Red Widow (Vivian Xu, Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

she
glanced at the numbers glowing in the dark. 2:40 a.m.
    Insomnia, the bane of
virgin sleep, always plucked her from the solace she sought in her
blankets. The cookies she washed down with tea probably didn’t help
her case either. That’s the price I pay for
a midnight snack. She dreaded the thought
of waking up at 6 a.m. to wait on tables at the café. However, she
badly needed the income. She only worked fifteen hours a week and
rent was bleeding her budget dry. Her meals had been reduced to
small cakes and potato soup.
    Daniel twisted to her left and buried
her face in the pillow as the placid hum of cars continued their
melody. Just twenty more minutes and maybe she would slip into
oblivion…
    Ice flowed through her veins and she
bolted up in bed. Something slapped against the wall. Her heart
hammered out an avalanche in her chest. Daniel winced as another
bang emitted from Krista’s room on the opposite side of the
wall.
    The next crash rattled her
window.
    “ Bastard,” she growled,
balling up the sheets in her fists. She could almost feel the blows
raining down on Krista’s small body. Patrik was the likely culprit,
possessed by another drunken stupor. Daniel had twice threatened to
report him to the superintendent if he continued beating Krista,
but her threats bounced imperviously off his dense
skull.
    She almost feared Patrik would strike
her when she knocked down his door in fury, but sheer luck saved
her. A tenant came strolling down the hall and a nervous Patrik
slammed the door shut to his room—and the door to Krista’s prison.
This time, Daniel could only listen and wait for the storm to pass.
The sounds of struggle echoed beyond the walls, taunting her
imagination with horrendous images. Was that the flushing of the
drain she heard and water pooling in the tub? Something like chimes
rattled in the obscurity, and the table groaned as someone dragged
it across the linoleum floor.
    Daniel tried to burrow under her
blankets like a timid mouse to block out those malicious blows. She
held her breath.
    Something scratched against the wall
like nails creeping on a blackboard. She held her breath as the
tormenting sound lingered. She crawled out of bed, dressed only in
a T-shirt, eying the wall as though it might part into another
dimension. Her naked toes slid across the cold floor and she
pressed her fingertips against the wall.
    For a moment, the sound stopped.
Daniel nestled the shell of her ear against the wall.
    “ Krista,” she whispered.
She pulled away as the wall screeched and something scrabbled like
an animal inside. For a moment, Daniel feared that Krista had been
immured in the walls, scratching and clawing in search of freedom.
Daniel bounced down on her bed and hugged the pillow close to her
chest.
    After what seemed like hours, the
grating ceased.
    Daniel collapsed onto the mattress.
She couldn’t fall asleep after the sounds she heard emanating from
Krista’s room. Maybe Krista desperately needed medical treatment.
Flying out of bed, Daniel rummaged through a basket and pulled on
some shorts. She twisted open the door and plunged into the vacant
hall.
    An incandescent light bobbed in the
hallway, casting greasy shadows.
    Room 207 awaited her.
    “ Krista?” she whispered.
“Krista, are you okay?” Her fingers curled around the doorknob. It
viciously jammed in refusal. Daniel bit her lip and wrenched it
again, refusing to concede defeat. Finally, she lifted herself up
on her tiptoes and peered through the peephole.
    She gazed into a sea of blackness, and
the abyss gazed back into her. She looked down at her pale toes,
where light seeped out from under the door in an ethereal tide.
Daniel lifted her eyes to the peephole again.
    A scene of devastation replaced the
darkness. Chairs sprawled across the kitchen, leaving drag marks on
the floor. A vase lay overturned on the table, water cascading from
its neck. Even the walls were mottled with the indentations of
Patrik’s fists. Daniel