All the Pretty Ghosts (The Never Alone Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

to see, but I couldn’t. It brought back too many memories I would rather forget.
    Like seeing everyone I loved die.
    A horrible, painful death.
    I shook my head to get rid of the thoughts. The only way I had been able to cope with it all was to pretend it didn’t happen. If I could squash those thoughts into a tiny little space in my mind and never let it unravel, I could function. If even a tiny corner started to peel back, I commenced my shutdown.
    I continued to force my feet to keep going. One step at a time I wound my way through the suburb until I reached the city. It was when the faces started to become real that I seriously wanted to turn back.
    I knew these faces weren’t ghosts because they were only children. They peeked out from front doors and behind alleys to stare at me. They were filthy, gaunt, and held a look of sadness so terrible it was heartbreaking.
    They each reminded me of Faith.
    But she was gone, too.
    I locked my eyes on the street and tried desperately not to look to my sides. The dilapidated buildings were almost as sad as the children that roamed through them. Nobody had maintained the structures in a long time, nobody knew how.
    Except me.
    And I wasn’t helping.
    The lump in my stomach lurched up to my throat and lodged itself there. No matter how many deep breaths I took, it refused to budge. But I couldn’t break down. I had to find Oliver, it wasn’t a choice now. My journey into the city would not be in vain. I wouldn’t let it be.
    The further into the heart of the city I went, the more apparent it was that the past year had not been kind to it. So many of the houses were burned out, just empty shells that used to hold happy families.
    Just one moment was all it took to destroy everything.
    Barely a window was still whole, no gardens grew in planters. What was once the main parkland was now just a patch of brown dirt. Everything was a bleak beige or grey. Gone, along with hope, were all the bright colors.
    Before I could stop myself, my traitorous feet stopped outside the building I used to call my home. I lived on the third floor of the brownstone apartment complex. My bedroom overlooked the parkland.
    Only half of the building remained.
    Somewhere in the rubble were the remains of my parents. My precious mom and dad that I had shed so many tears over after the Event were probably no more than bones now. The day I left I promised myself I would never return and I planned on keeping that promise even now. I would never step foot inside that building again.
    I couldn’t.
    Never ever.
    My feet needed to keep moving or I would be stuck, frozen here forever. I had to think of the living and not be tormented by the dead.
    It was a mistake to come. Everything only reminded me of what I had lost. The city was my past, I couldn’t take it in now in the present, and it certainly wasn’t in my future.
    Perhaps I could find some food on the way back. I didn’t need much, just enough to keep me going for a little while longer. Until I was ready to give up entirely.
    I turned back the way I had come. The ghosts would be terrible when I returned to my house on the hill. They would ridicule me endlessly for not being braver, stronger, and more courageous. I would need to find a way to drown them out. I wouldn’t let them get to me. The ghosts were far worse in the city, they haunted me far more than the ones at the house.
    “Everly!” The male voice stopped me in my tracks as my mind went blank.
    I was frozen on the spot, unsure whether I had heard my name called from the living or the dead. I wished I didn’t have to make that kind of decision. Life was for the living, the dead should have no place here.
    “Everly, you came.” His voice was real, I was certain of it. I turned around and saw Oliver’s face. Relief flooded through me like a tidal wave.
    Every muscle in my body wanted to rush at him, wrap my arms around his neck and never let him go. I couldn’t, though. Admitting to that