color which contrasts from her tan skin and coal colored hair. She has a heart shaped face and soft plum lips. She almost reminds me