Chapter Ten



That night, after all the police -as well as Sara and Joshua- had gone home, Annabel and her family were attempting to have dinner. However, no one was really eating, just staring at each other; there was an occasional sob from Annabel's mother and her mother was almost always wiping away tears from her eyes.
Annabel moved her food around her plate with her fork; she was dragging her fork around her mashed potatoes.
Annabel looked up and was aware that both her mother and father were looking at her. "What?" Annabel whispered.
"Didn't you see it?" Her mother whispered, her voice full of accusation.
"Courtnee, now…." Annabel's father said but her mother just ignored him.
"What are you talking about?" Annabel whispered, though she was sure she already knew what her mother was talking about.
"Didn't you see your brother's death like you saw the overhang?" Her mother said, her voice getting louder every second. "Why didn't you tell Cassie to get out the car too? If you had she would still be alive and your brother wouldn't have killed himself!"
Annabel felt her jaw drop and her eyes well with tears; her parents blamed her for Randy's death, they even blamed her for Cassie's death.
"Mom, I didn't have…" Annabel began but her mother cut her off.
"Why didn't you stop it?" Her mother whispered, tears falling down her cheeks.
Annabel stood up from the table and walked out of the dinning room and straight up to her room. This was unreal, her parents blamed her for things she had no control over. Annabel began to cry, more out of her own self-pity but also because of the day's events.

Annabel figured she must have cried herself to sleep because when she awoke, it was night outside. Annabel rubbed her eyes and sighed; she sat up and looked around her dark room. She tried not to remember everything that had happened earlier but it was no use. Annabel got out of bed and switched on her desk light; she looked at the clock. It read: 12:12; Annabel sighed again; it looked like tonight would be another sleepless night.
Annabel walked over to her desk and sat down; she connected to the Internet and typed in "Death Omens", decided to research what Joshua had told her at Cassie's funeral. Maybe there was something about Randy's death that she was missing; something that provided it wasn't suicide.
After a few minutes a site came up on the screen; Annabel clicked the link and pages and pages of Death Omens came up. Annabel began reading some of them.
"A black dog howling around a house forebodes death for a member of the household."
"A black cat crossing in front of you bodes death in your family before the year is out."
"A picture dropping from a wall or tabletop forebodes death for someone in the household."
"Expect a death in the family if a dog howls at midnight."
"If you raise an umbrella in the house, there will be a death in the family."
"If a deceased relative is heard calling your name, they are warning you of death to come."
"If entering a house or a room in the house, a person smells flowers and there are no flowers, that person is going to die."
"The wind blowing out a candle indicates death."
"To dream of a person's death means that person will die."
"When a dog looks at you as if he can see though you, you will soon die."
"When windows rattle with no apparent cause you can expect death."
"If you think someone called your name and you answer to find that you are mistaken, it is a token of your death."
Annabel became entranced with the omens, some of them gave her chills, and others seemed somewhat stupid.
As Annabel re-read the list, she realized that she had had "encounters" with some of the omens. At Cassie's funeral when the black cat ran in front of her: black cats foretell death in the family. Last night when the picture of her and her brothers had fallen off the desk: a fallen picture forebodes death in the household. When she and Joshua had come home after Cassie's funeral and the black dog was howling around the house: a howling black dog bodes death for a member of the household.
Annabel felt a chill run down her spine as she exited out of the page and signed off the Internet. Even if she were tired, there would for definitely be no sleep for the remainder of the night.