Wings of Sorrow (A horror fantasy novel) Read Online Free PDF Page A

You remember that?”
    She nodded. “Yeah, it was the year mum left.”
    His face fell and he stared into his coffee. “Yes, well, I suppose things really were different back then. We’ve come a long way, though, don’t you think?”
    Scarlet hated seeing him brood over her mum—sometimes he could do it for days—so she changed the subject. “How’s the new job coming? They appreciate the long hours you’ve been doing?”
    “I hope so; otherwise it’s all for nothing. To be honest, it took me a while to get to grips with the new role after so long in my old one. I’ve just started to find my feet, but things seem to be coming along.”
    “Maybe you won’t be away so much then,” she added.
    “Scarlet, you know I would be home more often if I could.”
    “Would you?”
    “Yes! I’m just so afraid of things falling apart again. I’m doing all I can to keep a hold of my job. Things aren’t so bad, are they? I mean, we have this nice little house, and you have your part time job. Have you made any friends yet?”
    “If you’d spoken to me in the last month you would know the answer to that question is: Not so much.”
    With a sigh, he headed over to the sink and placed his empty coffee mug inside. Then he stood for a moment with his back to her. When he turned around, he looked sympathetic. “I was going to work this Saturday, but I’ll see about getting it off. Maybe we can go ice skating. There’s a rink in town, isn’t there?”
    Scarlet loved to skate, so it was a hard offer for her to refuse. “There’s a rink next to the cinema. I suppose it could be fun.”
    “Great, then it’s a date.” He came and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Have a good day at work, hun.”
    “You too.”
    He left and she finished her toast, enjoying the warm butter in her mouth, but missing the tartness of the Marmite. She’d woken up fully now, and decided that it did feel pretty darn good to start the day early. So often she would lie in bed all morning, but she had to admit that her mood felt better than it usually did when waking up at 11AM.
    Once she was full on toast, she rinsed her plate beneath the hot tap and headed for the door. Before leaving, she spotted her peach cardigan hanging on a hook. It was stretched and muddy—proof that what happened last night was real. Sorrow had been real.
    She locked the door on her way out and headed down the front path. When she passed the bus stop, she considered waiting, but then looked up at the shimmering sun and decided that she was not going to be deterred from taking her morning walk around the lake. The chances of bumping into Sorrow again were surely next to nothing, yet part of her was willing to take the risk.
    Or was it more that she wanted to see him again?
    She felt embarrassed at the notion of trying to bump into the weirdo, but it was possibly very true that she wanted to see him—if only to see that he was alright. Last night had excited her—a departure from the humdrum, lonely existence of her life. It had almost been an adventure.
    Scarlet and the Naked Stranger beside the Lake.
    “God, this is like something out of a crappy romance,” she muttered to herself. “If he turns out to be a vampire, then I’m grabbing a stake and shoving it in my eye.”
    The lake was often quiet early in the morning, but when she got there she spotted a couple of people walking their dogs and a pensioner feeding the ducks. It made her feel safe, having people around, but she was also disappointed. Nobody had seen Sorrow except for her, and it felt like the only chance of seeing him again would be if she were alone.
    She passed an old man walking a beagle.
    “Morning,” he said with a smile.
    “Morning,” she said back.
    She sighed and thought herself silly. What on earth was she doing? Hoping to run into Sorrow again was so immature. Why was she acting like a kid?
    For the rest of her walk, she kept her head down and concentrated only on getting to work. If she