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

soot. His eyes travelled down my body and back up again, surveying the damage. For the first time since I had met him, I didn’t feel naked under his intense gaze. I felt… safe.

“Your leg’s burned,” he said.

I looked down, seeking the damage myself. My jeans had a hole, the fabric sticking to my skin around the edges. The patch in the middle was a red raw mess, the skin blistering. When the feeling returned, it was going to hurt like hell.

Oliver came up behind Jet. He didn’t have a scratch on him, he looked exactly as he had every day since I entered the city. He was already begging for my forgiveness again. “Everly, you’re okay, thank goodness. I’m so sorry.”

I ignored him, keeping my attention on Jet. “Tell me you can see him.”

His brow wrinkled. “See who? What are you talking about? Did you hit your head?”

My finger pointed toward Oliver as he stood still, his face grief-stricken. “Him. Oliver. I need to know you can see him. Please, you have to be able to see him.”

Jet’s eyes darted everywhere.

Oliver didn’t say another word.

He couldn’t see him.

Jet turned back to me. “Everly, I have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s only us here. Are you okay? Did they hurt you? Maybe you’ve got a concussion.”

He reached for me but I flinched away. My hands rubbed at my eyes before my fingers twisted in my hair. I needed it all to be nothing more than a nightmare. I needed to wake up and realize I was merely sleeping. It couldn’t be happening for real.

Maybe I had really died upstairs, burned to death tied to an uncomfortable chair. This was certainly a form of hell, maybe I was being punished for something.

“Everly, calm down,” Jet urged.

I continued to shake my head, pinching myself to wake up. Nothing was working, nothing was going right. I wasn’t waking up.

It was really true.

Oliver was really dead.

“You can’t see him,” I whispered to myself.

“See who? Everly, breathe. You need to calm down.”

Oliver just stood there. He outstretched his arms toward me but then let them fall back to his sides. He couldn’t touch me, even if he tried. He knew that just as much as I did now.

“I’m so, so sorry,” he said. There was regret in his eyes as they burned into me.

It wasn’t right that he was gone. Oliver was a beautiful human being, he was generous, funny, loyal, and kind. He didn’t deserve to be dead. He shouldn’t have been taken. It just shouldn’t have happened.

I didn’t know what to do. There was nowhere to go now, I was all alone. My leg needed a doctor but it would never get that opportunity. If I returned to the apartment, it would only remind me that I was there alone.

The thought of collapsing where I stood was more than tempting. I could fall to the ground and let whatever come what may. I could die there, haunt the rest of the world like it did me.

“You’re scaring me, Everly,” Jet said. I had forgotten he was here. “Let me take you underground. I’ve got bandages, I can find something for your burn.”

I wasn’t going anywhere with him.

He was with them. He let all this happen.

My head continued to shake as I stepped backwards, making it clear I didn’t need anything from him. His gang had tied me up, they tried to kill me. He was the reason I knew I didn’t have Oliver anymore.

His eyes moved from me to over my shoulder. His mouth twisted into a frown. I spun around, terrified about what I was going to see.

All my fears were justified.

Taz and the rest of the boys were coming for us. Coming for me. Coming to finish me off.

“Stay here,” Jet ordered me. He raced toward the guys, his fists flying before he reached them. Within seconds, they set onto him.

Now was my moment.

I ran.

My leg hurt every time my foot touched the ground, my lungs burned like they were still on fire, and my heart ached worst of all. I didn’t know where I was going, but it didn’t matter. As long as I was far away from Jet, Oliver, and the rest of them, I didn’t care.

I didn’t turn around to see if anyone was following me. I couldn’t see Oliver so I knew he wasn’t keeping pace with me. Hopefully the boys would be too busy to notice I was gone.

Soon, the only sound I could hear was the pounding of my own heart and my feet on the road. I was running blind but the pain was good, it was distracting. While I focused on the ache, my brain couldn’t process everything that had happened.

Adrenalin spurred me on, driving me like nothing else. I had never run as far or as fast as I did then. The kids I passed were nothing but a blur. I probably looked a complete mess, covered in black smoke with my clothes half-burned off.

They probably thought I was the monster of their nightmares.

I hoped I wouldn’t haunt their dreams tonight.

My legs continued on, my lungs gasped for air with each step. I needed water more than I needed anything else but I wasn’t going to stop. I couldn’t be far enough away from Jet and his gang.

I didn’t realize where I was until I looked up and saw a white picket fence that I had stood beside for many hours. I stopped abruptly, coming to a halt at the gate.

My house on the hill.

It looked exactly the same as when I had left it. The windows were perfectly symmetrical, the mahogany front door was beckoning me inside, and the pathway was leading me into solace.

There