The Haunting Season by Michelle Muto Read Free Book Online Page A

the rest of them thought he was psychotic, or at least lying. “Tell us what happened, Gage,” he encouraged.
    “Look. I don’t think I’m some necromancer. I don’t know what to think. I was only seven the first time I did it.” He lowered his voice. “My pet, Leo.”
    “You brought back the family cat?” Jess asked.
    “Not exactly,” Gage admitted.
    “So, you didn’t resurrect him?” Allison clarified, confused.
    “No. I mean, I did , but Leo wasn’t a cat,” Gage answered, looking a bit uncomfortable for the first time.
    A grin crept across Jess’s face. Good to know Hot Shot could be knocked down a few pegs.
    “So, he was a dog, then?” Bryan pressed. Even he seemed to sense Gage’s discomfort and was playing it to the hilt.
    Gage coughed and spoke softly. “Hamster.”
    “A hamster ?” Bryan repeated with a laugh. Jess had to refrain from joining Bryan, and even noticed that Allison had cracked a smile.
    Bryan shook his head. “Sorry. I’m just picturing you with a hamster as a pet.”
    “Hey! I didn’t buy him, okay? I was a kid,” Gage said. “He was, well, he was sort of lying on his side, and I picked him up. My best friend Stu said I should give him CPR. So, I did. Not like I had a clue how to give CPR, but damn if it didn’t work.”
    Bryan laughed openly. “CPR? On a hamster?”
    Gage gave him a hard stare. “It was twelve years ago. Lay off me. I know my story sounds weird. Anyway, the next time, about a year ago, it was my brother’s dog. Some wire-haired mixed breed that followed him home one day. Ben named him Max. About a month after that, Ben got real sick and the doctors diagnosed him with an aggressive form of brain cancer. I found Max dead in the back yard. Ben loved that dog. We swore my brother was only hanging on because of Max.”
    He paused and took a sip of his drink.
    “Max was completely cold. Lifeless. I hated that my brother was dying, and now he’d just lost the one thing he loved most. I don’t know why, but I remembered the thing with…”
    “Your pet hamster?” Bryan added with a snicker.
    “Are you going to let me finish?” Gage nearly shouted.
    Bryan held up a hand in truce.
    “So, I tried the same thing with Max, and at first, nothing happened,” Gage went on. “Then, he just jerked awake, like he’d been in some deep sleep. Define irony, man. We still have Max. But Ben died four months later. Never came out of surgery. Damn dog still sleeps in his room.”
    “You tried to bring your brother back, didn’t you?” Allison asked.
    Gage looked like he wasn’t going to answer.
    “Go on,” Dr. Brandt insisted. “It’s important to tell everyone, Gage. This experiment depends on each of us—”
    “Yeah. I tried,” Gage interrupted, absently running a finger along the edge of his silverware. “Mom begged me to. How could I say no to that, right? Anyway, I would have tried to no matter what.” He stopped fiddling with the silverware, but he still seemed to be in some other place in his memories. He shook his head. “I don’t know what went wrong. Sometimes I wonder if I failed because I was afraid it wouldn’t work on a person. Maybe I’m limited to resurrecting animals.” He shrugged and gave a halfhearted smirk. “You’re probably thinking I should have applied to a vet school, right?”
    Everyone stayed quiet. No witty comebacks, no teasing.
    “Maybe I was too emotional and didn’t do it right.” Gage briefly closed his eyes. “My parents blame me that he’s still in the ground. They don’t come out and say it, but they keep asking what went wrong. Yeah, like I even know how I’m able to do it at all, and they want to know what happened ? Like I don’t miss him, too. Once, my mother even asked what I had against Ben—that she loved us both. So, I sort of blame myself, too. I’m here because they think I can change what happened.”
    “Have you ever read The Monkey’s Paw?” Allison’s voice had taken on that calm,