A Pocket Full of Posies (Book 1)

Chapter Fourteen

Jamie's face is a picture when I walk into the kitchen the next morning. He doesn't say anything, but he doesn't stop scowling at me as I open my cupboard to find some bread. I'm ravenous so there's no time for toasting or any other strenuous activity. Instead, I bite into a dry slice. I turn back around to face Jamie, and his eyebrows are raised as if he's waiting for me to say something. What exactly, I don't know.

"Just a quick reminder," he eventually says. "There are other people living in this flat, most notably, in the room adjacent to Carmen's."

"Huh?" I ask as I go to grab another slice of bread. "Oh!" I exclaim, finally catching on to why he's got a face like a slapped arse. I try, and fail, to hold back a laugh. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"It's not funny," Jamie mutters. "Where is Carmen anyway?"

"Showering. I was gonna go first, but I'm going to the gym for a bit, so I'll just shower after that," I reply before taking another bite of my bread.

"You've not showered yet?" he asks blankly, to which I shake my head. He looks at me as if I just told him I'd slaughtered a kitten.

"What?" I question.

"You're disgusting." He stands up from his stool. "And for the love of god, please clean your dishes."

With that, Jamie leaves the room. Geez, someone's in a bad mood. Granted, said dishes have been sitting next to the sink for about two weeks now, which has resorted me to eating out of takeaway boxes, but he could at least ask nicely. I will do it, just not right now. Sometime later probably.

Carmen is busy packing by the time I'm home from the gym, and there's no sign of Jamie, so I decide to head back to my room for a bit. After spending the night in Carmen's immaculate living space, it occurs to me how shabby mine actually is. Annabel is waiting for me on my bed when I get in, kind of like a mother waiting for her teenage kid to return home from their first wild house party. She looks a little chirpier than she did last night, which I guess is a good thing.

"Ugh, finally!" she whines. "C'mon then, the hell was up with you at the caves? Jamie's right, by the way, you're gross."

After everything that happened last night, I completely forgot about that. I try to look on the bright side; at least whatever happened in the caves was a good weird, least in the sense that it made me feel good. It could be even more evidence supporting the theory that I'm suffering from severe psychosis, but hey ho, it was a nice feeling.

I shrug at Annabel as I sit down beside her on the bed. "I dunno. I just felt really good, and I guess it showed. I don't think I could not see you or anything, I think I was just distracted by everything else going on. Did you see all the ghosts sitting at that huge table?"

Annabel nods. She fiddles with the sleeve of her oversized jumper, and her dark eyebrows furrow. I understand that look of confusion. There's been some really weird shit happening to me since I arrived at uni, and I'm beginning to wonder if I ever should've come here in the first place. I don't ask for much. I just want a life where I'm not bombarded with demonic stalkers, and to be able to enter a cave without falling in love with it.

"We're probably overthinking it anyway," I continue. "I doubt the cave thing is even related to the paranormal, I was probably just in a really good mood or something. There's nothing out of the ordinary about seeing all those ghosts, either. I mean, non-dead folk have parties all the time, so why can't your lot? Bit random, bit weird, but still."

Annabel nods again, but I don't think she's convinced. She lets out a sigh. "I guess so. We've got more important stuff to sort out anyway, mainly the fact that some evil, psychopathic force is apparently out to get you."