She Was Safe - Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction

"This statue was not part of the park family. Neither Nel nor Davy had ever seen this monstrosity before — a marble hiker curling in fear under a large and horrendous bear extending over him.
“I’ve never seen this one before.” Davy attempted to hide the slight tremor in her voice by pretending to be fascinated by this monster of a statue. The eyes of the dying hiker drilled into her, urging her to leave. This was not the forest Davy knew. This was different.

Staring at the marble image of death before them, Davy felt cold and unwelcome there.
“Let’s get out of here, Davy,” Nel concluded."

Special thank you to Kimberlee Joyful Smith for this haunting illustration for my short story, "She Was Safe", featured in my latest book, Until it Happens to You: coming April 16th.

As I've said before, I love taking my locations from real places.  There's just something unsettling about knowing the settings of my horror stories actually exist.  Allerton Park, a forest preserve in Monticello, Illinois, was my favorite place to visit growing up.  Once I had a driver's license, I visited Allerton Park nearly every weekend if the weather was nice enough.  Scattered throughout the forest were statues of various sizes and shapes.  It was a whimsical, fantastical park - the pride of Monticello.  

Of course the high school gossip told stories of the place being haunted.  The statues eyes would supposedly glow red after dark.  Since the park closed its gates after dark, no one could confirm or deny it.  Perhaps I went a little overboard in my story (when you read it you be the judge).  Still, it was a thrilling experience to go back to my childhood sanctuary and bring it into my writing.