Read Online Blood Ties by Victoria Rice - Free Book Online Page B

leave, then there was a soft teasing chuckle.
    Suddenly my bed was overturned, thrown into the wall, shattering my chest of drawers. I screamed. Out of the darkness, a pair of large white hands appeared, fingers curled in talons, reaching for me.
     
    A loud pounding sounded on a door. I found myself cowering in a corner in the darkness. After a few moments of disorientation, I crawled through clothing on the floor of my bedroom and when I reached the living room, stood and stumbled to the front door. I opened it and Jen ran inside, flipping on all of the lights and looking around, pushing me behind her. Parker and another guy from down the hall rushed in. They shouted, asking what was going on as they searched my apartment.
    She pulled me down on the couch. The boys stood huddled around us, their chests heaving in all the excitement.
    “Liz, are you okay, what’s going on?”
    I looked at her through a veil of tears trying to hold back the emotional wails of panic. The image of those pale, cruel hands reaching for me had burned into the back of my eyes. I blinked back my tears. “I’m sorry, it was just a nightmare.” I let out a breathy shudder.
    She barked out for a glass of water and Parker ran to the kitchen and raced back with one. She handed it to me. My hands shook and the water slopped in the glass. She helped me hold it.
    “Thanks guys, she’ll be fine. I’ll take it from here.”
    “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked after they had left.
    “No, it was nothing ... just a silly dream.”
    “Do you want me to stay?”
    “No really. I’m fine. No worries,” I assured her in a small voice, caught on the end of a hiccup. I wasn’t fine but couldn’t talk about it. I didn’t want to think about it. I wanted to blank it out of my mind; it had seemed so – real.
    “Sure? It’s no problem for me to stay.”
    I shook my head, blinking back more tears and held my breath to make the spasms stop in my throat.
    She watched me with those big green eyes. “Well,” she said slowly, “I’m next door if you need me.”
    I locked the door behind her, checking it twice, then turned on every light in the apartment, wrapped my body tight in my comfort er and made sure my toes were tucked in safe from the monsters under the bed. I hoped this nightmare wouldn’t join my other dreams in their frequent dance around my subconscious.
     
     
     
    Chapter 6
     
     
     
    It was another dark, drizzly day. I followed the crowd along the sidewalk huddled in my windbreaker under a small foldable umbrella. The rain drummed along the top of it. I’d stolen it from Jen. Well “stolen” may be too strong a word. I borrowed it, the good one, leaving her the clunky yellow one. She looked good in yellow. I moved to the left to dart around a large puddle. Then I saw him coming towards me.
    He was head down, deep in conversation with Dr. Hanson. He wore a long unbelted black raincoat, collar up, over the top of a blue formfitting sweater and black pants. He reached with one pale hand to move a strand of hair away from his face. Just that small gesture jump started my heart – I’d seen that so often in my dreams. My heart was loud enough that it thundered in my ears. He looked up and searched the crowd of students in front of him until his gaze landed on me. There was nowhere to go but forward.
    I lowered my eyes to the back of the student in front of me, following her along, umbrella low against my head, hoping I was mistaken, that he hadn’t really seen me and I could sneak past him. A moment later, he was right in front of me, literally. To move past him I’d have to go around him. Damn.
    “Good morning Miss Aldridg e,” he said.
    “Hi,” I breathed, gazing up into his lovely face. “… ah … Dr. Marcheon … Dr. Hanson.”
    “Miss Aldridge,” Tom said. “I’m glad to see you’re doing much better. You had me worried.” The plastic handle of my umbrella strained under the tight grip of my fingers. I knew