Read Online The Darkest Corners by Barry Hutchison - Free Book Online Page B

feeling so comfortable. The pain in my head was little more than a niggle.
    My eyes closed. I lay still, enjoying the feeling of serenity that had begun to fill me. I didn’t have to run any more, hide any more, fight any more. I didn’t have to be scared, or be strong, or be anything but a kid.
    And then the door opened and spoiled everything.
    â€˜That was quick,’ I said, opening my eyes, but it wasn’t my mum stepping into the room. It was a girl dressed in black, with skin the colour of milky chocolate and boots that looked custom-built for kicking.
    She looked around the room before fixing her gaze on me. ‘Hey, kiddo,’ said Ameena. ‘You miss me?’
    My body went tense, bringing the pain back to my head.
    â€˜You just going to lie there with your mouth hanging open?’ Ameena asked. ‘Or are you going to say something?’
    I just lay there with my mouth hanging open. Ameena closed the door behind her, then came to the side of my bed. ‘You might want to pull yourself together there,’ she told me. ‘We might not have much time.’
    â€˜You’re not real.’
    â€˜No, I’m not. Well, not in the conventional sense,’ she admitted. She gestured at the room around her. ‘But then neither is this.’
    â€˜I dreamed you,’ I said. ‘I dreamed you. You shouldn’t be here.’
    â€˜You’re right, I shouldn’t,’ she said. ‘If he finds out I’ve snuck in to see you, he’ll kill me.’
    â€˜Who? Who’ll kill you?’
    â€˜Guess,’ she said. Then added, ‘Your dad,’ before I had the chance. ‘The handsome and dashing Doctor Feder.’ She put her hand to the side of her mouth and spoke in a mock-whisper. ‘Who isn’t really a doctor, by the way.’
    I could feel my heart racing. The lines on one of the monitor screens peaked like a mountain range and a red light began to blink on and off.
    â€˜You’re not real,’ I said again. ‘I dreamed you.’
    â€˜No, listen to me,’ she said, her voice low, her face serious. ‘The other stuff, the imaginary friends, the Darkest Corners. That stuff’s real. All of it. This. This here now. This is the dream. This is what isn’t real.’
    â€˜You’re lying,’ I said, and the red light on the heart monitor blinked faster. ‘This is a trick, or a… I don’t know… a hallucination or something.’
    I rolled away from her and tumbled out of bed. The wires attached to my chest tore free and all three machines began to shriek in complaint. Ameena flicked the power switch at the wall, silencing them.
    â€˜Calm down, kiddo, or you’ll get us both killed.’
    I moved round the bed and shoved past Ameena on my way to the door.
    â€˜Get away,’ I spat. ‘You’re not real. None of that stuff was real. I want my mum. I’m going to get my mum.’
    â€˜Your mum’s dead.’
    I stopped at the door. ‘Your mum’s dead,’ Ameena said again. ‘Your dad killed her.’
    â€˜She’s not dead,’ I growled. ‘I saw her.’
    â€˜You think you saw her. He convinced you into seeing her, like he convinced you into seeing all of this.’
    â€˜No!’ I cried, and I pushed through the door and out into the corridor. I stopped when I got there. I could still hear the hospital sounds bustling around me, but the corridor itself was empty.
    And I mean empty . The floor was bare wood, the walls a glossy white. The corridor was nothing more than a short, narrow hallway with a door at each end and an opening that led on to an equally featureless stairway.
    All those old feelings of panic and dread began to bubble furiously in my gut. I carried on towards the opposite door just as Ameena came through the one behind me.
    The door opened on to a hospital day room. There were a few tatty armchairs and a mismatched couch