Read Haunted Shadows 1: Sickness Behind Young Eyes for Free Online Page B

ever hear about a student at your university called Billy Wilkins?”
     
    I thought about it but I couldn’t
place the name. “Nope.”
     
    “You won’t have. Because he dropped
out from his course and checked into a mental health facility.”
     
    “Why are you telling me this?”
     
    “Because your friend Professor Higson
convinced me to take Billy out with me to an investigation years ago. Billy
wasn’t ready for the things we saw there.”
     
    Ice spread across my back and slid
across my skin. I reached for the zip of my coat but found that it was already
pushed up as far as it could go. I felt someone stare at me from across the
pub. It was a shape in the corner of my eyes, too fuzzy to make out who it was.
I felt their glare on my face and my skin started to itch. I tried to focus on
Jeremiah but I couldn’t ignore it.
     
    My heart drummed in my chest. I
turned my head but nobody even looked at me. A man at the table across from us
dropped a stack of cards face up on the wood and smiled. He leapt out of his
chair and pointed at his friend.
     
    “You owe me a pint you bloody
bastard!” he said.
     
    I looked at Jeremiah. “Isn’t it your
fault for taking Billy with you?”
     
    Jeremiah shook his head. “He was an
adult, just like you. My point is, don’t let yourself be manipulated. Not by
Higson and not by me. If something happens to you when you’re with me, that’s
on you.”
     
    My throat felt cracked, like burnt
cake hardened on a baking tray. I tried to swallow but it felt like the skin
inside my neck was stuck together. A crushing weight pressed down on my
shoulders.
     
    “What does Higson want to know about
Bruges,” I said. “And why won’t you tell him?”
     
    “You’re not letting this go, are
you?”
     
    “You promised to let me interview
you.”
     
    Jeremiah put his hand to his chin and
breathed in. He stared at me, weighing up the decision of whether to answer my
questions as if he were Caesar deciding the fate of a gladiator. As he opened
his mouth to speak Marsha appeared at our table. She had two bowls in her hands
and a scowl on her face.
     
    She set one in front of Jeremiah and
the other in front of me. It was a bowl of stew. The broth was thick and brown,
and potatoes and carrots rested at the top like barrels floating in the sea.
Steam rose off and twisted up my nose. The smell of it was enough to make my
mouth water, and my stomach cried out for the nutrients the stew would give.
Jeremiah had done something nice for once. Was the world about to end?
     
    I dipped my spoon into the stew and
then brought it to the surface, making sure to get a good mix of liquid and
vegetables. As I swallowed the broth and chewed the potatoes, I felt something
gristly between my teeth. I twisted it on my tongue trying to work out what it
was. When I did, acid rose up my throat. I put my fingers in my mouth and
pulled out a sinewy piece of beef. My stomach wobbled and my throat tightened.
     
    “What the hell is this?” I said, my
voice weak.
     
    “Beef stew,” said Jeremiah, and
brought his spoon to his lips and sucked the juice off it.
     
    “I told you I was vegetarian.”
     
    “And now I believe you.”
     
    I felt my cheeks burn as if imaginary
fingers pinched them. My stomach screamed at me and begged for some of the
stew. At the same time I felt my chest grow tight with anger at the man sat
across from me. His complete lack of respect for anyone but himself was
shocking.
     
    “No wonder you’re alone,” I said, my
words dripping with venom.
     
    “I wanted to see if you really were
vegetarian, or if you just like the idea. If you can turn down a stew when you
feel like shit, then you’re true to your ideals. Not many people are these
days, Ella. I respect that.”
     
    “Shove your respect up your arse.”
     
    “What made you be vegetarian?”
     
    I wasn’t going to tell him. If he was
going to avoid my questions and play games, then he wasn’t going to