Cherry Hill by James A. Moore

Author:James A. Moore [Moore, James A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Delirium Books
Published: 2012-03-15T04:00:00+00:00

***

Carl could barely hear Crowley over the sound of his sister’s voice. She spoke to him, but he couldn’t understand most of the words. He could only sense the regret, the pain she endured and that was enough to drop him to his knees.

Beth was dead, but she still talked, whispering words of sorrow that echoed through his skull.

Crowley spoke louder. “I can put her to rest if you want me to, Detective. But you have to ask me to do it for you.”

“Will it hurt her?” He could barely draw in the breath to speak, his body felt cold wherever she touched, cold enough to burn.

“I can give her peace, but yes, there will be pain first.”

Beth screamed, crying out for a life lost, and it seemed, for just a brief second, that there was something else in that sound as well. “Beth? What should I do?”

Two voices spoke as one, their sounds echoing through each other. The one voice, definitely his sister’s, said, “Free me.” The other voice, a tone that was cold and remorseless but no less that of his sibling said, “Join me, Carl. Come be with me and take the loneliness away.”

Her hands seemed to stroke his skin and clutch to him at the same time. He felt pain with every digging caress.

Crowley leaned in closer and spoke clearly now. “The mind of a ghost is as complex as the mind of a living person, Detective. She wants peace, and she wants you with her at the same time. She is giving and greedy. The longer she stays this way, the more her mind will hunger. She wants to live, Carl. She wants to live and breathe and she can’t. She’s dead, but she doesn’t want to die alone. Hungry ghosts never want to die alone.”

Carl cried, torn by the echoes of his sister’s feelings, the desire to be alive, the need to have company, the need for simple contact with another being. How was it that she could be here, touching him and not see the other ghosts? How long had she been here without him even knowing?

He shook his head. “Free her, please!” He said the words before he could change his mind, because as much as he wanted to live, a part of him wanted to be with his sister, regardless of the cost. If he heard her for too much longer he might give in, and there was so much life that he still wanted to experience.

Without another word, Jonathan Crowley reached out and grabbed Beth’s wrists, pulling her away from him.

Beth shrieked, a sound that ripped through his heart and mind and chilled him even more. Her body kicked and struggled, but Crowley held her, backing away from Carl, and he let the man go despite the temptation to move after him and fight to keep his sister safe. It was too late to protect her now, just as it had been too late when she killed herself.

Beth screamed again and this time Carl’s voice met hers and added to the sound.

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