The Whisper House by C S Green

Author:C S Green [J.L. Butler]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2022-05-24T17:00:00+00:00

22

It takes a long time to get off to sleep in Adam’s cramped little bedroom.

Along with the furniture, there’s an exercise bike in there with a couple of T-shirts hanging over it and a pile of paperback books in one corner that are clearly waiting for a proper home. She’d idly glanced at the titles as she painstakingly changed into her pyjamas. Lots of popular science books, mainly, including ones by Bill Bryson and Richard Dawkins. A couple seem to be on the supernatural, such as one called The Psychology of Superstition and Why People Believe Weird Things. Rose wonders anew how someone like Adam ended up at UCIT.

The intimacy of lying in the space where he sleeps is distracting, to say the least. She runs a hand across the cool sheet and pictures his body warming the space. Pointless, and inappropriate, but at least the fantasy takes her mind off the memory of being thrown against a wall by an angry ghost.

It’s around 2 a.m. when she becomes aware of a shape in the room, a dark presence. Her sleepy brain is instantly electrified with panic.

Oakley. He’s back.

Fuzzy from the mix of alcohol and pills, it’s hard to surface. As panic mounts, she fights the thick, muffling sensation dragging her down until she is sitting upright, properly awake, heart pounding so hard she can feel it in her throat.

‘Rose, Rose, it’s okay, it’s only me!’

At the door, Adam is dressed in a T-shirt and pyjama bottoms, his face stricken, hands up in supplication.

With a gasp of pain, Rose leans back against the headboard. ‘Oh God,’ she says, ‘I thought, I thought …’

It’s impossible to resist them and the tears finally fall, hotly, down her cheeks. She buries her head in her hands.

‘Oh shit!’ says Adam. ‘I’m so bloody thoughtless. After what happened before … I didn’t think. I’m so sorry. But you were moaning in your sleep and I wanted to check you were only dreaming and not in any pain. I never meant to scare you!’

Rose can’t stop crying. It’s literally impossible right now. The memory of what happened last year is like a massive rucksack filled with stones she carries all the time, every minute of the day and the night too. It has become her version of normal. But right now she’s aware of how very heavy it is, lying here in pain and in her lovely colleague’s bed.

Adam hovers near the door and then disappears, coming back a moment later with a box of tissues.

‘God, I’m so sorry,’ says Rose, gathering herself, her voice so thick it’s almost unrecognizable. ‘I didn’t wake your girls, did I?’

‘No, it’s fine, don’t worry about that,’ says Adam. ‘They’re sound asleep. Look, is it okay if I come over there and give you a tissue?’

‘Yes, please,’ says Rose.

Adam approaches and hands her the tissue box at arm’s length. She takes one gratefully.

‘You must think I’m such a fruitcake. Please,’ she says, then: ‘Sit down for a minute. It was so kind of you to check on me.

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.