style="font-size:15px;"> An elderly black woman answered, dressed in a bathrobe and slippers with a cross around her neck.
Amber smiled. “Althea Buxton?”
“Who are you?”
“Mrs Buxton, my name is—”
“What do you want?”
“We were hoping to—”
“What’s this about? Who sent you?”
“Uh, no one sent us.”
“I’m not going to invite you in.”
“That’s quite all right,” said Amber. “We’re looking for your son, actually. Is he around?”
“My son passed away.”
Amber frowned. “It is Gregory Buxton we’re looking for.”
“I know who my son is,” Althea snapped. “I only had one of them, and he passed, ten years or more. He’s gone now and that’s that. I can’t help you.”
She stepped back, and closed the door firmly, the sound coinciding perfectly with the plummeting of Amber’s heart.
“That’s it, then,” she said dully. “It’s over. He’s dead. I have nothing to offer the Shining Demon. My parents will keep chasing me until they … they …”
Milo walked back to the car. “He’s not dead,” he said.
Amber looked up. “What?” She hurried after him. Glen followed. “How do you know he’s not dead?”
“The Shining Demon would have known it,” Milo said, leaning on the hood. “That old lady is scared.”
“Of us?”
Milo looked back at the house. “Of someone.”
They parked in the courtyard at the back of the hotel, and Amber took Milo’s iPad to her room, using the free Wi-Fi to log on to the In The Dark Places messageboards. The very idea that she suddenly had some time to herself, plus an internet connection, filled her with such a feeling of warmth that it actually brought a tear to her eye. She refused to cry, though – to cry for something as silly as the ability to chat online would cheapen somewhat the things she genuinely had to cry about. Which were many. And dreadful. She didn’t mind the tear in her eye, though. That didn’t count.
She skimmed the users chatting, and her heart lifted when she saw names she recognised. This was a world she understood. This was a community where she belonged, a place where she wasn’t a monster. Wasn’t a killer.
She shook her head, like the movement itself would be enough to shake the memory from her mind. Ralphie McGarry was dying, anyway. Glen had seen to that. She’d just helped him on his way, that’s all. It had been a mercy killing. It had been the right thing to do. She wasn’t to blame for any of it. She wasn’t to blame for the circumstance she’d found herself in, nor the action she had taken. She wasn’t even to blame for the brief flash of pleasure she had derived from killing him.
“Not me,” she said aloud. “That wasn’t me.”
She pushed down the arguments brewing behind her words and instead focused on the words in front of her.
The Dark Princess said …
Hi BAC.
Balthazar’s-Arm-Candy said …
Well hey there, stranger! Been a while! Y u no respond 2 my emails???
The Dark Princess said …
Been really busy, sorry. Family stuff.
Balthazar’s-Arm-Candy said …
Problems?
The Dark Princess said …
You could say that.
Balthazar’s-Arm-Candy said …
That’s why we come here, right? To escape the parental units and their insanity.
Hey, u hear that the full cast has been confirmed for the con? 1st time EVER!
The Dark Princess said …
Doubt I’ll be going actually. Plans have changed.
Balthazar’s-Arm-Candy said …
Seriously?
U wanna talk about it?
The Dark Princess said …
It’s nothing anyone can help me with.
Wow, that sounds dramatic! I’m doing OK, though. Everything is messed up but I’m making new friends. Kind of.
Balthazar’s-Arm-Candy said …
Online or irl?
The Dark Princess said …
Real life. Weird, I know.
Balthazar’s-Arm-Candy said …
Tres weird.
The Dark Princess said …
World’s gone all upside down. Not able to email cuz of reasons. Some pretty scary stuff happening.
Balthazar’s-Arm-Candy said …
Sounds intense.
The Dark Princess said …
It is. Didn’t want you worrying, that’s all.
Balthazar’s-Arm-Candy said …
Well I wasn’t. I am NOW though.
Sith0Dude said …
OMG! Laurie killed Stryker! What the HELL?????
Balthazar’s-Arm-Candy said …
Private convo, Sith0Dude.
(BTW spoiler warnings – heard of them??)
Sith0Dude said …
U shouldn’t be having private convos in public forums. How am I sposed to know?
(There’s a spoiler warning at the start of this thread!)
The Dark Princess said …
Go
