Dark Mind (The Dark Mind Trilogy Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

bottom, buried underneath piles of junk, he stumbled upon a particularly unusual mask. It was a dark brown, thick papery material with holes only for the eyes and dark, blotchy stains on the front.
    He had innocently taken it to the dining room. “What’s this?” he asked to his aunt’s back. As she turned around to face the questioner and caught sight of the mask, her eyebrows furrowed into a wild look of insanity and the glass in her hand dropped to the rug.
    “Where did you find that?” she growled and without waiting for a response she ripped it out of Cole’s hand and stormed off.
    Cole looked up at his mother in confusion. She was trying to hide a smirk but gave up. “Don’t worry, Cole,” she said, now outright smiling. “It’s nothing.”
    Her smile disappeared as Beth reentered the room. Beth stared down at Cole, still in a state of uncontrollable rage. “Do not touch anything in this house. Got it?” she growled.
    Cole nodded and went to stand next to his mother. After a few minutes, Beth calmed down and it was as if nothing had happened, but ever since then, he had kept his explorations a secret. His curiosity would not let him ignore the strange collections filling every drawer and shelf.
    He had only been in this house a few times since then. Now he went straight to the “library,” the name he had given to the room with two large bookshelves, which he also liked to use as a bedroom on the rare occasion that he stayed over. “Can I read one of these books?” he shouted into the other room.
    “Just make sure you put it back in exactly the same condition and in the same place you found it,” Beth shouted back and a second later, she added, “and don’t touch anything else.”
    Cole smiled to himself as he remembered the mask story. He began searching through the bookshelves - something he had done only once before - for a book that would pass the time in the never-ending days he would spend here. He knew it was the only way he would be occupied enough to stay out of Beth’s presence. Dealing with her eccentricities was the last way he wanted to spend his time. He scanned each of the couple hundred books for one that caught his eye, which was a difficult task because they were mainly old hardcovers whose titles on the spines had been partially rubbed off. At last he settled on one entitled Tales , a collection of short stories by Edgar Allen Poe. He took the book down from the shelf, curled up in a large plush armchair, and started to read.
    A few hours later he heard a shout from the other room. “Hey Cole! Did you need some food?”
    Cole almost fell out of his seat as he was shocked out of his trance. “Uh, yeah, in a minute! Let me just finish this story.”
    “Hurry up. I won’t wait here all night!”
    Cole finished the last two pages of the story he was reading and reluctantly closed the book. He hadn’t realized how engrossed he had become. He had heard of Edgar Allen Poe but lamented that he hadn’t discovered him sooner. After reading a few of the stories he understood why the book may have been kept away from him at an early age. He rolled out of the chair, stretched his stiff muscles, and wandered into the kitchen.
    “There you are,” Beth said. “I had almost given up on you. The food’s probably cold by now. It’s in the pot on the stove.”
    Cole pulled a plate out of the kitchen cabinet and opened up the pot, half afraid of what he would find. The smell nearly knocked him over. He took a step back and politely looked up at his aunt.
    “I don’t wanna hear any complaints you picky brat. I’m not going to make special arrangements just because you’re here. You’re lucky there was enough for the both of us.”
    Cole didn’t bother to answer. He picked up the serving spoon and helped himself to one giant scoop of the unidentifiable green slop. It had the consistency of mashed potatoes and the look and smell of something Cole did not want to think about at that