Hunter of the Dark by J A Graham Read Free Book Online Page B

felt racked with guilt. Yet she didn’t go in and comfort her mother, as she once would have done. She sighed and opened the front door. Sorsa licked her hand, but she whipped it away and glared at the dog.
    “I’m going out, Dinah.” She yelled out.
    Silence greeted her. A cold, foreboding silence. Tanitha slipped quietly out through the front door and into the murky streets. The dogs followed her like shadows, and she didn’t have the heart to take them back inside. A fresh blast of cool air greeted her with an overzealous curiosity. Her heart raged with anger, anger at her mother, anger at the harsh whipping wind and most of all, anger at Christian. She screamed, the wind carrying her tone into distant places, smothering and killing it off, whipping her hair around her round face and taming the frizz into angry curls. Sadie skittered sideways at this unearthly noise, and Sorsa whined with worry, but she ignored the dogs. Even they couldn’t comfort her today. Then she began to run; a steady two-tone beat, faster and faster. Her bare feet slapped the ground furiously. Slap, slap, slap, slap, keeping up a consistent rhythm. She reveled in the freedom that could be found in the storm-like wind.
    An hour later, she could still be found sprinting. Sure, now her breath came in ragged gasps but some sort of energy pulsed through her veins. Sweat matted her mane against her forehead and trickled down her neck, leaving rivulets that soon cooled with the chilly atmosphere. By now she had no idea where she was but had the feeling she had just run in a big loop, because the school could be seen blurred hazily on the horizon. The dogs were also following behind her, their tongues lolling, like they thought it was a game.
    Suddenly something seemed to tug at her. Her gaze was drawn to a decrepit little house. She slowed down and stopped, looking at the house with curiosity etched into her eyes. Her breathing slowed as she stood there. She retained her position till she was breathing lightly once again. Her hair had tamed itself into a more manageable form and her eyes no longer housed the light of freedom and invulnerability. She stood there, intense gaze taking in the peeling of the paintwork, the crooked wooden steps, and the partially opened door. She walked down the cracked pavement leading to the front door, almost in a trance. She turned back to see the dogs hadn’t moved from the front gate. Sorsa was whining, and Sadie didn’t seem keen to go further. She left them there. She knew they wouldn’t move, and maybe it was better for them.
    Her legs involuntarily carried her up the porch steps, avoiding the gaping holes. She opened the door, the touch of rotting wood making her fingers tingle. Tanitha began to feel sorry for the people who lived here; it seemed as bad as her own apartment in the big city.
    “ Hello?”
    Her voice came out trembling and shaky. She cleared her smarting throat with a couple of dry coughs. She would have given anything for even a drop of water at that moment.
    “Hello? Anyone home?”
    There was a sound of sobbing. She immediately rushed into the small dingy foyer to sight a familiar figure. He seemed smaller, more vulnerable, and more alone somehow. He looked nothing like the Christian she knew from school. She was immediately crouching down beside him, taking him into her arms. She noted with agony the painful bruise spreading over his left cheek. Tanitha stroked his face and Christian merely clung to her, desperate to be close to someone, sobbing.
    “ I…I’m sorry.”
    “ What for?”
    He looked into her eyes, gaze meeting gaze, and Tanitha fell into the deep brilliance and sheer intelligence that was hidden there. Sadness, though, ruled over any other emotion and Tanitha choked back her own sobs.
    “For letting you see me like this.” He whispered, his gaze still on her. She was speechless and she merely wrapped him into a tighter hug, too afraid to let go.
    “ Who was the fool who