SHADOWS OF THE LIVING

By Heidi Williams

Robert Cunningham is a thief with prophetic dreams, Emily Volker hears the whispers of the dead, Jane Sayer can see ghosts, Tabatha Stile is clairvoyant, Mathew Morgan can call and repel spirits, and Chloe Chaser is well connected in phantom hunting supplies.

These six unusual teenagers try to solve the mystery hidden away in t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gem-in-Eye Productions
• Release date: Jul 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781999378394

Book preview

Book One

SHADOWS OF THE LIVING

Written by

Heidi Louise Williams

Gem-in-Eye Publishing

READING AGE 16+

All rights reserved: No part of this publication may be transmitted or reproduced by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise without prior permission of the publisher.

First published 2021

Gem-in-Eye Publishing

Text copyright © 2021 Heidi Louise Williams

Front Cover Photoshop Design by Heidi Louise Williams.

Original unedited photo by Willgard Krause

ISBN 9781999378387

All Characters and events in this book, other than those known in history or who are clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, being alive or dead, is purely coincidental.

In loving memory of dear friends who departed from this world too soon and are missed by me and many

Jonathan Dagg (Johnty)

Julio Tellechea

Drew Launay

Ruth Staines

Jane Evans

David Standring

Samüel Coppens

Theo Dols

Jacqueline Somers

SHADOWS OF THE LIVING SERIES:

Book One: SHADOWS OF THE LIVING

Book Two: THE OLD SANATORIUM

Book Three: SAVING EMILY

OTHER BOOKS BY HEIDI LOUISE WILLIAMS

www.leafskey.com

Books One to Eight of THE LEAF’S KEY SERIES:

Book One: THE WHITEASH KEY

Book Two: GUARDIANS OF THE KEYS

Book Three: KEY TO THE WORLD

Book Four: CLOSING DOORS

Book Five: KNOWLEDGE IS THE KEY

Book Six: CUTTING KEYS

Book Seven: UNLOCKED

Book Eight: THE KEY TO THE FUTURE

AND(Horror)

–––––– Chapter One ––––––

Emily had heard the whispering since she was five. That first day, she had been with her Mama in a field abundant with wildflowers. Her mother had told her about the land, and how once it had been the site of a battle fought against Abenake Indians who were attacking in the North. Mama explained that they were red Native American Indians and she held up her hand and said, ‘Háu!’ Emily laughed and skipped around patting her open mouth, drumming against her war cry.

Mama unpacked the sandwiches, and they had a picnic amongst the flowers on that gloriously happy day. Emily loved being with her Mama.

Mama lay back on the tartan blanket to soak up the sun while Emily sat quietly, listening to the whispers on the Salem wind.

      ‘What are the voices saying Mama?’

      ‘What voices my love? I can’t hear any voices. Can you hear what are they saying?’ Janet Volker said, humouring her child. She thought expression of imagination was important to a child’s development. Unlike her husband who thought the only way to develop a child was through hard work and discipline. 

      ‘I don’t know! There are too many of them,’ Emily replied. ‘I think they are crying or yelling. They are angry!’

      ‘I’M GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU COWARDLY BASTARD! CHOKE ON THAT, YOU DIRTY SAVAGE!’ a man’s threatening voice yelled out of Emily’s mouth. Janet Volker shuffled frantically backwards across the blanket away from her daughter in shock.

      ‘DIE, YOU PIG!’ screamed another man’s voice that certainly wasn’t Emily’s.

      Emily’s mother was so afraid that she ran away. It was not that she feared her daughter; she feared herself. According to doctors, Janet had been suffering mental health issues for a while and she was starting to believe that people were mostly evil. She thought that she was now projecting evil onto her daughter, and having hallucinations that could cause her to do her daughter harm.

      When Emily came to, she didn’t know where her Mama was. She just remembered the whispers, and then Mama was gone.

Janet didn’t stop to tell anyone what she had experienced in the field because she thought it was a sign of her own psychosis worsening.

She went home alone, took a bath, and then killed herself.

      The only adult that would listen, the only adult that could have verified that Emily had a gift, was gone.

Emily tried to tell her father when she heard spirits in her room in the dark of night. She screamed for her father but he mocked her, and told her that if she woke him again, she would get a beating.

So she kept quiet.

Emily grew believing it was a curse, a terrible secret she had to keep very quiet. Emily grew up afraid of the whispers because they had taken Mama. 

Sergeant Debbie Wilson and Constable John Tucker of the Salem police found Emily late that evening alone in the park.

      Emily’s father, Peter Volker, had found the body of his wife hanging from the ceiling fan in their bedroom. She had hung herself with his favourite tie. He called the police to report her.

      When they arrived, Peter was drinking and smoking in the living room. They asked him if anyone else had been at the farm at the time his wife committed suicide. That is when he thought to look for Emily. He searched the house