The Curse of Crescent Road by Jessica Lancaster

Author:Jessica Lancaster [Lancaster, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gemini House Publishing
Published: 2018-04-23T05:00:00+00:00

SIXTEEN

I turned on the spot, grabbing the granite counter as I spun. My fingers tensed up like five-legged spiders, clawing for life.

The neighbour stood in the doorway of the kitchen. His body fit the width of the hallway. He let out a grunt, puffing smoke through his nose. “Clean,” he said.

With my hand on my chest, trying to keep the swelling of my lungs from exploding inside me, I looked him over and smiled. “Yes,” I said. “The door was open.”

“There’s glass on the floor,” he said in another grunt.

I quickly turned the tap on, washing away the blood. “I knocked it,” I said. “Clumsy.”

He shrugged. “He’s got a nice garden too,” he said, pressing his face up against the window of the door. “A bit small.”

I looked out through the window of the kitchen, above the sink. He was right. Greg’s garden was smaller than mine, almost like the two houses at either side of him were encroaching on his land. While it might not have been the largest, the garden was divided into six small lots, each covered in a small green tent. “What’s he growing?” I asked.

Grey smoke filled the clean void around the man’s body. He pressed his body weight against the door handle, pulling the door open. “Now that’s he’s not here, I can finally help myself to some of those gloves.” He waddled back, opening the door.

“No,” I said, protesting as I moved in front of him. “You’re not going to steal from him.”

He laughed, blowing smoke in my face. Luckily my glasses protected my eyes from the pure acidic stench. “Greg never leaves his doors unlocked,” he said. “So, he’ll never notice.”

I wondered, if he wanted new gloves so badly, he could climb the fence separating the two gardens, but then I looked him over again as he tugged at his beard with one hand and tapped his pipe with his other. “I don’t think Greg would want you inside,” I finally said.

“Else what?”

“I’ll call the—”

He gulped. “You’re that witch.”

There was also that, but I’d never use my abilities in whatever ways his brain was concocting. “Leave,” I said.

“Right, right,” he scoffed, pulling the pipe from his mouth. He shook his head, waddling back down the hall with a hand on his pants, keeping them up as he spread the unearthly stench of smoke with him.

Greg wouldn’t be happy to know I’d let his neighbour in, or that he came in with a cloud of smog covering the upper half of his body.

I reached the outside handle of the back door to close it when I stuck my hand in something wet. I knew, immediately.

Blood.

If I touched anymore of it I’d go crazy. I held my hand out, carrying myself over to the sink. I washed away the sticky residue, scrubbing it with a little soap.

“All in the past couple of hours,” I murmured to myself.

He had to have been here after he left my house. Or someone else was here looking for him, it could’ve been someone else’s blood, someone else could’ve smashed the glass.

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