Brighter, a supernatural thriller Read Online Free PDF Page B

"Hey," she said. "I was just thinking about you. About that time you told me you were a falling star up at the A-frame. You remember, right?"
    Mason looked annoyed. "I wish you wouldn't bring that up," he said. "You know I was wasted out of my mind." He approached her quickly. "What are you doing out here in the woods?"
    "Peeing," she said.
    He raised his eyebrows. She winced. That was probably too much information.
    "You should go," he said. "The police are talking to everybody. It's a mess out there."
    "Why?" said Ramona. "Is this a drug bust, because—"
    "You didn't hear? You've been in the woods for a long time, then."
    "Didn't hear what?"
    "Someone found a body down the road. The rain washed it up. The person was murdered. Like…mutilated." Mason looked a little sick.
    "Oh my God," said Ramona. "Why are they talking to us?"
    Mason shook his head.
    Ramona pushed past Mason and headed back towards the party, horrified. People didn't get murdered in Elston. This was crazy.
    "Wait, Ramona, don't go back there."
    "I have to find out what happened," she said. This was insane. First Garrett the crazy rapist came back to town and now there was a dead body? What was Elston coming to?
    She scrambled through the woods as quickly as she could. Mason followed her. "We could just hang out in the woods until they leave," Mason called after her.
    Did Mason have a joint in his pocket or something? Seriously, why was he running away from this?
    Ramona emerged to find the bonfire dwindling. People were standing in packs, talking amongst themselves. Some were holding their masks. A few girls looked like they were crying. There was a buzz of subdued conversation. What the heck had happened?
    Heather darted out to her. "Ramona!" She gave her a huge hug.
    Ramona pulled away. "What happened?"
    "You didn't hear?"
    "I heard something about a body."
    "Oh God, Ramona, it was your neighbor. That Angelica girl. She's been dead since last night. They just found her. Jesus, Ramona, she was so messed up."
    Ramona took a step back. "Since last night?" she echoed. That couldn't be right. "But I—"
    Mason was behind her, pulling her away. "Ramona, you're upset," he said.
    "That can't be right," she said.
    Mason looked at Heather. "She's upset," he said. "Give me a second with her."
    Heather started to protest, but Mason dragged Ramona away. Ramona tried to struggle, but it was Mason, the guy she had an enormous crush on. Mason had dimples. And blue eyes. He was too pretty for words, and he was the sweetest guy she'd ever met. Not only that, he was a psychology major, and she could usually count on him for interesting conversation on a host of different topics about the nature of humanity. Ramona loved stuff like that. Interesting conversations were pretty important to her. Of course, she couldn't really make him see that she liked him. She'd tried flirting. She'd tried wearing suggestive clothes. She'd tried dropping not-so-subtle hints. Nothing worked. Mason never got the message, and she was too chicken to just ask him out. Being this close to him was kind of nice.
    "Ramona," said Mason, "whatever you're going to say, don't."
    "But, Mason, I saw Angelica—"
    "No," he said. "No, don't say it."
    "Mason, I swear to God. I saw her. She was standing on the porch not two hours ago. She was fine. She can't have been dead—"
    "Ramona, listen to me," said Mason, his voice deadly serious. "You can never tell anyone what you saw. Do you understand?"
    "Was it a ghost or…" Ramona was struggling to process it all. Mason was close. His hands were gripping her arms. He was gazing into her eyes. But Angelica was dead! She needed to try to understand how Angelica could be dead and also be on the porch outside two hours ago smoking a cigarette.
    "No," said Mason. "You didn't see anything."
    "Mason, you're not making sense."
    "You're not making sense. You're saying you saw a dead girl."
    "I don't know. I did. She didn't look…dead."
    "There are things in Elston that