Oblivion by Karolyn Cairns [paranormal/YA] Read Free Book Online Page B

boots that fit him on the closet floor. Once dressed, he stepped out into the hall, looking for Merrick.
    “I’m out here, Kid,” he called and Jace followed the voice. He walked through the living room where a couple of tables and couches were. He stepped out onto a fire escape. Merrick lounged in a chair, kicking back, smoking a cigarette. Jace shook his head when he offered him one. Merrick gestured to a chair and he sat, looking out over the dark, gothic city with a grim expression.
    “What time is it?”
    “It’s past noon,” Merrick said and grinned. “Ain’t no sunshine when you gone. This is it.”
     Jace looked distraught as he sat in the lawn chair. “What’s up with no toilet?”
    “You don’t have to do that anymore, Kid. That’s a human thing. Down here we eat, we drink, and we do all kinds of things ain’t fit for your wet-behind-the-ears, but we don’t do that.”
    Jace wondered why he didn’t feel the urge associated with going to the bathroom. He reasoned he would see this nightmare through. He looked out over the city.
    “How long have you been here?”
    Merrick shrugged. “I can tell you what year I died. Don’t know what day it is or the year right now. Time ain’t like that here.”
    “It’s March, 2011 in the…real…you know.”
    “Then I been dead going on forty years now, I reckon.”
    “How did it happen?” Jace asked, his eyes meeting Merrick’s and seeing a flicker of pain in the black man’s gaze.
    “I messed with the wrong dude, like you, Kid.”
    Jace looked irritated. “You keep saying Cam killed me. He was my best friend. He wouldn’t do that.”
    “You’re dead and he was the only one there. Maybe you don’t want to accept it.”
    “This can’t be real,” Jace said again and shook his head. “I can’t believe what you tell me.”
    Merrick shrugged, undeterred. “You don’t sleep any more either. You’ll figure it out soon enough. Down here we got rules though. You best learn them or you going to wind up some deadhead’s play toy.”
    “What are the rules?” he asked in a tense voice.
    “Number one: stay away from the deadheads. They ain’t your friends. They’re twice our number and growing down here. They think this world belongs to them. Number two: learn to use the skills you got to survive down here. When you’re ready, I’ll teach you what I know. Number three: and this is the most important one of all. Don’t try to contact the living.”
    “I have to call my girlfriend! She needs to know I’m ok.”
    “Kid, I don’t know how to get through to ya. You’re dead now.”
    Jace remained stubborn. “How do I know this isn’t some weird dream I’m going to wake up from?”
    Merrick chuckled and pulled a wicked knife from his waistband. Before Jace knew what he was about the man stabbed the knife through his hand, penetrating through his flesh to the chair.
    “You feel that, Kid? That’s pain. You still feel it because your soul is still here, not passed on yet. But you don’t bleed no more. Look if you don’t believe me.”
    Jace howled as the knife stabbing through his hand sent a burning pain up his arm, assuring him it was very real. He didn’t bleed though. Merrick pulled out the knife and Jace held up his hand and saw the wound close before his eyes. His eyes widened in fear.
    “No, this isn’t happening.”
    “What’s your name, Kid?”
    “It’s Jace, Jace Turner.”
    “Welcome to Oblivion, Jace Turner.”
    ~ ~ ~
    Lindsay was sitting in numb silence during the service in Foster’s funeral home. She wore a borrowed black dress and her mother’s pearls. It was standing room only. Every soul in Little Bend turned out for Jace’s funeral. They were holding a candlelight vigil that evening in his memory. She looked at the huge, blown up senior picture of Jace on an easel next to his coffin and a fresh wave of crippling pain.
    Mostly she felt guilt, thinking of how they fought the night before he died. She refused to