Ghost Light by Clare McNally

Author:Clare McNally [McNally, Clare]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781940941554
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

Denny was in such good spirits when Nate and Adrian entered his hospital room that it seemed the terror of the previous day had never happened. There were no frightened looks in Adrian’s direction, no accusations. He was sitting up in a sterile-looking bed reading a copy of Sports Illustrated. There was a tube connected to him that seemed hardly bigger than his thin arm. He smiled and pointed to the suspended bottle over his shoulder.

“That’s an IV,” he said. “It means I’m being fed inter-inter—in-tra-venously. In my veins.”

“That’s great,” Nate said, relieved to see Denny was his old self again.

He offered a chair next to Denny’s bed to Adrian, then took one himself.

“How do you feel, kid?” he asked.

“Kinda tired,” Denny said. “My neck aches, and so do my legs. The doctor says it’s cause I was stuck in that air passage.”

Adrian leaned forward and got to the point of the visit.

“Denny,” she asked, “what do you remember about that?”

“I crawled through an opening in the wall near the boiler,” Denny said.

“But why would you do such a dangerous thing?”

Denny looked at her, then at Nate. He lowered his head and started to fidget with his plastic ID tag, his lips turning down. From somewhere out in the hall, he could hear the squeaking of a metal cart. Someone else was ringing for a nurse.

“I didn’t want to do it,” he said softly. “She made me.”

The voice was pained, not the cheerful one of a moment ago.

“Who did?” Nate asked.

Denny’s expression went blank, and he said in monotone, “Adrian made me.”

“Denny,” Adrian said calmly. “I was with several other people when you disappeared. Please tell us the truth.”

Denny wriggled a bit and whined, “It is the truth! Why is everyone mad at me?”

Nate patted his leg. “No one’s mad at you. We just want to know the truth so we can help you.”

“She did it!” Denny cried loudly, the brown of his eyes wavering behind tears. “She did! She made me do it!”

He was pointing at Adrian, who in turn was watching Nate with worry and confusion in her eyes.

“Easy, Denny,” Nate said. “We don’t have to talk about this now if…”

Denny’s lips curled and his eyes thinned as if to squeeze out his tears, but for the moment he had calmed down. He refused to look at Nate, afraid of the hurt in the director’s eyes. Something was wrong here, Denny sensed. He wasn’t saying the right thing. Adrian didn’t…

“Denny,” Nate said in a gentle tone, “I know you’re scared. But Adrian and I are your friends.”

“Adrian…”

“Shh,” Nate said. “Listen to me. I think someone else made you climb into the air passages. Someone who frightened you so terribly that you are afraid now to tell us who it was. Denny, did someone tell you to use Adrian’s name?”

Silence. Denny continued to twist his ID bracelet. He wanted to tell the truth, but he didn’t know what the truth was! A memory was trying to emerge, something about another child.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.