In The Black Room - A Paranormal Romance (The Black Room Book 1) by Luke Smitherd

Author:Luke Smitherd [Smitherd, Luke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-01-03T00:00:00+00:00

***

“I wasn’t going to take the fucking phone,” snapped Minnie, as she walked back towards the car. “I had to at least hold it to have a proper look at it, make the whole act look real. What do you take me for?”

“Well I didn’t know, did I?” Charlie snapped back, but he wasn’t really paying attention; he was too busy trying to get a handle on what had just happened.

So there’s another Charlie Wilkes … or that’s me, yet I’m here … and he wasn’t working last night either, just like me … yet he’s in this morning? So he’s got a different shift pattern, or he’s had to cover for someone? Either way, you've been replaced. Someone's gone to great lengths to get you out of the way, and erase the real you.

Charlie felt his chest tighten again, the panic dog scratching at the door.

No. Don’t get frightened. Get angry, but don’t get frightened. If someone put you here, then someone knows. Someone knows the answers, and that means you can find them and find out. You lose it in here, and you find nothing.

The thought was both sobering and strangely refreshing at the same time, probably because for once his self-nagging had actually had the desired effect. Personal pep-talks rarely had an effect on Charlie, so this was a strangely pleasant surprise. Whenever he tried to talk himself into a lifestyle change, he tended to end up falling back into old habits quite quickly, and being generally happy to do so. He was not a man who ventured far out of his comfort zone, and knew it. It was another thing that he didn’t like about himself, yet was too comfortable to change it. Quite the vicious circle.

“Minnie,” said Charlie, suddenly remembering his host, “look ... sorry. I didn’t mean to kick off over the phone. You have to remember, you could be a kleptomaniac for all I know. But hey, that’s got to make you feel better, right? You couldn’t have known that the phone was there, so you know you’re not going nuts, at least. So that’s one problem taken care of.”

There was no reply, and the view revealed nothing; the street still passed hurriedly by as Minnie continued to walk at a high pace back to the car.

“Minnie?”

“Just give me a minute, Charlie,” Minnie muttered under her breath, clearly not wanting to look insane to anyone who might be watching. “I need ... look, I’m asking nicely here. Just ... don’t say anything until I get back to the flat. All right? Can you do that?” She had said it nicely, too; her tone was soft, gentle, and calm in a way that he hadn’t heard during any of this crazy, confusing day. She wasn’t trying to manipulate. She was just asking him to let her think, and was trying to keep herself under control.

“Okay. Okay, no problem,” said Charlie, in a quiet voice of his own. “Let me know when you want to talk.

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