Graveyard Shift by Chris Westwood

Author:Chris Westwood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2011-09-10T04:00:00+00:00

Becky’s gang was already heading up the street on the bus when I got outside. Becky was waiting at the roadside to cross.

“Déjà vu,” she said, seeing me.

“Can you still see it?” I said, prodding my cheek.

“Yeah. How’d you get it?”

“Long story. Doesn’t matter. But I’ve been thinking. . . .”

“Oh, have you?”

“You were right about the kids, Becky. I did see them, clear as I’m seeing you.”

She all but shrieked with delight, clapping her hands together. Then, suddenly serious, she dropped her voice to a whisper.

“At that desk near the back of the class,” she said. “The one where no one ever sits.”

“Yes.”

“They weren’t there today, though.”

“No, not today.”

“Last week,” she confided, “I noticed something too, but I dismissed it, thought I was imagining it. But then you threw a fit, and I knew.”

“You saw something too?”

She thought about it. “Not exactly. I felt something there, though, and the light seemed unusual on that side of the room — you know the way it refracts through a prism? And I could’ve sworn I smelled something too. Something burned.”

She has it too, I thought. If not the same gift, then something like it. Unlike me, though, Becky seemed happy, even eager to talk about it.

“Do your friends know?” I asked.

“I can’t tell them. They don’t believe in this kind of thing. Matthew likes ghost stories, but that’s all they are to him — stories. Make-believe. I don’t have anyone I can talk to about this.”

“Me neither.”

“So what did the kids do? Did they say anything? And why were they there in the first place?”

“They didn’t say much, but I knew they needed help. They’re trapped somewhere. Lost. But I haven’t seen them since, and I don’t know where to start looking.”

“Maybe they’ll come to you,” she said. “They did once before, so maybe they will again.”

I hadn’t thought of it that way. “Yeah, maybe. In their own time.”

“What’s up with him?” she said suddenly, staring past me.

Raymond Blight was coming our way up Mercy Road, his face screwed into a rictus of pain. As soon as he saw us, he stepped aside into the road, skirting around us at a safe distance. By the looks of it, he’d come straight from the nurse’s office; his finger was wrapped in clean gauze. He scowled but didn’t speak as he passed.

Becky turned to me, puzzled, after he’d gone. “Funny, he looked afraid of you. What was that look for?”

“Nothing. He got his finger caught in a door or something and he thinks it’s my fault.”

“What a dope.” She hitched her bag on her shoulder. “Are you going my way? Race you to the nearest caff. I think I can manage a hot chocolate now that the anesthetic’s worn off.”

I hesitated. I’d be expected at headquarters soon, but now it seemed more important to be at home for Mum.

“Got a phone I can borrow?” I asked. “I’m supposed to be somewhere later, but I’d better call home first. Mum’s not well.”

“Sorry to hear that.

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.