Page 286 of Ominous: Part 1
He only grabs her.
His body eclipses hers, but I hear her startled breath, her gasp of fear. I’m scared to move closer, like if I do, it’ll taunt him.
“We used to play games,” he says, loud enough for me to hear.
I think of his words last night. His memories about Winslet.
“Me, and my sister, and Eli.”
I stare at his hands kneading Eden’s shoulders, and over his own, I can see her still holding her phone up, but she isn’t taking photos.
“Kind of like truth or dare, but there were never any truths. Winslet thought those wereboring.”He glances at me over his shoulder. “And you too, didn’t you?” He has a smile, and I force myself to return it. Slowly, he faces the cliff edge again, fingers still along Eden’s shoulders. “They’d probably dare each other right over the edge of this cliff right now.” He dips his head, his mouth over Eden’s ear.
I take one silent step closer, in the dirt, away from the parking lot.
Eden says nothing. I wonder what she’s thinking. Right now, I can’t hear her voice in my head. The only thing I hear is my fear, pulsing inside my brain.
Let go of her, let go, let go, let go.
I hold my breath.
Headlights sweep the parking lot behind us, casting the cliffside in light, for one split second.
It’s a long way down.
Finally,finally,as Jasper cuts the engine to Janelle’s car, Dominic releases Eden. He steps back, then turns on his heel, facing me.
He walks by, shoulder checking me as Eden turns around.
But I grab his wrist, gripping it so tight, I hear his small gasp of pain.
My mouth is by his ear, and we’re facing opposite directions.
“I’ll only give you so much allowance, for grief.” I twist his wrist, and I can feel the tension in his body. The pain. “Don’t touch her again.”
46
Eden
I feelcertain half of us will miss the ghosts.
Jasper and Janelle are sleeping back-to-back in one of the cramped beds of the red room. Red wallpaper, burgundy sheets, even the single lamp built into the wall casts a sickly, reddish glow around the thin gray carpet and tiny square unit.
The chain is on the door, the bathroom is divided by a wall only, withnodoor, and the TV is big and boxy, plopped on a dresser with the drawers glued shut.
Dominic looks as if he dove into the sheets of the bed on the opposite side of the nightstand between him and Jasper and Janelle.
His arms are askew by his side, head twisted toward the divider for the toilet, lips parted as he snores softly, rumpled sheets reaching to the middle of his back, his broad shoulders exposed, shirt on the floor.
He had a few drinks from the nearly empty vodka bottle on the nightstand someone thought to bring. Jasper and Janelle stayed sober, but it’s late. Ten minutes until 3:33, when Luna insists we’ll see ghosts, if this hotel really has any to offer. I have to agree with her. It’s a holy hour.
According to a Google search we all did, the spirits exist on the stairwell and by the pool. It’s not open for swimming; the bored check-in clerk told us when I showed her our reservations. I shouldn’t have been able to rent a hotel room, but she didn’t ask for ID.
I don’t think she cared about much of anything except getting back to taking selfies of her long, white hair and shadowy eye makeup.
She had been doing just that when we walked through the doors of this place.
The entire hotel smells a little like the library.
