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Back The Mother Next Door Save as PDF
Chapters (84)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. About the Author
  5. HALLOWEEN
  6. Seven Weeks Before Halloween
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. HALLOWEEN
  11. Six Weeks Before Halloween
  12. FOUR
  13. FIVE
  14. SIX
  15. HALLOWEEN
  16. Five Weeks Before Halloween
  17. SEVEN
  18. EIGHT
  19. HALLOWEEN
  20. NINE
  21. TEN
  22. HALLOWEEN
  23. ELEVEN
  24. TWELVE
  25. Twenty-Five Days Until Halloween
  26. THIRTEEN
  27. FOURTEEN
  28. HALLOWEEN
  29. FIFTEEN
  30. SIXTEEN
  31. SEVENTEEN
  32. EIGHTEEN
  33. NINETEEN
  34. TWENTY
  35. HALLOWEEN
  36. Eighteen Days Until Halloween
  37. TWENTY-ONE
  38. TWENTY-TWO
  39. HALLOWEEN
  40. TWENTY-THREE
  41. TWENTY-FOUR
  42. Eleven Days Until Halloween
  43. TWENTY-FIVE
  44. TWENTY-SIX
  45. Eight Days Until Halloween
  46. TWENTY-SEVEN
  47. TWENTY-EIGHT
  48. TWENTY-NINE
  49. HALLOWEEN
  50. THIRTY
  51. Four Days Until Halloween
  52. THIRTY-ONE
  53. HALLOWEEN
  54. THIRTY-TWO
  55. Two Days Until Halloween
  56. THIRTY-THREE
  57. The Night Before Halloween
  58. THIRTY-FOUR
  59. HALLOWEEN
  60. THIRTY-FIVE
  61. Halloween, Present Day
  62. THIRTY-SIX
  63. THIRTY-SEVEN
  64. HALLOWEEN
  65. THIRTY-EIGHT
  66. HALLOWEEN
  67. THIRTY-NINE
  68. HALLOWEEN
  69. FORTY
  70. HALLOWEEN
  71. FORTY-ONE
  72. FORTY-TWO
  73. FORTY-THREE
  74. FORTY-FOUR
  75. HALLOWEEN... NOW
  76. FORTY-FIVE
  77. Seven Months Later
  78. FORTY-SIX
  79. FORTY-SEVEN
  80. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  81. ALICE SWANSON’S
  82. Reader's Guide
  83. Questions for Discussion
  84. Booklist

The idea of Full Moon suddenly seemed very creepy. I had assumed it was just a nice fundraiser for a school scholarship. In fact, at one point I’d felt left out for not being a part of it. But now I wasn’t so sure. How could everyone revisit the memory of that terrible night each year? Wouldn’t they want to forget it?

Maybe that’s why the Ivies had never told me the full story—it was painful for them. Someone died during one of their parties, after all, and their own children had been left to fend for themselves in that dark, shadowy room. Plus, they’d probably assumed I’d already heard it. Everyone in town seemed to know it.

About a dozen years ago, Maggie had said to me when she was here.

I went to my bedroom and did a search on my laptop. Daphne Brown, Ivy Woods, suicide Halloween.

A bunch of articles from paranormal blogs appeared with mentions of Ghost Girl. But about five or six hits down was a local newspaper story about the tragic death. Young Girl Jumps to Death Off Railroad Bridge.

Halloween 2005.

Just before Greg had ended our relationship, before I’d broken up his marriage, Daphne killed herself in the same woods that bordered Greg’s house, just a few miles from campus, and somehow I’d heard nothing about it. I’d thought this was such a pretty place to live—so peaceful and safe. Big houses with large, tall windows to bring in lots of light. Cats sleeping in sun patches in the doorways. Kids kicking balls in their backyards.

“Theresa? You ready to go?” Adam, from downstairs.

You were too wrapped up in your own dramas, Theresa Ann.

All along I’d been missing the tragedy unfolding right nearby.

HALLOWEEN

The iffiest member of the Ivy Five, Jacqueline, aka Jackie Glitter, who once played Audrey in an off-off-off-off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, isn’t happy with the way the evening is going. She hates these kinds of gatherings, hates this fake suburban nonsense and all these people who care about nothing but their kids. All the talk, every conversation, is about the kids, about their poop and their dance skills and what they said five minutes ago that was so adorable it should’ve been filmed, as though once you become a mother you lose every ounce of yourself. You cease to be.

Jacqueline can’t handle that. It was hard enough, carrying around all that weight for nine months. It was hard enough having to hear everyone tell her how she glowed, when she felt like there was a parasite inside her feeding and feeding and feeding, more more more, and destroying her body.