The Rattler (Rattler Trilogy Book 1) by P. A. Fielding Page B

doesn’t scare me.”
    Vana
opened up her rucksack and took out a DVD. “I thought we could watch this
tonight – it will certainly put us in the mood for spending a night in a
haunted house,” she laughed. “What’s it about?” asked Zoe. “Well, it’s a PAF
Brothers’ film about a serial killer who is captured, drugged, and then given a
sex-change. It’s called The Way they Turn the Knife . It’s not actually
scary, just a good thriller,” smiled Vana.
    5
    After
a quick visit to the local takeaway for lunch, and a walk to clear Zoe’s head,
the girls sat on the sofa as they waited for a message from Vana’s boyfriend,
Matthew, to say he had set up the game Fall of Duties they had planned
to play as a four player co-op game.
    “Have
you spoken to your mum yet?”
    “Yes,
they arrived safely. By the sounds of it, it’s perfect tanning weather.”
    “Lucky them! Have you told her what’s been going
on?”
    “God, no! Can you imagine what she’d be
like? She’d be pulling her hair out – she hates anything to do with the
paranormal. Plus she’d only end up worrying about me.”
    “Your dad, then? Don’t you think they should
know?”
    Zoe’s
parents were very protective of her, and Mary, in particular, had found it hard
when Zoe went off to Oxford. “I don’t know, Vana. They’ll think I’m going
crazy. Aunt Sally would be OK about it, though. After my uncle died she really
got into it, and saw Mediums and everything.”
    “Well,
hun, there is certainly something going on here, and we’ve got the videos to
prove it. Tonight should be very interesting indeed.” Vana could hardly contain
her excitement. Zoe glanced at her but then a single beep on Vana’s phone and a Game Invite message on the top right corner of the TV screen helped
changed the subject.

15 : Movement calling
    1
    After
an afternoon’s session of Fall of Duties played against Matthew and one
of his friends, the girls watched a pirate copy of the film MeSays . Zoe
removed the disc from the DVD player. “Dad would absolutely kill me if he knew
we had this,” she said. “I know,” replied Vana, “but having seen the trailers I
just thought it might be fun.” Zoe placed the first disc back into its case,
and put the next one into the machine.
    “In what way fun? ”
    “Well,
perhaps fun isn’t quite the right word; that was before I knew about the
weird things happening here. It was actually filmed in a haunted building, and
those EVP’s are real.”
    “EVP’s? Remind me?” Zoe sat beside
her. “Electric voice phenomenon. It’s great! You set
up a voice recorder and then ask questions. Sometimes an answer is picked up by
the machine that can’t be heard by the human ear.”
    “That’s
right. I remember now. Again, they used to use them on that television
programme. So, they weren’t just added in for effects?”
    “No,
deffo not, it was real. I read about it in an interview.”
    2
    It
was now 7 pm; the girls were hungry and the pizza hadn’t arrived. “What time
did we order the pizza?” asked Zoe.
    “About
half an hour ago, I guess.”
    “It
should be well on its way by now, surely.” Just then, there was a loud knock on
the front door, which made them both jump; spooky films and girls go together
like milk and cookies – and these two were no different. “Balls! That’ll be the pizza. You get that, Vana; he’s gonna think I’ve got a crush on
him.” Zoe paused the film.
    “Is
he cute?”
    “Kind of.”
    Vana
grinned. “What, a lights off or lights on moment?” The pizza boy
knocked again. “Just get the bloody door,” replied Zoe.
    Vana
opened the front door and smiled at the delivery boy. “Hi there,” she said,
suggestively. “Hi,” he replied, handing over the pizza and Coke. Her fingers brushed
his hand gently as she gave him the discount voucher and some cash. She took
the pizza, opened the box to check its contents and then put it down on the
floor. “What time do you get off? You