The Voice inside My Head by S.J. Laidlaw Read Free Book Online Page B

Reesie.
    “I’m really sorry, Luke,” says Jamie. It’s not clear whether he’s apologizing for his sister or mine, but I’m relieved when he drags Reesie off the stoop. Of course, this incites her to new levels of outrage. She keeps up a steady rant as he drags her down the path.
    I rub the back of my neck before going inside. Tracy is under the sheet, which happens to be the only covering on the bed. She raises one corner invitingly and grins, but her confidence wavers when I glare at her and don’t move from the open doorway.
    “You have to go.”
    She waits a few beats, then finally leans over the bed and grabs her clothes, pulling them on under the sheet. She doesn’t say anything as she stalks past me. I’m just about to close the door when she gasps and drops to her knees. I think maybe it’s a trick to get back inside, but she’s reaching under the stoop, clearly after something other than me.
    “I can’t reach it,” she says. “Help me.”
    I come outside and kneel on the wooden step, looking through the opening in the slats to the thing Tracy is groping for. She moves aside and I take her place, feeling around underneath the steps till my hand hits soft fabric. I grab it and pull it out, turning it over in my hand. It’s a small, roughly stitched cloth doll with what looks like human hair glued to its head, straight black hair like mine — or my sister’s.
    “What is it?” I ask, glancing at Tracy, but the look on her face is enough to tell me I don’t want to know.
    “Tricia found one of these the day before she went missing,” she whispers.
    I don’t know who she thinks might be listening, but I’m more annoyed than scared. It’s late, I’m bone-tired, I’ve just learned my sister had not just a secret boyfriend but a secret fiancé, some ravenous, invisible insects are biting every inch of my exposed torso and I’ve had enough of this girl.
    I sink down on the top step, lean my head on the newel post and wait for her to continue because I know nothing short of a heart attack is going to stop her. She settles on the step below me.
    “It’s a voodoo doll,” she explains. “Some of the locals here, the Garifuna, practice the old religions brought over from Africa.”
    “Garifuna?”
    “African descendants, like Reesie and her brother.”
    “Don’t you mean Caribbean?”
    “Yes, but where do you think the Caribbean people came from?”
    “I thought voodoo came from Haiti.”
    “That’s just one form of it.”
    “You seem very well-informed.”
    “Of course. I looked into it after what happened to Tricia.”
    “So, let me get this straight,” I say slowly, though at this point my own mind’s so muddy, I’m not sure I’m capable of rational thought. “You’re trying to tell me Reesie and my sister’s boyfriend were practicing voodoo and did something to her?”
    She shrugs and stands up. “Believe what you want,” she says, in a wounded voice. “All I’m saying is that a lot of the locals still practice the black arts, and Tricia found a doll like this under her step the day before she went missing.”
    So much tension courses out of my body when I see her turn away and start down the path to her own room that I almost fall off the step. She stops when she gets to her door and turns back to me. Her face is completely hidden in the shadows, but her disembodied voice rings out, piercing thestillness of the night. “Be careful who you make friends with,” she warns.
    As she disappears into her room, goose bumps ripple across my flesh. I go inside, but despite my exhaustion, it’s a long time before I fall asleep.

CHAPTER 5
    I go looking for Zach first thing the next morning. I want to pump him for information on this voodoo crap before hunting down Jamie to see what else he knows about Pat. I don’t get as far as Bluewater before Zach hails me from the front porch of a restaurant. I guess that’s an advantage of only one main street — you’re never too far