Free The Truth About Kadenburg by T. E. Ridener Page B

curls. Her hair was
ridiculously curly when she didn’t straighten it. Well, considering you
were in someone else’s house, I doubt a hair straightener would’ve been
available.
    She chewed her lower lip as she stepped over beer
bottles and garbage that people had carelessly tossed aside. Probably
tourists. No one had any respect for nature anymore. The ground was
surprisingly warm for it to be the early winter months. She glanced down at
the oversized t-shirt she had snatched from Lorcan’s room and she temporarily
felt guilty for having done so.
    Only a moron would strip out of her clothes in a
stranger’s house, she chided mentally as she rolled her eyes. And eat
their food, and take a shower, and sleep in their bed…
    The list could go on and on of
stupid decisions she made after drinking alcohol, but she really needed to be
concerned about the hallucinations.
    No wolf is that big, she determined as she
lifted her gaze to the large, hollow structure that once strived with doctors,
nurses, and ailing patients. The windows were busted out and graffiti
decorated the beige stones. She stopped for a moment to admire the hauntingly
beautiful scenery as her thoughts continued floating around in her mind. And
bears are not that monstrous.
    It was just a nightmare. That’s the only explanation
she could come up with. She’d had too much to drink and left her car in the
parking lot at Jimbo’s. The alcohol had messed with the wiring of her brain and
clouded her judgment of respecting another person’s property. She’d somehow
managed to wander into the Bamey house and the rest was history.
    Drinking is very, very bad, she nodded as she
approached the large, vacant building. It was rumored that the old hospital
was plagued by asbestos now, and no one had gone inside in the last ten years
or so. She didn’t plan to go inside, but she knew no one would bother her if
she came here.
    You’re so busted, she thought as she seated
herself on the concrete bench nearby, which surprisingly, was still in decent
shape.
    I am such an idiot, she sighed as she glanced up
towards the early morning sky. She loved watching the sun rise. It was one of
her happier memories from living in Kadenburg. She had only been gone for
three years but it seemed like a life time. Everything here was the same, but
it felt different, too. She couldn’t explain why.
    As the warmth of the sun kissed her freckled cheeks,
Presley’s eyes closed. Despite the faint hangover she was experiencing, she’d
never felt more alive-or free-then she did in that single moment. The cool
morning air ran its fingers through her golden locks as she tilted her head
back and exhaled in a calm manner.
    Perhaps it was only a dream within a dream, but she
recalled seeing Lorcan’s face. She could remember the way his eyes bore into
her own as his hot breath fanned against her lips. Did she dream of kissing
him? She couldn’t remember if a kiss had been involved. She had always heard that
dreaming about kissing someone meant that you were about to enter a
relationship.
    I’m so done with relationships, she opened her
eyes to gaze around the old hospital grounds again. Why would I dream of
Lorcan anyway?
    It was a silly question to be
asking herself. She’d known Lorcan since she was ‘knee-high to a grasshopper’,
as Old Man Peters would say. She’d played with him and Liam in the creek at
the end of Manor Lane during hot summers, and they would all stop in at Nana
Hettie’s after school for hot chocolate when fall arrived. Heck, her and
Lorcan played Doctor together one time when she was in the 3 rd grade, but Uncle Arnold had put a quick stop to that.
    Lorcan really was a handsome guy; Liam, too. They
were different from the other boys in town. They were kind, well-mannered, and
possibly the most head-strong guys she’d ever had the privilege of knowing. Why
wouldn’t she dream of Lorcan on occasion? If she were to be completely
honest with herself, there was one