She groaned at the thought. She would need to buy appropriate clothing for exploring, along with gloves, a flashlight and tools to get into the house. She sat down and made a list before heading to the local clothing and hardware stores.

“You say you’ll be removing boards?” Kayla at the hardware store inquired. “You’ll want a hammer and pry bar for sure, but possibly a crowbar or even a battery-operated screwdriver. Are these large boards, nailed or screwed?”

By the time Dulcie left the hardware store, she felt equipped for an exploration to Antarctica. Kayla had suggested canvas pants and a jacket as well as work boots, and Dulcie thanked her for all her help.

Back at the motel, she changed and, putting all her equipment in the trunk, drove south. The moment the farmhouse came into view, she felt that now-familiar sense of dread and fear wash over her.

She almost changed her mind and turned around. She was even more persuaded against staying when she saw that someone had closed the damned gate.

Jolene watched as Thad Brooks, one of her fifth-grade boys, collected the writing assignments. She’d felt antsy all morning, waiting for the next installment of the murder story, afraid this would be the day that the story stopped as mysteriously as it had begun.

She could hear the dried grasses outside the open window rustling in the hot, dry wind and fanned herself as the student placed the stack of papers on the edge of her desk.

“How are you all doing on your stories?” she asked and listened to a variety of complaints from being stuck to being bored.

“At this point in your stories, I want you to sit down and write down ten things that could happen next,” she told the class. “When you get stuck and can’t think of anything else to write about your character, it helps if you do what is called brainstorming. Let your imagination run as you write down as many things as you can think of that could happen.”

“What if you can’t think of anything?” whined Luke Raines, her other fifth-grader.

“Then you have to think harder. Concentrate. Think about your characters. Think about the weather. Think about where you are in the story. The middle parts are the hardest because you have to keep the story going. It helps if something exciting happens that changes the direction of your story. What is the worse thing that could happen to your characters? What is your hero or heroine most afraid of? For instance, what if there was a huge storm? What if your character was caught in it? What if someone new came to town? What if some old enemy came to town? What if your character found out a secret?”