Excerpt of Dark Corner by Jennifer Treacy Cole

Abruptly, Katy said, “Get up. We’re taking the trails to the Andersens.”

“I can’t leave without telling my mom.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll be right back. She won’t even notice you’re gone.”

The girls were silent as they took the treacherous, root- filled, dirt trails through the woods to the Andersen cabin. David had occasionally taken Robin up on the Andersen’s roof because it was easily accessed from the ground. They would sit on the roof and look out over the breathtaking blue lake. Eleven year old Robin was so completely within her smaller self that she could hear little Robin’s thoughts as if they were being spoken. “Will Katy dare me to jump of the roof?”

But Katy did not lead her toward the roof, rather an unlocked shed at the back of the property. “Okay,” Katy said gravely, “This is your dare. Get in the shed and shut the door.”

“For how long?”

“Three minutes,” Katy said.

“I want to go home,” Robin protested.

The stringy haired girl spoke up with the kind of false, syrupy voice usually reserved for flight attendants. “Just three minutes, that’s all. Then we’ll take you home to your Mommy.”

“Come on,” the tanned one said, “then you’ll be able to tell everyone you won a grown up game.”

With this, eleven year old Robin was screaming to her six year old self, “Run, run!” She was desperate to break through, but little Robin was oblivious. Instead, she moved reluctantly toward the shed. As she opened the creaking door, Katy roughly shoved her in and slammed the door shut. Though there was no padlock, the door was secured with a slat that sat in the latch. She was trapped inside.

“Katy! Let me out! I’m scared. I want my mom.”

“Just three minutes, kid,” Katy yelled as she circled the shed, retrieving a large pine branch from the ground.

At this point, little Robin succumbed to full blown panic. All sense left her. “Mama… Mama!” she cried as she collapsed into a fetal position. The watcher Robin went nearly out of her mind with grief and fear for her six year old self. She imagined herself as a mother to this younger Robin – a ghost mother who was watching from another dimension, helpless to save her child.

Suddenly, there was a deafening CRACK against the back of the shed. Katy was pounding the shed with the branch! But why? CRACK! There it came again. Robin stopped crying and listened. A low, hum reached her ears. CRACK! The sound of footsteps retreating, ugly laughter fading. She was alone. What was that humming sound?

Bees.

She was in there with a bee hive, and Katy had purposely hit the shed wall to dislodge the hive.

They were swarming.

Both of the Robins shrieked in terror. The bees began to descend on her crumpled body. She would not survive. But she must have, thought the watcher Robin. Because I survived!

Then amazingly, little Robin sat up, cross-legged. The child was calm even as the bees buzzed about her, landing, bumping, stinging, falling. She put her tiny hands up in the air and encircled her thumbs and fingers as she had earlier to make play glasses. But this time, she kept them interlocked, like construction paper chains for holiday decorations. She reached up and gracefully moved her hands to her lap. The frantic movements of the bees softened and slowed. The deafening buzz around her became a hum that made both Robins sleepy. Six year old Robin was a bee charmer.

The bees stopped stinging. The swarm halted. They continued to fly around her but the panic on both sides had evaporated. Little Robin was not well, though. She lay down in the shed and slept.