Free 2 Yule Be the Death of Me by J.D. Shaw Page A

Eddie Robertson
is in critical condition over at the hospital and we’re hoping to get some
answers about what happened.”
    Vivienne could
tell from the sound of his voice that he was still quite unhappy with her. She
reached down to her knees and ran her hands along Tommy’s back as he arched it
upwards with another meow.
    Joshua’s
message continued. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”  There was a rather long pause
before he cleared his throat. “Love you. Bye.”
    Vivienne hated
that pause. It felt like someone had stabbed her in the heart. He had said the
words, but they sounded almost forced. She took a deep breath and tried to
convince herself that she was genuinely trying to do a good thing. True, she
could see where it might seem she was getting a little too nosy.
    Tommy Cat had
grown tired of her standing still and gently batted at her legs with his front
paws to herd her toward the kitchen.
    “Yes,
yes.”  She replied. “I’m running late with your dinner.”
    He meowed back
at her with excitement as she opened a pouch of chicken and gravy cat food and
shook it into his food dish. With a gentle nudge he pushed her hand out of the
way and eagerly gobbled down his supper.
    She pulled out
one of her kitchen chairs and plopped down. She had hoped that Joshua would
have been up for bringing home some takeout from Shanghai Sunset on his way
over from work, but she was on her own for dinner.
    She closed her
eyes and decided she really wasn’t all that hungry after hearing the message on
the machine. She’d resort to her usual ‘standby’ recipe for nights like this.
Cereal and milk followed by some trashy reality show television in her comfy
sweats.
    The wind
picked up outside with a roar and the house creaked in response as a strong
gust battered the little cape cod . From the kitchen
window, she watched the branches of the small sugar maple in her back yard sway
back and forth as wisps of snow sparkled in the darkness outside.
    The wind
almost sounded like a moan. A very long, drawn out cry that was almost human.
It made her feel chilly and she brought her arms up across her chest wishing
that Joshua were with her on such a cold and dark night.
    As she got up
from the kitchen chair to make sure the back door was locked up tight, she
paused. The moaning now sounded like crying and she could almost make out a
name being carried on the wind.
    Tommy Cat
suddenly backed away from his food dish and gave a little growl in the
direction of the kitchen door.
    “Eddie.” A
mournful voice carried along in the cold night air. “Eddie Robertson.”
    Vivienne
crossed over to the kitchen window and peered out from the café curtains. In
the night sky, the moon was only a slender crescent, yet it seemed brighter
than usual. A stray cloud moved in front of the moon, creating the appearance
of an enormous illuminated skull.
    The wind
picked up and battered the thin glass against the window panes as the moaning
grew louder. “Eddie Robertson.” The spectral voice called louder.
    For a moment,
she could have sworn she saw a shadowy figure flailing up in the sky, moving
toward the skull moon. Arms and legs kicked as it fell into the mouth and then
disappeared altogether as two large black clouds closed around like two stage
curtains, plunging the sky into complete darkness. The wind died off, leaving
only the quiet stillness of a snowy winter evening.

CHAPTER
7
     
     
    Wednesday, December 4th
     
    The next
morning, Vivienne had left for work extra early in order to meet Kathy at
Clara’s. She had texted her last night with the details of what had happened
with Joshua. Kathy, in turn, demanded a before work breakfast meeting to talk
things out as texting just wasn’t up to this type of task.
    “I would have
done the same thing.” Kathy confided as she gave her Greek yogurt a stir to mix
up the strawberries from the bottom. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
    Vivienne
munched on a buttered cinnamon toast point and