The April Fool
by
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Tricia opened the refrigerator door and looked inside. "Hey, Tasha, I thought you said you had plenty of beer in here." Tasha went over and looked inside. Sid asked from behind, "Is she right or is she just playing an April Fool’s Day joke?" "No, she’s right, Sid," Tasha answered. "There’s no beer in here. I could’ve sworn I had plenty of beer in here." She then turned around and looked over at me. "Ashley, could you go out to the garage refrigerator and bring back some beer?" I guess she only asked me since I was the closest one to the back door. "Yeah, I’ll go get it. What do you want? A 12-pack? A case?" Tasha thought about it for a second. "Yeah, we can try a case. After that we can always go back out for more if we need it. I doubt we will, though." "All right," I said, opening the door. I stepped outside and walked onto the driveway. There’s a little bit of a distance between the garage and the house. It’s not a mile or anything like that, but it’s a good walk. When I got to the garage, I walked over to the side door. As I was about to walk in, I heard a loud noise. I jumped in fright and turned around to see what it was. Then I heard it again. "Whew!" I uttered in relief. It was only a dog barking loudly over in the next door neighbor’s yard. "Get ahold of yourself, Ashley. Just get the beer and get back to the house." I walked into the garage and flipped the nearby light switch. The light didn’t come on. Oh, well, I don’t really need the light. I just need to get to the refrigerator. It was about the truth too. I could see the refrigerator toward the far back corner from where I was standing. As I started to walk over to it, I noticed plenty of tools hanging on the walls and on shelves. Most of them looked like they were for yard care. There was a big box of gloves by one of the shelves. In all, everything looked undisturbed. I pulled the refrigerator door open and looked inside. Suddenly a loud crashing sound made me shriek and jump in fright. I breathed a sigh of relief and looked over the refrigerator door. I must have caused some stuff to fall over when I opened it. I went around to the other side and bent down to pick the stuff up. Suddenly I felt something heavy hit me on the back once I stood up again. What gives? I didn’t recall seeing anything hanging in here when I came in. I quickly stepped away from the hanging object and then turned around to see what it was. Oh my god! That’s not a heavy object! It’s..."Calli!" She was hanging upside-down from one of the garage rafters by a rope that was looped around both of her ankles. Her arms were just dangling. With the moonlight coming in, I could see the blood all over her. It looked as though someone had cut her up...bad. Suddenly a hand cupped over my mouth and something really sharp entered my side. I screamed in both fright and pain. When I tried to get away, I was yanked back by my hair. Then I was stabbed again. And again! And again . . . The stabbing continued until everything went to black. I love you, Calli . . .
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About the Book
Five murders have been committed, one every April Fool’s Day. Ashley Gable didn’t give any thought to the murders until the fifth was committed. The first four victims were random, but the last was her boyfriend. Was his murder just a random occurrence? It doesn’t seem so when Ashley’s sister, Calli, is murdered on the sixth April Fool’s Day. But the killer didn’t stop there. Ashley is stabbed and left for dead, but she lives knowing that the killer will strike again. One year has passed quickly and Ashley starts to receive menacing notes while at school. She knows the killer means to finish what was started last year. In time, she is confronted by the killer dressed in a jester costume and wielding a sharp dagger. Ashley survives the encounter, but meets the killer again over the course of the school day. With each confrontation, however, Ashley manages to remain alive. But one of her closest friends ends up dying along the way. This drives Ashley to want to know who the April Fool’s Day killer is, and the motive behind the yearly madness. But when Ashley finally discovers the identity of the killer, she also learns what the real April Fool’s Day joke really is. Will she survive long enough to be able to recover – if at all?!
About the Author
Robert J. Fields first discovered his passion to write back when he was a senior at Bellevue High School. At first it was just handwritten pieces, which ranged anywhere from sheets of paper to actual full notebooks. When he graduated, the passion became dormant. Then he discovered the wonderful writing tool called the personal computer, which came with a word processor. From there, the passion to write came back with a vengeance. He decided to learn the craft and continued to practice it as often as he could. He even decided to pursue a BA in Creative Writing and is a part-time student at Bowling Green State University (Firelands campus). He has reached the halfway point by obtaining an Associate’s Degree in the Arts. During that time, he published a few short stories in the college’s publication called New Waves. He currently works a full-time job at a factory in Clyde, Ohio as well as a part-time job in Sandusky. He still manages to find time to write short stories, thrillers, and tales of the supernatural. This novel, The April Fool, is his first published.