Page 40 of Love at First Fright

It’s fine. You’re fine. It’s just… it’s just…

What? A hallucination? Hysteria? Brad spiking my cornflakes with LSD?

My eyes adjusted slowly. Shapes emerged from the darkness. The broken shelf. The doorframe. The narrow walls pressing in on either side.

And something else.

Someone else.

A figure. Standing in the corner. A maid’s uniform.

Pale face. Half covered by a bloodstained cloth.

One eye. Milky. Dead.

Staring directly at me.

Her mouth opened.

“Tea, sir?”

I screamed. Properly screamed, ripping my throat raw.

Burst out of the cupboard. Slammed into the opposite wall. Spun. Ran.

The staircase. I had to risk the staircase. Away from the library. Away from the giggles. Away from the woman with the ruined face asking if I wanted tea.

My foot caught on something.

Nothing. Everything. My own trainers?

I pitched forward.

Tumbled.

My shoulder hit the edge of the stairs. Pain exploded through my arm. My head cracked against the wall with a sickening thud.

Stars burst behind my eyelids.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck

I’m going to die.

I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t—

Footsteps pounded down the corridor. Down the stairs.

Brad’s face appeared above me, upside down, mouth moving.

I couldn’t hear him over the rushing in my ears.

Slowly, his face came into focus. Still upside down. But… different somehow.

The usual scowl had vanished. His features had… softened? His eyebrows weren’t drawn together in that perpetual expression of disgust. His mouth wasn’t twisted into a sneer.

He looked almost… concerned? No. Surely not.

“Charlie? Charlie? Are you okay?”