Shallow Grave by Alex Van Tol Read Free Book Online Page B

cheerleading championships, like she did the year before,” Shannon says. “But she never got the chance.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œShe disappeared a week before the competition.” Shannon shrugs. “Maybe she just…took off. Maybe it was too hard to be such a perfect person.”
    Hear that. I could’ve had a whole big conversation with Jessica about it.
    â€œA lot of other people, though, they think her boyfriend killed her,” Shannon says.
    â€œThis Troy guy?”
    She nods. “Troy Joliette, yeah. He didn’t even go to grad because that’s all anyone was talking about.”
    â€œThey have anything on him?”
    â€œI didn’t follow it all that closely,” Shannon admits. “He went away to college this fall. I think he’s still a suspect though.”
    â€œWhy do people think he did it?”
    She shakes her head. “I don’t think anyone thinks there’s any good reason, really. Troy and Jessica were totally in love.”
    I wouldn’t be so sure. I think about what my mom says. How you never know from the outside what people’s relationships are like on the inside. It explains a lot about her and my dad, she told me. How everyone thought they had it all together until one day they just…didn’t.
    â€œMaybe they weren’t as in love as everybody thought,” I say.
    Shannon looks doubtful. “Maybe not. But even if they weren’t that in love, I still can’t see it,” she says. “Troy was a really nice guy.”
    I think about how I felt about Shannon before I spent any time with her. The assumptions I made.
    â€œAppearances can be deceiving,” I say.
    She nods. “For sure, they can.”
    â€œLet me guess,” I say. “This Troy. He was the captain of the football team.”
    Shannon looks at me in shock. “How did you know?”
    â€œCaptain of the football team dating the captain of the cheerleading team?” I laugh. “It’s the American Dream, baby.”
    She raises her eyebrows at me. “Yeah, but in the American Dream, your boyfriend’s not supposed to kill you.”
    That’s when the lightbulb above us shatters.

Chapter Fourteen
    I duck and cover. Shannon shrieks.
    What did we say that made the light explode? The American Dream thing? Or was it the thing about her boyfriend killing her?
    Listen .
    I’m all ears, I think.
    Now that there’s just the one lantern going in here, it feels downright scary. What if it goes out?
    I glance around for the other ones. Maybe I’ll light them back up.
    A noise from under a shelf makes my skin crawl. The Ouija board slides into view. It creeps toward us, scraping across the tiny grains of dirt strewn on the wooden floor. Ssshhkiff.
    My brain goes all swimmy for a few seconds.
    Shannon makes a tiny noise deep in her throat. She pulls her legs in tight to her chest.
    The board stops half a foot away from me.
    And how is it that the chalk hasn’t even started to fade?
    â€œI think she wants to talk,” I say.
    â€œI’m not so sure I want to talk,” Shannon says.
    When the lid rolls toward me—on its edge, like a hula hoop that a small child might roll down a country lane, the most normal thing in the world—Shannon takes a shaky breath.
    â€œI’m not so sure we have much choice,” I say.
    We watch as the lid settles itself on the board.
    HELLO.
    Adrenaline shoots into my lower gut. I think about the last time I touched that thing. The burning.
    Then I think about the door slamming on my fingers.
    And the pain in my head.
    Listen .
    We really have no choice.
    I reach out and pull the board toward me, ignoring the fear that flares in my belly.
    I put my fingers on the lid.
    Let’s get this show on the road.
    I look at Shannon. She’s biting her lip. Thinking.
    Then she puts her hands on. We lock eyes across the board, a couple of soldiers about to jump