A Night at the Asylum by Jade McCahon Read Free Book Online

half-crying, I was a bundle of
sleep-deprived nerves. “And why did you say police brutality?”
    Jamie laughed. “The mayor is the only guy
with authority over the police commissioner, right? So he’ll make
sure the EMTs get past Brad.”
    “Why the hell would he do that?”
    “Because he thinks reporters are about to
swarm his little police station. Like you heard me say on the
phone, my dear, it’s an election year,” she repeated, grinning
triumphantly. “And the overnight dispatcher – who, by the way,
answers the anonymous tips line starting at midnight – God, I just
love small towns – just so happens to be the mayor’s wife.”
    For a moment I was completely dumbstruck.
When I recovered, my voice was shriller than ever. “How the hell do
you know all this?!”
    “My friend Doug is an EMT here.” She
shrugged.
    My heart was pounding. I couldn’t decide if
what she’d done was the stupidest thing I’d ever witnessed or pure
genius. Of everything bad that could come of it, I only wondered
what the consequences might be for Emmett.
    “Well, whether he was telling the truth or
not…at least he won’t die.” Jamie’s words were a reply to my very
private thoughts, bringing me out of my stupor. That’s one thing
about Jamie that cannot go unmentioned – her very uncanny
perceptiveness often seems to run deeper than simple
gossip-whoring.
    “Seriously! Relax!” she laughed again.
    Terrified as I was, a weight seemed to have
been lifted off me somehow. Gradually, my anxiety dissipated into
laughter. It bubbled out of me, easing the pressure of the crushing
paranoia. “I have to admit it…you’ve got balls.” I stated
genuinely. “I am slowly feeling my indifference toward our
friendship turn to true respect.”
    “Really?” Jamie beamed. Her ringlet curls
shook giddily as she eased the car into drive and back out into the
road.
    A moment later we heard the startup of the
sirens, their mournful wail reaching a crescendo as they passed on
the street behind us. I ducked down in the seat, still freaking
out, and Jamie giggled at me. I tried to not think about Emmett and
what the rest of this night would be like for him. It was best to
put it completely out of my mind. After a few minutes we were calm
again, lapsing into silence. My eyes caught the dashboard clock. It
had been nearly three hours since being awakened by the dream of my
brother, and in two more hours I had to be at my family’s
restaurant serving donuts and coffee to a bunch of toothless old
farmers who got up way too damned early.
    Jamie looked over at me. “Don’t worry, I’ll
help you open the restaurant. Tell me more about your dream.”
    There was that keenness again, and while
normally it didn’t faze me, tonight with my nerves so on edge, it
was strikingly obvious...not to mention aggravating. Either
she’s really good, or my face is easy to read, I thought.
“Nothing else happened,” I answered with a tired shrug, “just the
usual stuff. We’re sitting on the porch playing some game. I know
something bad’s going to happen but can’t make him stay.”
    “How was it this time?” she asked
sympathetically.
    We’d talked about this before. “Very real.
Like really being there.”
    Out of the corner of my eye I could see her
staring at me. It lasted so long I inwardly questioned her ability
to stay on the road. “What if you were?” she asked.
    “Oh, here we go.” We could never have a
conversation about the dreams without it devolving into an absurd
debate about the supernatural.
    “What? Some people believe that dreams like
that aren’t dreams at all, they’re visitations. Maybe Tommy is
really trying to get through to you and you just don’t want to
accept it.”
    “Look, don’t talk about him like that.”
    “Like what?”
    “Like you…like he…like it was real.” What did
she know about him? I felt unreasonably protective for a moment,
but forced myself to calm down. She meant well, even if she