Haunted (The Woodsview Murders, #2) SNEAK PEEK

Chapter One

Chapter One

Tuesday, October 14th, 2014

Three Days Earlier

"You're listening to KRGR eighty-eight point nine, the best in midnight inspiration. This is Avery Blair coming to you from the bowels of the Central Mass State College campus center. I'll be your host through the witching hour, whether you're up late studying or into something more nefarious. I've got a great lineup of tunes for you tonight, chock-full of eighties rock and metal, because I know that's what you really, really want. We're kicking things off with a song from the soundtrack of the nineteen eighty-six movie Trick or Treat. Here's Fastway with Stand Up."

Avery clicked the first song of the playlist she'd put together for the show, and smirked to herself. Eighties hair metal probably wasn't what the students of CMSC really wanted, but it was what Avery wanted and that was enough for her.

She sighed, staring out the glass that separated her from the rest of the studio. The large lounge outside was dimly lit and shadowy and that was fine. Since Avery ran the midnight shift at the radio station, it was normal for half of the lights to be off in order to save on costs. The school had already threatened to shut down the campus radio station on more than one occasion and Avery had only been working there for three months. She was shocked at how little attention the radio program got, especially since CMSC was known for its Communications track. The audio media program had been reduced to a minor years earlier, and it was much more focused on production than the on-air side of things.

Avery didn't care. She'd always wanted to try her hand at radio, and when she found out she could take a summer class and get on the air by the time the school year began, she jumped at it. Besides, it got her out of the house, doing something.

The building was deserted this time of night. There were a couple of students that worked at the station who liked to use the lounge for studying because it was quiet. And of course there was her producer, Tyler.

Tyler maintained the broadcast audio levels, ran the ads, set up the call queue, and moderated the chat room online during the show. Of course, Avery knew how to do all of those things as well. If she could, she'd work without him, but there was a requirement that at least two people had to be in the studio during broadcasts, especially during the night shifts. So, Avery put up with him.

Sure, Tyler did quality work at the station but that was where her tolerance of him ended. He looked like he'd been lathered with far too many tattoos and acted like sarcasm was the new oxygen. Avery could appreciate someone who walked to the beat of their own drum but Tyler—he practically jazzercised to it.

A year ago, before all of the murders in Woodsview, Avery wouldn't have minded Tyler's personality. But with the foul, antisocial state she had slipped into, she could barely tolerate being around anyone at all, even her best friend Quinn.

The truth was that the Woodsview murders changed a lot about Avery, not just her social preferences. It changed what she liked to do, who she liked to talk to, it changed everything straight down to her soul and what she now referred to as her cold, black heart.

On television, when someone dies, people are sad, there are tears, but a few episodes later they're springing back to life. They're happy again. They've moved on. But that was the thing about television—it wasn't real. And Avery hadn't felt inclined to move on, despite it being close to a year later.

In fact, she felt the opposite. As if she'd fallen into a black hole of despair and couldn't get out. Avery hadn't even listened to her favorite band AC/DC in eleven months because it was too hard. It reminded her of Jason. It reminded her that he was dead...That the love of her life had burned alive because she did not save him from the Harvester.