The Darkness of Bones Read Online Free PDF Page A

the
look
—her look when he had displeased her. “I thought we agreed that you would keep away from such trash? You know how it upsets you, fills your head full of sins.”
    He wished he hadn’t opened his mouth, now.
    Judith leaned her lips to his ear. The telltale smell of vinegary residue misted from her mouth as she sniffed, suspiciously, at his neck. “I can smell body odour. You haven’t washed.”
    His heart beat faster.
    “Just my hands,” confessed Jeremiah, producing the ill-washed items for her to inspect.
    “Go and shower,” she commanded.
    Easing himself from the chair, Jeremiah was grateful to give his stomach some movement. Judith waited until Jeremiah was gone before sitting down on his chair. She could feel his heat from it, slithering up her bony arse. It disgusted her, his heat, but she did not move, fearing she would disturb the dragon seeping lovingly throughout her body.
    Gently closing her eyes, she listened to the dragon’s whispers . Its words were beautiful and dark…

Chapter Five
    “For God will bring every work into judgement, with every secret thing, whether it be good, whether it be evil
…
”
    Ecclesiastes 12: 14
    R ESTING IN BED , Adrian studied the bone through an old magnifying glass. He no longer believed it to be the crow’s. Too large for a crow—or any other bird, for that matter.
    He wondered how he could determine what kind of bone he had discovered, where it had come from. Bits of speckled darkness played games with his thoughts. What if the bone originated from human remains? Was that possible? Of course not, but there was little harm in hoping. Perhaps he could glean some information from books at the library.
    A knock on the door startled him, interrupting his thoughts.
    “Adrian? Are you awake? Can I come in?” asked Jack, knocking once again.
    “What? Yes—no! No, hold on a sec.” Hurriedly, he slid the bone beneath the sheets and placed the magnifying glass on his bedside table.
    “Adrian?”
    “Right! Yes, come in.”
    Entering the room, Jack said, “Sorry for disturbing yourSaturday morning, but I just want to apologise for last night, and for what I said, about Mum.”
    Adrian calmed his breathing. “It was no big deal. You were right, anyway. There are no such things as ghosts. I don’t even know why I said it, now. It’s embarrassing.”
    Jack sat down beside the hidden bone. Adrian’s heart beat faster.
    “We’ve other, more important, things to worry about, such as your exams. You know how important they are, and how Mum always wanted you to do your best?”
    “I’m the top in my class at maths and science. There’s no worry there.”
    “If you keep taking days off, there will be,” said Jack. “Mister Hegarty was good enough to call this morning,
first thing
. Said he called yesterday, but there was no answer.” Jack looked slightly uncomfortable. “He informed me that you missed yesterday’s class—
and
the Friday before that.”
    Adrian felt his face redden. “I just needed some time to myself—get some thinking done.”
    “You don’t need to take days off from school to get some thinking done. School’s the best place to do your thinking. Understand?”
    Adrian nodded, reluctantly. “I suppose.”
    Small relief lines appeared on Jack’s face. “Good.”
    “No, it’s not good, Dad. What about you, and all the drinking? Every time I come home, you’re drunk.”
    Jack sucked in a slice of air before releasing it in crumbs. “I … look, Adrian, it’s not as if … it’s not as if I’m an alcoholic. It’s been a long, dry spell for me …”
    Adrian’s face tightened.
    “Okay. Okay,” said Jack. “I’ll cut down on the booze.”
    The words brought a smile to Adrian’s face.
    “Now, I’m going to put on a big fry, for both of us. No more eating out of packages,” said Jack, rising, his large palms pressing down against the hidden bone.
    For a heart-stopping moment, Adrian envisaged his father pulling the