BooksBarbecue
Back Afterlove Save as PDF
Chapters (86)
  1. Title Page
  2. CONTENTS
  3. Love
  4. Before
  5. One
  6. ONE
  7. Two
  8. TWO
  9. Three
  10. THREE
  11. Four
  12. FOUR
  13. Five
  14. FIVE
  15. Six
  16. SIX
  17. Seven
  18. SEVEN
  19. Eight
  20. EIGHT
  21. Nine
  22. NINE
  23. Ten
  24. TEN
  25. Eleven
  26. ELEVEN
  27. After
  28. One
  29. ONE
  30. Two
  31. TWO
  32. Three
  33. THREE
  34. Four
  35. FOUR
  36. Five
  37. FIVE
  38. Six
  39. SIX
  40. Seven
  41. SEVEN
  42. Eight
  43. EIGHT
  44. Nine
  45. NINE
  46. Ten
  47. TEN
  48. Eleven
  49. ELEVEN
  50. Twelve
  51. TWELVE
  52. Thirteen
  53. THIRTEEN
  54. Fourteen
  55. FOURTEEN
  56. Fifteen
  57. FIFTEEN
  58. Sixteen
  59. SIXTEEN
  60. Seventeen
  61. SEVENTEEN
  62. Eighteen
  63. EIGHTEEN
  64. Nineteen
  65. NINETEEN
  66. Twenty
  67. TWENTY
  68. Twenty-One
  69. TWENTY-ONE
  70. Twenty-Two
  71. TWENTY-TWO
  72. Twenty-Three
  73. TWENTY-THREE
  74. Twenty-Four
  75. TWENTY-FOUR
  76. Twenty-Five
  77. TWENTY-FIVE
  78. Twenty-Six
  79. TWENTY-SIX
  80. Twenty-Seven
  81. TWENTY-SEVEN
  82. Twenty-Eight
  83. TWENTY-EIGHT
  84. Eleven Months Later
  85. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  86. Copyright

When I do, I realise that they’re standing there because they can’t go any further, a line of blue and white tape that says, POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS stretched out in front of them. I look beyond it to find that I’m outside the mini-mart and a shiver scuttles across the back of my neck like spider.

I feel something tug at me then, telling me to go – to run – but I find myself inching closer, curiosity clawing at me, propelling me forward. I know what’s there before the heads part and I see it and when I do, something in me tips too far one way. Then I’m falling and reach for the person nearest me to stop myself. It’s a woman. She’s wearing a pink dressing gown not unlike the one my mother has and, please, I just want to be at home.

But I’m not.

I’m here and it’s there.

The car that almost hit me.

Its wheels aren’t spinning any more, but the front of it is still wrapped around the railing as though it’s trying to bite a chunk out of it and then I’m tipping again, hand fisting in the woman’s sleeve. When she turns to look at me, I see the tears in her eyes and it’s a moment before I can speak.

I feel the tug again – Go, Ash. Run. Run. – and I know I should, but I can’t.

‘What happened?’ I ask and it’s barely a whisper.

‘Hit and run,’ the woman in the pink dressing gown says with a sniff.

‘Was anyone hurt?’

‘A young girl.’ She shakes her head. ‘She died. Her poor family.’

I give into the tug then, letting it pull me back, and turn to find someone behind me.

Dev.

‘Sorry. Did I scare you?’ she says, but she looks scared as well, her pale skin almost see-through in the blue lights stuttering around us. She reaches for the sleeve of my leather jacket and pulls me away from the people lingering outside the mini-mart. ‘We have to get out of here before someone else sees you. You’re still transitioning. It’s a good job that woman in the dressing gown doesn’t know who you are.’

I have no idea what she’s on about and I don’t care.

All I care about is getting home.

Everything will be OK if I can just get home.