Free New Title 1 by Shaun Jeffrey Page A

behaviour. “Let’s get out of here,” she said as soon as Ms Woods finished tallying up.
    She felt guilty walking out of the shop without paying and she expected Ms Woods to come charging after her with the knife, shouting, ‘Thief, stop, thief.”
    As they made their way back up Slaughter Hill, Chase noticed the village was still quiet; everyone still indoors. Or in hiding . She didn’t know where the strange thought came from, but it sent a chill down her spine and gooseflesh erupted along her arms like volcanoes.
    It was certainly a strange village, but she was loath to talk to Jane about it, as she would use it as more ammunition to try and get her to leave. She absently wondered where the name Slaughter Hill originated; the image of virgin sacrifices to a pagan God suddenly invaded her head, and she was glad that she wouldn’t be on that particular list as she lost her virginity at 16 to Daniel Bloor at a friend’s party. From what she recalled, the incident proved more embarrassing than exciting.
    Back at the house, Chase prepared a quick pasta meal with a tin of sauce. The smell made her feel slightly nauseous and again she wondered if she was coming down with something.
    As Chase cooked, Jane stoked the fire. She shouted from the living room, “If the food’s free, perhaps it isn’t so bad living here after all.”
    Chase grinned and stirred the sauce. “You’ll want to move out here yourself next.”
    “I wouldn’t go that far.”
    “Oh I don’t know. At least you and Gina would give the locals something to talk about.”
    “I think you and the doc will give them plenty to be going on with.”
    Chase felt her cheeks turn the same colour as the sauce.
    The meal proved bland and unexciting, and when they had finished, they both retired to the living room. The fire roared away in the hearth, giving out waves of heat. Chase watched the flames, mesmerised until she fell asleep, overcome by a tiredness that penetrated down to her bones.
    When she awoke, darkness pervaded, the fire burnt down to embers. Soft moonlight filtered through the window and she sat up, wondering how she could have slept so long. She yawned and stretched, easing life back into her body.
    “Jane, wake up.” She looked at the chair where she had last seen Jane, but it was empty. Walking to the foot of the stairs she shouted up, but her call fell flat as the walls absorbed the sound like water in a sponge.
    Thinking that Jane might be dead to the world, she walked up the stairs, knocked on Jane’s door and entered. The room was empty. Chase frowned. Where the hell is she? The wardrobe door stood open and Chase walked toward it and peered inside. All of Jane’s clothes were gone, leaving nothing to suggest anyone had even been there.
    Her heart started beating faster and she ran to the front bedroom. Pale moonlight illuminated the walls, giving the room an ethereal quality, but Jane wasn’t there either.
    What the hell was going on?
    For a brief moment, she thought Jane might be playing a trick on her, but she knew Jane wasn’t like that.
    “Jane.” Panicked, she ran down the stairs, calling her friends name. Perhaps she had fallen and knocked herself out, she thought. But that wouldn’t explain why her things were gone. Outside the back door, the garden was a wash of cold, silvery light, nocturnal blooms nodding in the slight breeze that caressed her face. “Jane, are you out here?”
    But Jane was gone.
     

CHAPTER 7
     
    She searched the house for any sign of Jane, but there was nothing. Even the dishes had been washed and put away. As though she had never even been there, all trace of her had been removed. Think, damn it, she thought. Where could she have gone? Why didn’t she wake me? More to the point, why didn’t I hear her and wake up anyway? Thoughts surged through her mind like a raging river, but no answers bobbed up.
    Without the fire, the house felt cold. At night, the character of the building seemed