Read Online Daylight Saving by Edward Hogan - Free Book Online

middle finger and only one on the others. I could see the tension in you as soon as we met. Our lives are written on our bodies,” she said.
    I wondered what was written on
my
body.
Quarter-pounder with cheese,
probably.
    “Close your eyes,” Chrissy said.
    Reaching from behind my head, she put her hands over my eyes. I stifled the giggles for a few moments, and then I started to let go. It was nice. It wasn’t as good as swimming, but it was still relaxing. My thoughts wandered. I thought of Lexi’s back as she ran through the gardens, of her standing on the fence, her wet hair gleaming in the fingernail of moonlight.
    Chrissy took her hands away, and I felt my aches and pains blossom again. “So, were you taking on my energy then, or something?” I asked.
    “Mmm,” she said.
    I turned around. Chrissy was frowning and staring at the grass.
    “Are you OK?” I asked.
    “What? Yes. I — Yes. I’ll be fine,” she said.
    I stood up, because Dad and Tash were coming toward us. Chrissy stood, too. I started walking, but when I realized Chrissy wasn’t following, I turned. She had her hand to her head, and she was swaying.
    “What’s wrong?” I asked.
    “Oh, God, Daniel,” she said. Then she collapsed.

Tash and Dad rushed over to help Chrissy, and I stood well back. She was out cold for a few moments. I could feel burning across my knuckles, and when I looked down, there were livid scrape marks on the skin. Dad ran back to the Pancake House to get some water while Tash knelt with her sister.
    “I didn’t do anything,” I said.
    “Don’t worry, Daniel,” Tash said calmly. “She’s going to be fine.”
    “Has this happened to her before?” I asked. “When she does her treatments?”
    “No,” Tash said. “No, to be honest. It hasn’t.”
    Chrissy had come round by the time Dad got back with the water. She sat up and drank from the bottle. She flinched when she saw me.
    “What happened?” I said. “What did I do?”
    “You didn’t do anything,” she said. She wore a dark, worried expression, but when she saw that I was looking at her, she made it into a weak smile. I knew about those fake smiles. I knew what they meant. The blood was throbbing in my leg, and I was beginning to feel weak. Weak with anger. Weak with fear.
    Lexi was lying on her back in the reeds when I found her, eyes open, her face somehow submerged in the water. Her skin was pale, and her hair fanned out like a pool of black blood. When she saw me, she blinked and rose. “Daniel!” she said.
    “You can’t just do that, you know,” I said.
    “Do what?”
    “Run away. You ran away. You didn’t give me any reasons, and you didn’t say good-bye.”
    “Danny boy,” she said. Her voice sounded frail. “I was late. I had to go.”
    “Late for what? I don’t know anything about your life. Was your carriage going to turn into a pumpkin?”
    “Daniel,” she said, climbing out of the water. “You don’t understand. I told you there were things about me that I couldn’t tell you. Trust me, I had to go. It had nothing to do with you.”
    “That’s what they all say. But it
has
to do with me. If someone leaves me, it
has
to do with me.”
    “I’m here now, aren’t I? God, I only — What’s this really about?”
    She came toward me, but I backed off. “Stay away,” I said.
    “Why?” she asked.
    “Look at me!” I said. “I’m falling apart.”
    I showed her my hands, my ankle, the gash down my leg. “You’ve given me your disease,” I said.
    She stared at each wound, her eyes widening. Clearly, she knew what was going on.
    “What is it? What’s happening to me?” I asked. “A minute ago a woman passed out just from
touching
me.”
    “Where did you get these marks?” Lexi asked. “Did you fall?”
    “No! You know I didn’t fall. You know what’s happening. I
woke up
with these wounds, and they are getting worse, not better. Just like yours.”
    “Oh, Jesus,” she said.
    “It’s contagious,