Read Online The Dead Series (Book 1): Tell Me When I'm Dead by Steven Ramirez - Free Book Online Page A

goes to bed, you can sleep in the living room.”
    There’s no better way for a woman to punish a man than to make him sleep away from her. I tried to look on the bright side. At least we were under the same roof.
    “What’s this I hear about gangs and violence?” Irene said at dinner.
    “Mom, I never said—”
    “It’s not like that,” I said. “It’s these random incidents. No one knows what’s causing them.”
    “Well, according to Evie Champagne, things have gotten awfully strange. Tres Marias was always such a nice little town. Seems like nothing is nice anymore.”
    “You shouldn’t believe what you hear on TV,” Holly said.
    “I like Evie Champagne,” Irene said. “She seems honest.”
    We played Scrabble for a while like a normal family, then Holly’s mom went to bed. Holly and I stayed up watching Mrs. Doubtfire on satellite TV. Neither of us wanted to talk about what lay ahead. So we sat at opposite ends of the sofa, pretending to laugh as Robin Williams bounced frantically between two tables in a restaurant.
    “Do you hate me?” I said when the movie was over.
    “Yes.”
    “I love you, Holly. I’m so sorry—”
    “Don’t, Dave.”
    She opened the French doors leading to the small balcony and went outside. I followed her. I could see a full moon through the trees. A cool breeze blew in from the lake, bringing the smell of pine and lilac. Owls hooted in the nearby trees. In any other circumstance this would’ve been a perfect night.
    Seeing the stars in the black-velvet sky, I wanted so much to hold Holly’s hand, but I didn’t dare make a move.
    “I wish …” she said. “I wish you’d never told me.” She turned to me, and I saw tears glistening in the moonlight. “I wish you would’ve kept it as your dirty secret. And we’d raise our children and grow old together, and I could die believing that you’d been faithful to me. That’s the life I wanted, you being faithful.”
    “Holly.”
    “But I can’t have it now because you killed it. I gave up so much for you. I thought if I loved you enough I could change you. I was so stupid. I thought it was the drinking that’s the problem. I didn’t know it was something deeper.”
    “I don’t want to lose you,” I said.
    “You can go to Hell.”
    I saw what was coming and let it happen. She slapped me hard, then went to bed. My face stinging, I heard her crying. I’m pretty sure her mother heard it too.
    I stayed outside for a time, thinking about everything I’d done wrong. And I kept trying to figure out a way to fix it. There had to be something I could do. I needed to redeem myself. I needed forgiveness. There had to be a way to get Holly back.
    A piercing shriek shredded the blackness of the night like a chain saw. Feeling cold, I came inside and tried to sleep. A voice in my head told me that sleep was for babies and old people.
    “And the dead,” I said to the walls.

    I left early, having gotten little rest. All night I waited for a call from the police saying I needed to tell them where I was because they had implicated me in Jim’s death. And I waited for a text from Missy. Neither came.
    As I got ready to leave, Holly came to the front door and put something I recognized in my hand. It was the gold crucifix she’d received on her First Communion, which she had worn since I met her. As I said, I’m not the religious type—eight years of Catholic school had seen to that—but Holly still believed in the power of prayer.
    “Keep it,” I said. “I’m going to Hell, remember?”
    “Take it.”
    “Why?”
    “Protection.”
    “In case something bad happens?”
    “Yeah. And you might wanna start praying. And go to Confession. Sorry I slapped you.”
    I saw in her a friend who was trying to give another friend some good advice. I thought she’d let me kiss her, but she walked away.
    “I’ll text you when I get back,” I said, not sure if she heard me.
    Her mother was in the kitchen, cleaning up the