a mary higgins clark tale

once upon a time

i read A Cry In The Night by Mary Higgins Clark

I must have been 16 or 17 at this particular time. 

Side note--If you're not familiar with Mary Higgins Clark, go here.  Basically if you love a good mystery, heroines and a little love story bonus you will love her books.


okay. back to A Cry In The Night.


I don't want to give you too many details in case you want to read the book, but at the end the killer is an extremely freaky psychopath who goes crazy and tries to kill Jenny, the main lady in the book. 

it freaked. me. out.


so i finished the book around 8 or 9 pm, and decided to take a shower before heading to bed.  You know, to clear my mind of the scary thoughts that entered from reading the book.  (mind you, i was 16.. but i still am nervous to pick up one of her books to read before bed because of this experience)




Anna, my dear little sister, knew that i was freaked out by this story and decided to play a little trick on me.


she grabbed our My-Size Barbie that was hidden deep within the storage room of our basement, and hung it in my closet.

by it's neck.

she's crazy/twisted.

She then proceeded to write REDRUM on the wall adjacent to my mirror.

then, she shut off my bedroom light, and waited patiently for me to finish my shower.



i got dressed in my jammies and headed to bed, closing my door behind me before turning on my light.


as i turned on the light and saw the horrific scene that was the REDRUM and hanging doll, I froze.

I decided to bolt it out of my room.

Lucky for Anna, her trick worked out better than expected and my doorknob conveniently decided to break at that very moment. 


I was trapped.


with the hung doll and the scary writing on my wall



I finally was rescued by my mother and we made sister apologize and clean up the mess she had made. 

I slept on the couch that night.




it's a funny thing now, but at the time I was scared for my life.  Even if it was just my sister.
Read the book, and then you will understand my horror a little bit better.


other MHC books I loved:

Pretend You Don't See Her
Moonlight Becomes You (favorite)
I'll Be Seeing You
Loves Music, Loves to Dance
While My Pretty One Sleeps