An short story from my just published "Rising of the Ancients" by 2011 Rainfall Books........ THE CRAWLING MIST COMES (c)Christene Britton-Jones

"Sweat drenched Sarah’s body. Her long dark hair lay matted around her shoulders. Low moans racked her tortured, twisted, and contorted body as she desperately ran from the dark clawing mist that reached out for her. Grasping her tightly. And then those tight all powerful arms that held her reluctantly released, uncoiled, and trailed silently away into the darkness of nightmare as she tossed off her quilt. The heat was making it impossible to tolerate it any longer. Still her eyes remained closed, pillow clenched firmly in her arms. “Saaa…rah! Get UP! NOW!” her mother yelled from the kitchen, the words long, drawn, and impatient. “Sarahhh! Do you hear ME? You’ll be late for school again. Hurry up.” Sitting bolt upright caused a stabbing pain to rush up her neck, her right eye, and into that side of her head that she’d been sleeping on: yet another migraine headache to start the day. Groaning loudly, Sarah swung her legs out of bed, onto the floor, and stumbled to her feet. She grabbed her crumpled jeans and a t-shirt off the floor and threw them on quickly whilst thrusting her feet into her sad tired old sneakers. Chomping into a handful of dry biscuits and some salted crisps left over from her last night’s snack, she raced into the kitchen and grabbed the coffee pot just as it was finishing brewing. She quickly poured that hot black liquid into her thermal mug, snapped on the lid, and raced out of the door into a humid Brisbane morning. “Eat something, you need a proper breakfast,” her mother protested from the front room as she heard the door swinging shut. “Sar-ahh! Listen to meee!” ....(c) CBJ