Charley Read Online Free Page A

me?
    ‘Nightmares,’ I muttered.
    ‘Them too,’ he added, as if trying to convince me that’s all they were.
    ‘But I’m awake when I have them.’
    ‘You were unconscious when I found you.’
    I tilted my head slightly so I could look up into his face. His green eyes had lost their sparkle and were now grey. I saw the concern etched in the wrinkles that covered his brow. His once jet-black hair was now flecked with white and he looked tired.
    ‘You have headaches, right?’ he continued, looking down into my face. ‘You’ve had them for as long as I can remember. I think that has something to do with these dreams you have.’
    ‘I know what you’re going to say,’ I said. We had been here before – me lying on my bed, my head thumping, while he tried to convince me the flashes were nothing more than my mind conjuring up images to block out the fear that I might have a brain tumour of some kind.
    ‘I could be right,’ he said.
    ‘Dad, the flashes come first – not the headaches,’ I said. ‘Andbesides, I rarely black out. Tonight the flashes were bad – strong. They came at me all at once, and it was like my brain couldn’t cope with them.’
    ‘I still don’t believe they’re visions,’ he said softly. His voice had a tone that said he was never going to be convinced. I got that. After all, if the flashes were really visions of some kind, then what would that make me? A medium? Clairvoyant? Psychic? Or just someone who could see people’s deaths? Because that’s what I always saw in those flashes – I saw people dying. Tonight I had seen a girl about to be murdered.
    ‘I think you’re wrong, Dad,’ I whispered beside him. I caught that faint waft of soap leaking from him again. ‘I think the flashes are visions.’
    ‘Of what, Charley?’ And I sensed the first hint of frustration in his voice. ‘Are all these deaths you see real? Have they happened? Are they about to happen? What?’
    ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘You need to get some perspective on this,’ he said, and again I sensed his rising frustration. Or was it fear that his only daughter – his only child – was going mad?
    ‘Perspective on what?’ I shot back, trying to hide my own frustration.
    ‘I’ve seen you,’ he said, ‘sitting in front of the laptop for hours on end searching for the names of the people that you see in your vis … flashes . And have you found a single one?’
    ‘No,’ I whispered.
    ‘See, none of it is real. It’s just your vivid imagination.’
    ‘I’m not six any more.’
    ‘And that’s my point, Charley. You’re seventeen years old, for heaven’s sake. When was the last time you went out with a group of friends? Had some fun? Instead you’re sitting in front of the laptop searching for people who don’t exist.’ Dad could sense I was getting angry. ‘Look, Charley, all I’m saying is that perhaps youshould get out more. Make some new friends now that Natalie has gone.’
    ‘You just didn’t like her because she believed me,’ I said.
    ‘Now you know that’s not true,’ Dad said, looking hurt. ‘It wasn’t that I didn’t like Natalie. I just thought she encouraged you to dwell on those morbid dreams … nightmares that you say you have. It just wasn’t healthy, the amount of time you two spent discussing what you claimed to have seen. Other girls go out and have fun.’
    ‘We did have fun.’
    ‘Okay, look,’ he sighed. ‘I don’t want to get into another argument. I just think it might help you if you got out more. You know, with some friends, instead of hanging around the house looking for ghosts on the internet. You’re seventeen, Charley. You should be having a life.’
    ‘What, like you?’ I asked, leaning away from him.
    ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ He stared at me.
    ‘Nothing.’ I looked away, knowing that perhaps I had said too much.
    ‘No, go on, Charley,’ he said, sounding a little pissed off with me now. ‘If you’ve got something on your