All The Pretty Ghosts (The Never Series Book 1) Jamie Campbell (best life changing books .TXT) 📖

made my heart race. He called out my name and I knew without a doubt it was indeed Oliver. I should have known, nobody else ever came to visit me. Even the mailman had long since stopped his rounds.

“Go on, open it.”

“Hurry up.”

“What are you waiting for?”

“The girl’s mute all of a sudden.”

“She’s not going to do it.”

“She has to do it.”

Opening the door was probably less painful than listening to them by that stage. I twisted the knob and pulled the door open slowly, like I was scared about what was going to confront me when I did.

Oliver’s face lit up when he saw me. His intense green eyes opened wide with the surprise that I had actually opened the door. His mouth crooked into a wide grin, flashing all his teeth and making his cheeks dimple. He smoothed his black hair away from his eyes as he recovered. “Everly. I didn’t think you’d answer.”

“Neither did I,” I made an attempt at a joke. Oliver gave a nervous laugh in response. At least someone could still laugh after everything.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

I didn’t know what to say, so I lied. I made the same pleasantries that the world expected of one another. “I’m fine. How are you?”

“Worried, actually. About you, about the city, about everything, really. Everyone needs your help.”

I moved to close the door. That was the exact reason why I had never spoken to him during his visits before. “I can’t help. Thanks for coming.”

Quickly, he shoved his foot in the doorway so I couldn’t close it. There was no way I could hurt him. He was quicker than me, that had been my mistake. I wouldn’t do it again. Next time, I would ignore his presence and all the people inside my house.

“Come on, Ev. You can’t stay up here forever.”

“Why not? There’s nothing left for me in the city anymore. It’s all gone, remember? Everything has been destroyed.”

“Not everything.”

“Enough.” I shrugged.

He looked down at the ground, like he didn’t know what else to say. My heart broke watching him. We used to be so close and now we couldn’t even have a full conversation. Just another reason why I didn’t open the door when he visited.

Finally, Oliver looked back up at me. “I’m still there.”

“And I’m here.” Once, I would never have spoken to him like that. I would have instantly wanted to take him into my arms and kiss away all those horrible thoughts. I would have tried to make everything right.

But that was before.

This was now.

“Come on, Ev. Just come into the city and listen to what they have to say. It won’t hurt, I’ll be with you the entire time.” His eyes were so sincere as they silently pleaded with me. That look would have got a lot further than any words he spoke if I still had a heart.

I was empty now.

Bereft of emotion.

“Please just go, Oliver. I’m not leaving.”

“You can’t stay up here by yourself all the time. You’re not going to survive.”

How did I even begin to explain that I wasn’t alone? It wasn’t like Oliver could see any of the forty-three people currently living in my house, talking to me non-stop, unable to leave me alone.

He wouldn’t understand.

Nobody would.

I was the only one who could see them.

Because they were all dead.

Chapter Two

Once the door was closed, I hurried upstairs. It was partly to get as far away from Oliver as I could, but it was partly so I could watch him leave, too. I needed that extra glimpse of him because I never knew when it would be the last.

He lingered on the doorstep for a long time, long enough for me to wonder if he really was going to leave. Just as I was about to retreat, I saw him move. His mop of black hair bobbed down the pathway in the front yard. He reached the gate and shimmied through. The gate always stuck, it was as if the house was telling people to stay out.

Or perhaps it just needed some oil.

I didn’t move from the window until Oliver’s familiar stride was completely out of sight. It didn’t take long to disappear from view when someone was headed down the hill. It was steep, another warning sign for people to truly think about whether it was worth climbing it or not.

For just a moment I allowed my mind to wander into the city. It would have changed significantly since I last saw it. It had been almost a year since I stepped foot in the places I used to go every day. My school, my grocery store, my grandparents’ house, they were places I visited all the time.

They were probably all destroyed now. If not by the Event, then by those left behind. There were no adults left now, only kids and teenagers trying to figure out a world where nothing made sense anymore.

I didn’t know how Oliver managed to stay sane amongst it all. While I could pretend the world outside my front yard didn’t exist, he didn’t have that luxury. He walked down those broken sidewalks every day, he saw those that were suffering because of what happened. He lived it, breathed it, and he still managed to worry about me.

I didn’t deserve his kindness.

I should have been one of those forgotten ones, those left to fight for their own survival any way they could. There had to be millions of us in the world. I’m sure nobody else was fortunate enough to have someone worry about them.

I wondered what it would be like to walk the streets with Oliver at my side. Would it be easier? Would I notice all the pain and suffering as much?