Read Online Dead Angels by Tim O'Rourke - Free Book Online

out too often as they would get stuck like that one day. And she was right, because one day, they did.
    So pulling my coat about me, paranoid that some human might see my scars, I continued to follow the road. After a couple of miles or so, I came to a wooden sign that had been fixed to the trunk of a large tree.
    Welcome to Lake Lure – Please drive carefully had been stencilled across it in thick, black letters. Staring at the sign, I guessed the last part had been added for the guy who had called me an arsehole. 
    I pulled the collar of my coat up around my neck, thrust my hands into my pockets, and headed towards the town of Lake Lure. I wondered what stories I might find there.

 
    Chapter Ten
     
     
    Isidor
     
    I remember seeing Melody Rose as I made my way through the town of Lake Lure. The town was a crisscross of narrow streets, and each one was lined with tired-looking shops and houses. People passed along the streets and between the narrow alleyways that separated the buildings. At first I feared that everyone would stare at me, that they would know I was different to them somehow. I was paranoid that they would stop and point at me because of those scars that ran down the length of my arms. But no one paid any attention to me at all. All of them seemed too busy and preoccupied with their own lives and daily business to even look at me.
    As I crossed the main street, which seemed to cut the town in two, I heard someone shout, “Leave me alone!”
    The voice was female and she sounded more frustrated than scared. I stopped on the pavement and waited to see if the girl’s voice came again. It did.
    “Don’t touch me!” and this time, the owner of the voice sounded upset.
    I followed the sound into a narrow alley that ran between a restaurant and clothes shop. Down one side of the alley stood several large rubbish bins. Each of them was spilling over with rotten food, which I guessed had come from the restaurant. The stench made me want to puke, so I covered my nose with my hands. It was then, as I passed the bins, that I saw Melody for the first time. There were others gathered around her, but it was Melody I saw first.
    Her hair was mousey coloured and pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck. On her head she wore a dark bonnet which was secured beneath her chin with a length of black cord. Her skin was pale and there was no colour to her cheeks. She wore a plain grey dress with long sleeves, and the hem hung just above a pair of uncomfortable-looking boots. Over her dress she looked to be wearing some kind of off-white coloured apron, which had a big pocket across the front, like a kangaroo pouch. From where I hid behind the rubbish bins, the girl looked to be about fourteen, the same as me.
    I could see three other teenagers with her. Two of them were boys, and the other a girl. Unlike Melody, the others wore denim jeans, trainers, and T-shirts. One of the boys seemed to be keeping lookout, as he was glancing up and down the alleyway. His front teeth jutted over his bottom lip and a stream of drool swung from his chin. His hair was short and black, and had been combed into spikes on top of his head.
    I watched as this boy turned to the others and said, “Hurry up!” He sounded excited and nervous all at the same time as he glanced back down the alley towards the main road. 
    “You don’t say much,” the other boy said to Melody as he stuck his hands into the pocket that covered Melody’s apron.
    “Leave me alone,” Melody said softly, trying to pull the boy’s hand from her dress.
    From my hiding place crouched behind the bins, I watched as the girl, who had blonde hair, step forward and hold Melody’s hands against the alley wall as the boy riffled through her pocket.
    “I said, you don’t say much,” he said again. “Dumb, are ya?”
    Melody just stared at him with a pair of pale blue eyes.
    “Got nuffin’ to say for yourself?” the girl smirked, and I could see she was taking