Psychopathia: A Horror Suspense Novel by Kate Genet Page B

his arm. The chest of drawers joined the bed base back downstairs in the garage.
    Toby eyed the stairs up to his room. They were littered with shadows. He flicked on the garage light, but that just made it worse. The shadows flitted to the corners and lurked there, looking out at him. He sniffed and chewed on a ragged thumbnail. Maybe if he rigged another light above the stairs it would be okay. But he was out of extension cords, and he’d only bought four of the fittings – one for each corner of the room. He didn’t have enough for the stairs as well.
    He’d have to take his chances. Hope none of the shadows grabbed him as he ran up there. If he was fast enough, it should be okay.
    The door opened behind him and he startled.
    ‘Still jumpy, eh? Me too.’ Tully looked around the garage. ‘Aren’t the bed and drawers for your room?’
    ‘I didn’t need them,’ he said.
    ‘Oh. Well, anyway. It’s dinner time. And the baby’s crying again.’
    Toby shrugged. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
    ‘What for?’ Tully looked genuinely surprised.
    He worried at the thumb nail again. ‘For suggesting we go up to Seacliff.’
    Tully’s face fell and she stepped forward and lo oped her arms around him, rested her head on his shoulder. ‘It’s not your fault, Toby,’ she said. ‘I was the one wanting to do the stupid ghost hunting.’
    He let her hold him like that for a moment, then shrugged her off, uncomfortable, wanting to go back upstairs where it was nice and light. ‘I guess we ought to go in for dinner.’
    ‘Yeah.’ She opened the garage door, then stopped and looked back at him. ‘It’s really not your fault. But the sooner we find a flat for the year, the better, right?’
    He nodded, and fought down the urge to push her through the doorway. The shadows were pressing up behind him. He could feel them, and somewhere amongst them, was one with a pair of milky blue eyes. He cleared his throat.
    ‘We’re still flatting with Lara and Matt, right?’
    Tully’s shoulders drooped. ‘I don’t know. I guess so, but I haven’t been brave enough to ask her. She’s been weird, hasn’t even called me – I’ve only seen her at work.’
    Whatever. They’d sort it out. Right now, Toby just wanted to get out of the garage. ‘Dinner?’ he asked.
    ‘Yeah. Dinner.’ Tully stepped through the doorway, finally, and Toby hustled after her, not looking back, not wanting to see what was looking at him.
     

12.
     
    Tully tried not to think it was a big deal. They were living at home again, that was all, and her stepmother cooked for them every day, though Tully made sure she did her own laundry. It would have been embarrassing to have someone else pawing through her clothes.
    She put the baby monitor down on the coffee table and sighed. Her night off and she’d let her father guilt her into babysitting. At least the kid was asleep. At last. Two hours it had taken, lugging the baby around, pacing from one end of the house to the other. Bouncing it up and down, hell, she’d even tried singing. The baby had leaned back and looked at her then, eyes wide like it didn’t know what was going on, then shock and horror, she’d tucked her little head against Tully and closed her eyes.
    Dropping down on the couch, Tully picked up the remote and flicked the television on. Saturday night, there might be a decent movie to watch. She shoul d rightly be out at the pub, on a date, even. Having a drink, grabbing a bite to eat, making out in a movie theatre. But it had been ages since she’d been on a date. Another thing not worth thinking about. There were too many of those.
    Usually she’d call Lara, and she’d come round, armed with popcorn and a couple DVD’s, even if she dragged Matt with her. The four of them would lie around watching horror movies where everyone went down into the dark cellar no matter how you yelled at them not to.
    But Lara had had enough of horror movies. Even getting a bunch of weird stuff on camera