Scarred Souls: The First Collection by TT Kove

Author:TT Kove [Kove, TT]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi
Publisher: Arctic Circle Press
Published: 2019-02-01T16:00:00+00:00

Damian

Angelina came breezing into the Café as I washed the tables.

Something stuck in me. I realised quickly it was fear.

She was alone, no Josh trailing after her, like he sometimes did. They had lunch at the Café occasionally, just the two of them, and I even joined if it coincided with my break.

‘Hi, Damian.’ She seemed surprised at seeing me.

‘Hey.’ I frowned. ‘Is Josh okay?’

‘Josh? Yeah, I reckon. I haven’t spoken to him since earlier today.’ She didn’t sound or seem concerned. But if she wasn’t here because of Josh, then why?

‘Angelina.’ Harriet came out from the back-room, jacket over one arm and a purse in the other.

‘Ready?’ Josh’s mum smiled at her.

My eyes darted between them.

Did they know each other?

‘I’ll see you later, Damian.’ Angelina cast me a brief smile.

‘See you tomorrow.’ Harriet waved at me.

Then they were out the door and walking past the windows. Together, in what seemed to be amiable conversation.

Harriet had asked me earlier if it was okay with me if she left before we closed. I was used to closing on my own, so I didn’t mind. It wasn’t like there were any people here to keep up with, after all. She hadn’t mentioned she was leaving with Josh’s mum though.

The fear that had taken hold of me when Angelina walked in, slowly dissipated as I continued wiping down the rest of the tables. For a moment I had expected something to be wrong with Josh, and it had terrified me.

The last hour seemed to drag by. No one stopped by this late. Harriet had been talking about starting to close earlier, when the kitchen closed, because the next couple of hours just weren’t worth it.

The bell rang when there was fifteen minutes left and I sighed heavily before turning around. I didn’t want to deal with someone in the last fifteen minutes. I just wanted to clean up and go home—

‘Josh?’

He stood just inside the door. One hand gripped his opposite elbow and his head was bowed.

It was bad. I could tell from the stance.

‘Hey.’ I stepped around the counter and went over to him. I locked the door so no one would interrupt us, then put my hands on his shoulders and led him over to a chair so he could sit down.

‘What’s wrong?’ Something must’ve happened at the club. Silver had texted me to say they were going out.

Josh shook his head. He was crying, even if he was still refusing to look at me.

‘Josh.’ I swallowed a lump that threatened to get stuck in my throat. ‘Josh?’ I ran my hands over his shoulder, over his neck, and up to cup his cheeks. I wiped away tears with both of my thumbs. ‘Please tell me what’s wrong.’

He buried his face in his hands. I was still cupping his cheeks, so part of his hands covered mine. It didn’t seem like he even noticed.

‘If I’d been normal, would we have been normal?’

He mumbled it and for a moment I was sure I heard him wrong.

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.