Laura Read online

  “I've gotta run,” Roger says suddenly, kissing the side of my head. “See you later, honey.”

  I open my mouth to tell him I hope his day goes well, but somehow the words catch in my throat. Still watching the table, I feel more certain than ever that eyes are staring back at me.

  “Honey?”

  Roger clicks his fingers in front of my face, and I turn to him.

  “Zoning out again?” he asks with a smile.

  “Don't you ever feel it?” I reply, as a shudder passes through my chest. “It's mostly around the dining table. Every so often, I just get this really strong sensation that I'm being watched.”

  “And that's one of the many reasons I love you,” he says, putting an arm around my shoulder and leading me to the hallway, where Caitlin is still struggling with her coat. “You have a very active imagination, Mary. A little too active sometimes, maybe.”

  “But -”

  “There are no ghosts in our apartment,” he adds, turning to me. “Let's not put ideas in a certain person's head, okay?” He leans closer, lowering his voice to a whisper. “Caitlin doesn't know that the apartment has a bit of a history. She doesn't know anything about the weird couple who lived here before us, and I'd rather keep it that way. You know how easy it is for kids to get crazy ideas. Let's just be glad that other people got spooked, and that we ended up paying half-price for the place. Great deal, huh?”

  “Sure,” I reply, still feeling uneasy.

  He checks his watch.

  “Roger,” I add after a moment, “I really -”

  “Gotta fly!”

  He kisses me on the cheek before grabbing his briefcase and hurrying to the door. Kissing Caitlin along the way, he mutters something about dinner and then finally he hurries out of the apartment, leaving me still feeling deeply uncomfortable. Caitlin, meanwhile, is finally managing to get both her arms into her jacket.

  “I don't want to be late for school, Mummy,” she tells me. “We have history class first, and I really like that. Today we're going to be learning all about Egypt and the pyramids!”

  “Of course,” I reply, forcing a smile as I grab my coat. As I slip it on, however, I hear a very faint bumping sound coming from nearby and I turn to look back over at the dining table.

  I wait.

  Nothing.

  No sound.

  No movement.

  No hint of anything at all.

  I tell myself that I'm just letting my thoughts run wild, but at the same time I still feel very uneasy. We've been living in this apartment for six months now, and barely a day goes past when I don't feel at least once as if I'm being watched. Last night, for example, I got up for a glass of water at around 3am and I swear I briefly heard a whispering sound coming from the table. Even now, I look around at the rest of the apartment, making absolutely sure that there's no sign of anyone. Finally I feel Caitlin taking my hand in hers, and I look down to see that she's all ready for school.

  “Come on, Mummy,” she says, very seriously, “we can't be late.”

  “Of course not,” I mutter, leading her out the door and into the corridor. After pulling the door shut, I start walking toward the elevator, while still holding my daughter's hand. “I'm so glad you like going to school,” I tell her, trying to put my worries aside now that we're heading out. “You're a very good girl.”

  Once we're in the elevator, I hit the button for the lobby and wait. The elevator's door always takes an age to shut, so I press the button several more times.

  “It doesn't help to keep pressing it, Mummy,” Caitlin tells me very matter-of-factly. “You just have to be patient.”

  “I know, honey,” I mutter, hitting the button one more time before forcing myself to wait.

  Ahead, at the far end of the corridor, the door to our apartment seems almost to be watching us. I feel an instant urge to hit the button again, to get the elevator on its way as quickly as possible, but I know Caitlin's right. I know I have to put my fears aside and just get on with things, but something about that apartment has been making me feel unsettled ever since we moved in. I'm not entirely sure how much longer I can handle this. If the feeling doesn't go away soon, I might have to suggest to Roger that we should move.

  And still the elevator's door won't slide shut.

  “Sweetheart,” I say finally, as Caitlin holds my hand, “can Mummy ask you something?” I look down at her. “Have you ever heard or felt anything strange near the dining table in our new apartment?”

  Looking up at me, she furrows her brow. “I don't think so, Mummy.”

  “You've never felt like there's someone... I don't know, like maybe there's someone sitting there? Or several people? And you can't see them, but somehow you know they're there?”

  She pauses, as if she's giving the matter some very serious consideration, and then she shakes her head.

  “That's good,” I reply, feeling a hint of relief. “And you've never... I know this might sound silly, but you've never heard any voices coming from the dining table, have you? When it's supposed to be empty, I mean. No whispers or anything like that? Especially at night?”

  She shakes her head again.

  “Okay,” I say with a smile. “That's really good.”

  “I've never heard anything coming from the dining table.”

  “Great.”

  Taking a sigh of relief, I turn and look along the corridor, toward our apartment.

  “That's good,” I add under my breath, telling myself that I really need to relax. Maybe I should get another Valium prescription filled while I'm out.

  “But Mummy,” Caitlin continues, as the elevator door finally starts sliding shut, “who's the woman who keeps sitting next to my bed at night, stroking my hair and asking if I'll be her friend?”

  Also by Amy Cross

  PERFECT LITTLE MONSTERS

  AND OTHER STORIES

  A husband waits until his wife and children are in bed, before inviting a dangerous man into their home...

  A girl keeps hold of her mother's necklace, as bloodied hands try to tear it from her grasp...

  A gun jams, even as its intended victim begs the universe to let her die...

  Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by Amy Cross. Some of the stories take place in seemingly ordinary towns, whose inhabitants soon discover something truly shocking lurking beneath the veneer of peace and calm. Others show glimpses of vast, barbaric worlds where deadly forces gather to toy with humanity. All the stories in this collection peel back the face of a nightmare, revealing the horror that awaits. And in every one of the stories, some kind of monster lurks...

  Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories contains the new stories Perfect Little Monsters, I Hate You, Meat, Fifty Fifty and Stay Up Late, as well as a revised version of the previously-released story The Scream. This book contains scenes of violence, as well as strong language.

  Also by Amy Cross

  THE BRIDE OF ASHBYRN HOUSE

  “I have waited so long for your return.”

  In the English countryside, miles from the nearest town, there stands an old stone house. Nobody has set foot in the house for years. Nobody has dared. For it is said that even though the lady of the house is long dead, a face can sometimes be seen at one of the windows. A pale, dead face that waits patiently behind a silk wedding veil.

  Seeking an escape from his life in London, Owen Stone purchases Ashbyrn House without waiting to find out about its history. As far as Owen is concerned, ghosts aren't real and his only company in the house will be the thin-legged spiders that lurk on the walls. Even after he moves in, and after he starts hearing strange noises in the night, Owen insists that Ashbyrn House can't possibly be haunted.

  But Owen knows nothing about the ghostly figure that is said to haunt the house. Or about the mysterious church bells that ring out across the lawn at night. Or about the terrible fate that befell the house's previous inhabitants when they dared defy the bride. E
ven as Owen starts to understand the horrific truth about Ashbyrn House's past, he might be too late to escape the clutches of the presence that watches his every move.

  The Bride of Ashbyrn House is a ghost story about a man who believes the past can't hurt him, and about a woman whose search for a husband has survived even her own tragic death.

  Also by Amy Cross

  THE BODY AT AUERCLIFF

  “We'll bury her so deep, even her ghost will have a mouth full of dirt!”

  When Rebecca Wallace arrives at Auercliff to check on her aged aunt, she's in for a shock. Her aunt's mind is crumbling, and the old woman refuses to let Rebecca stay overnight. And just as she thinks she's starting to understand the truth, Rebecca makes a horrifying discovery in one of the house's many spare rooms.

  A dead body. A woman. Old and rotten. And her aunt insists she has no idea where it came from.

  The truth lies buried in the past. For generations, the occupants of Auercliff have been tormented by the repercussions of a horrific secret. And somehow everything seems to be centered upon the mausoleum in the house's ground, where every member of the family is entombed once they die.

  Whose body was left to rot in one of the house's rooms? Why have successive generations of the family been plagued by a persistent scratching sound? And what really happened to Rebecca many years ago, when she found herself locked inside the Auercliff mausoleum?

  The Body at Auercliff is a horror story about a family and a house, and about the refusal of the past to stay buried.

  Also by Amy Cross

  THE GHOST OF SHAPLEY HALL

  “Georgette Shapley died outside this house. Her ghost has spent the past century trying to get back inside so she can be reunited with her child.”

  James Spence doesn't believe in ghosts, so he has no worries about going with his girlfriend Rachel to visit an old, abandoned country home.

  Rachel, meanwhile, is convinced that a weekend at Shapley Hall will make James change his mind. After all, she knows from bitter experience that the the house is haunted by a woman who once died in the most horrific manner possible, and who now waits to be reunited with her long-lost child.

  As the weekend continues, however, James starts to realize that maybe ghosts are the least of his problems. Rachel's behavior is becoming increasingly erratic, and it soon becomes clear that she'll stop at nothing to fulfill a promise she once made to a dead woman. Did Rachel imagine a terrifying experience during her childhood, or are the hallways of Shapley Hall really haunted by a terrifying, vengeful creature?

  The Ghost of Shapley Hall is a horror story about two people who venture into a dark, abandoned house, and about the echo of a terrible crime that still haunts the Shapley family to this day.

  OTHER BOOKS

  BY AMY CROSS INCLUDE

  Horror

  The Bride of Ashbyrn House

  The Body at Auercliff

  B&B

  Asylum

  Meds (Asylum 2)

  Annie's Room

  The Farm

  The Haunting of Blackwych Grange

  The Devil, the Witch and the Whore (The Deal book 1)

  The Ghost of Longthorn Manor and Other Stories

  Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories

  Twisted Little Things and Other Stories

  The Disappearance of Katie Wren

  The Horror of Devil's Root Lake

  The Ghosts of Lakeforth Hotel

  The Printer From Hell

  The Nurse

  American Coven

  Eli's Town

  The Night Girl

  Devil's Briar

  The Cabin

  After the Cabin

  Last Wrong Turn

  At the Edge of the Forest

  The Devil's Hand

  The Ghost of Shapley Hall

  The Death of Addie Gray

  A House in London

  The Blood House

  The Priest Hole (Nykolas Freeman book 1)

  Battlefield (Nykolas Freeman book 2)

  The Border

  The Lighthouse

  3AM

  Tenderling

  The Girl Clay

  The Prison

  Ward Z

  The Devil's Photographer

  Thriller

  The Girl Who Never Came Back

  Other People's Bodies

  Dystopia / Science Fiction

  The Dog

  The Island (The Island book 1)

  Persona (The Island book 2)