Delete-Man: A Psychological Thriller Read Online Free PDF Page A

over to me with a
face full of chocolate and flour.
    “Look, I’m not telling you off
or anything, but in future you should tell me before you invite
your friends over.”
    “Ok.”
    “You know I don’t mind, but it’s
not fair to me not knowing. For a while they won’t be able to come,
I’ve got some things I need to do. Important things. You
understand?”
    She gave me a wary look.
    “Hmm, sorry.”
    “Don’t apologise, it’s alright.
Just remember ok?”
    “Is it about Josephine?”
    “What? No. Anyway, let’s clean
up. You throw the rubbish in the bin, and I’ll take it out. Load up
some stuff in the dishwasher if you can too, before you go to bed.
I’ll do the rest. Oh, and hand me the laptop from the table?”
    “Why?”
    “Because I said so.”
    “No.”
    “What?”
    “No.”
    “Why not?”
    “I don’t want to!”
    She stood there for a second,
pouting sternly at her feet, then ran out of the room.
    “I don’t want to!”
    I heard her kick something then
slam her bedroom door.
    I wanted to let it go, pour a
glass of water and go to bed, but it would have been wrong to let
her throw fits, and I certainly wasn’t going to clean the kitchen
by myself. I sat for a few minutes to compose myself and to let
Vicky cool off, then went to her room.
    I pushed open the door and saw
her lying on the bed in the foetal position, clutching a pillow to
her face.
    “I’m not going to argue with
you. I’m tired, I’ve got a headache, and I’ve just let you and your
friends make a mess of the house. Go put the rubbish in the
bin.”
    She mumbled something into the
pillow.
    “Now! I’m gonna stand here until
you do.”
    “No!”
    “Stop being a brat!”
    “You’re a brat!”
    “I mean it!”
    “Go away!”
    “If you don’t do as I say your
friends are never coming into this house again.”
    “Leave me alone!”
    “Why are you being such a bitch
Josie? Get in there and clean the kitchen now!”
    “Don’t call me Josie!”
    “I didn’t.”
    “You did.”
    “Look. It’s ten forty-seven now.
If that kitchen isn’t cleared up by eleven-twenty I’m gonna get rid
of the Wii, and you can take yourself to school and walk yourself
home again for the whole week.”
    I turned to leave then added:
“You’ll be grounded for a month, too.”
    I left her room, grabbed the
laptop, and went to my room.
    It hurt to be like that with
Vicky. I lay on the bed and thought about it for minutes. I should
have handled it better, not shouted. I wondered if I’d been in the
wrong somehow, she wasn’t usually that confrontational. She was
probably just upset she couldn’t play party host for a while. After
seeing how much fun and sugar she had with her friends that made
sense. In the end I put it down to the heightened emotions and bad
diet of the day. It would all be over tomorrow. Maybe I’d bring it
up again when the mood was better.
    Eventually I heard Vicky’s door
open, and then the clattering of plates in the kitchen. I imagined
her red face bitter and teary as she forced herself to clean. As
much as I wanted to go out and hug her I knew it would only make it
worse.
    Had I really called her Josie?
Was she just being a smart alec— insinuating that I was angry for
some other reason? Josie was on my mind a lot, it wouldn’t be that
strange, but still, it had never happened before.
    After she finished and returned
to her room I went to the kitchen and took the trash out. Vicky had
loaded most of the dishwasher, leaving only a few cups in protest.
I put them in and wiped down the counter a bit. It wasn’t as clean
as we usually kept it, but it was enough for now. Exhausted, and
still a little disappointed I hadn’t gone for a run, I returned to
my room and opened the laptop.
    A search for ‘Sewerbird’
revealed immediate results. Under the images of seagulls near pipes
there were a couple of articles that contained the name. From the
blog posts and random comments I gathered that Sewerbird was