Page 402 of Evil Hearts

The Shadows In Her Bed

KC BORDERS

Prologue

10 years ago

Staring down atmy paper, the words begin to blur, and I can feel it. That little creeping sensation that crawls up my spine and pierces my brain. It starts out as a small headache and blossoms into a full blown migraine as I try to write. Crimson drops onto the page in little splats and I curse inwardly, not wanting to draw attention to myself. I’m not alone. There are at least fifteen other students here, and a teacher, but they’re the least of my worries. There’s something else here too. Something more sinister.

I don’t want to look, but I can’t help it. Out of the corner of my eye, I toss a compulsive glance at the far wall of the room, confirming my symptoms. An unnatural shadow with dark wisps of smoke looms over Suzie Baker, the frail quiet girl. Its tendrils seem to be encircling her. She sits, slumped down in her chair, staring off into space. I had noticed she had a small, but nasty bruise on her cheek last week. It’s starting to turn yellow now, but there’s a new one on her arm. She claimed she fell, but I know better.

Entities attach themselves to people who are troubled to feed off of that energy, keeping them in a state of despair. The shadowmoves and I slowly turn my gaze away, not wanting to see its face. If I see it, it will know.

Helping ghosts crossover is usually pretty simple, but these spirits… The malevolent ones. I try to stay clear of them.And yet… I glance back at Suzie and almost scream. The entity now has its large mouth wrapped around the top of her head. I know she can’t see or feel it, but it’s feeding from her, sucking at her soul like it’s a slurpee. I quickly grind my pencil down against my desk, swiping the dust and pieces of graphite into my hand.

Nonchalantly, I step over to Suzie and blow the dust at her. The creature screams. Electricity sparks through its dark form like an electric storm, before it fizzles out and disappears in a shroud of dark smoke. Graphite is an excellent conductor of electricity, and it creates a small electrical field when disturbed. I was so lucky finding out on my own that graphite disrupts the electrical conductivity in most entities. I later learned that it temporarily severs ties with the spirit world making it take a while before the ghosts can form again.

“What the heck!” Suzie shrieks. “Why did you do that?”

“Sorry!” I exclaim. “I was just trying to get that spider away from you. It was stringing down right above your head. They don’t like pencil lead.”

“Ohh…” she says softly before her eyes widen with alarm, a look of realization brightening her face as she quickly looks above her. “Did you get it?” Her hands instinctively go to her head.

I smile and nod. “Yeah, it won’t be bothering you anymore.” I look at her with sadness and quickly turn away, but stop myself.Those bruises. If I befriend her, maybe I can help stop it. I could make a difference in her life…

“Suzie?”

She turns to me with a half smile. “Yeah?”

“Want to be my friend?”

Her eyes light up and tears well. She nods quickly, tears spilling over when she blinks. “Yes. I would like that very much.” She beams at me.

“Then it’s settled. Suzie Baker and Amelia Clark are now the best of friends,” I say, grinning ear to ear.

Chapter 1

Present day

“Come on, Aim’s…You can afford it. Your talents have blown all those fake mediums out of the water. You’re the most requested medium like ever in history, and if thereareany ghosts, you can just help them to move on.”

“I don’t know.” I say, staring at the screen. Just the photos of the house give me the creeps. “Even with its history, it’s still too low on the market to be real. It’s too good to be true. Plus, it’s huge, and it’s just going to be me in that big house.”

“What do you mean?” Suzie, my best friend since childhood, furrows her brows at me.

“I’ve seen haunted houses with worse histories go for more…” I turn to her, all humor wiped from my face. “With it this cheap, there are bound to be evil spirits. Or maybe a cracked foundation or—I don’t know. Maybe something worse?”

Suzie scoffs. “What’s worse than evil spirits?”

“Demons,” I say pointedly, and her eyes widen.

“Okay, okay… Let’s dig deeper.” She leans in, glances at the screen, and starts typing away on her phone. “It says here that it used to be a–”

“Frat house,” I interrupt.

Suzie sighs. “Okay, you’ve done your homework on the place. Of course you did, little Miss Nancy Drew. What else did you find that’s making you feel so nervous about this place?”

“Well…” I start. “It was owned by the House Corporation, as we know. After them, a couple purchased the house with big dreams of turning it into a small B&B. They stayed there for all of two days before they packed up and left.”

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