Ghoster by Jason Arnopp

Author:Jason Arnopp
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2019-10-21T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

12 September

Judging by the memory foam mattress and the height of these pillows, I’m not waking up at home in Leeds but visiting my boyfriend in Brighton.

Rolling over, I stretch out an arm to wrap around Scott. Being a contemporary woke couple, we do not conform to rigid big spoon, little spoon ideologies, no sir.

My arm does not find him. Instead, it carves through thin air and lands on the undersheet. Scott’s side of the duvet has been curled back and vacated.

When I open sticky eyes, Scott’s standing there fully dressed, right at the side of the bed. He’s staring at me so directly that it makes me reel away, back into the pillow. My reaction is informed by race memory from countless generations back: meeting something’s eyes, feeling like prey and wanting to take flight.

“Oh God,” he says. “Sorry. I was watching you sleep – but only for a moment!” Now that the rush of self-preservation has passed, I calm down as he sits beside me and strokes my hair, but the impact of the surprise lingers.

“Morning, stalker boy,” I murmur.

His laugh feels only a shade awkward. “You would have to wake up in the very moment I was appreciating how beautiful you look while you sleep, wouldn’t you?”

“Come on, admit it, you’re obsessed with me. You’ve been there for hours, wanking like a sailor at sea. Now get the kettle on.”

“Yes, cap’n.” He approximates some kind of sailor salute while grabbing his phone from the bedside table. As his footsteps retreat along the hallway, I luxuriate in the sensations of the morning. Scott must have that balcony window-door open, because the flat already feels so fresh and airy. These sheets feel so soft.

And Scott staring at you felt so weird, didn’t it?

No, brain, it did not. The man I love was simply passing by when he stopped to appreciate me for a moment.

There’s only one door in here and it’s not the kind of room you pass by. He was watching for longer than a moment. His phone was on the side table. You came to sense him standing there. That’s why you woke up.

Okay, how about this? He may only have just got up himself.

So how come you can feel the living room windows open?

I demand silence from you for the rest of this weekend. Stop trying to create problems where there are none.

When something feels too good to be true, it usually is.

What did I just say?

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