by Cross, Amy
Once I've got a couple of blocks away, I turn and look back toward the Compidome tower. For the first time, I can actually see it: a vast structure, gleaming in the sunlight, it looks to be so tall, you could almost believe it reaches all the way to the roof of the world.
"Hey," I say, tapping a nearby woman on the shoulder before pointing up to the top of the tower. "Do you see that thing?"
"What thing?" she asks.
"That tower."
"Huh?"
"You don't see it?"
She frowns, before turning and walking away. I guess Lydecker's filter is still keeping the place hidden, which means I can only see it because I know it's there. For everyone else, it's business as usual, and it looks as if Lydecker is going to keep working at Compidome, all the way up there at the top of a vast skyscraper that most people don't even notice. I hope he manages to perfect the Shades eventually, because the technology seems to be truly astonishing. Still, he needs to be careful, because Lacey Hobbs has already demonstrated the dangers of allowing that much power to rest in the hands of one person. I think I might just come back to New York every so often and go back to Compidome, to see how things are going.
By the time I reach the waterfront, the weather has cleared up completely. The effects of the storm are still evident, though, and it's going to take a long time before the city is able to recover. I have no idea how the world is going to rationalize everything that happened, but I guess things will get back to normal eventually. I make my way down to the jetty and along to the boat, where Sutton is waiting. I guess he'll have plenty of questions too, but there's no way I'm going to start talking to him about invisible skyscrapers and nano-engineering. As I reach the end of the jetty and come face to face with him, I can already see from the look in his eyes that he's guessed I'm the only survivor.
"What happened?" he asks. "There are people here again. Where the hell did they come from?" He waits for me to answer. "Dr. Grant? Where are the others? What happened?"
"It's time to go home," I reply. Glancing back at the city, I see the Compidome tower soaring above every other building, and I can't help but feel sorry for John Lydecker, working alone up there. Still, I guess one day he'll decide it's time to reveal his inventions to the world. "In a few days," I say, turning back to Sutton, "I think things are going to look a lot better. It'll be like none of this ever really happened."
Caroline Jones
Today
"I'm not your assistant!" I say, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk.
"I just want coffee," Mendez replies, his voice a little muffled as we speak over the phone. It's Monday morning and I'm already running late for work, but now my boss wants me to stop off on the way and pick up his goddamn coffee. "Don't think of yourself as my assistant," he continues. "Think of yourself as my... friend."
"Friend?" I reply, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"I don't care how you rationalize it," he says, "just bring me some coffee. And don't take too long about it. The Meldrew account's getting wobbly. I need you to get in here and put it straight. Work your charm, or whatever the hell you normally do to keep Meldrew happy."
"Fine," I mutter. "I'll get your coffee."
Once I've finished talking to him, I head to the nearest coffee shop. Sometimes, I feel as if Mendez sees me less as an investment analyst and more as a general office dogsbody. I swear, apart from the unpaid interns, I'm pretty much at the very bottom of the pecking order, and I'm starting to think that I'm never going to get a raise. As I head through the door and make my way to the counter, I'm already making a mental note to start looking for another job. Seriously, being a runaround lackey for Mendez is not what I wanted to do with my life.
"Hey," says Reed, standing ahead of me in the line.
"Hey," I reply, before -
I pause.
Reed?
Who the hell is Reed? Staring at the stranger, I try to work out where the hell I've seen him before. A second ago, I had a really strong impression of him in my mind, but now it's as if that impression has just evaporated.
"Sorry," I continue, trying not to let it show that I'm feeling flustered, "I'm really bad with names and faces. Have we met?"
"I..." He pauses. "You know what, I'm not sure. I thought..." He stares at me. "Okay, this is embarrassing," he continues. "I thought I knew you for a second, but obviously I was mistaken. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but I can only apologize."
"It's fine," I reply. "To be honest, I thought I recognized you too. For a second, anyway."
"Weird how the brain works, huh?"
I smile politely, as we shuffle forward in the line.
"Maybe we've seen each other before," I add. "I don't know, maybe in here?"
"I've never been here before," he replies, "and anyway, I think I'd remember you." He pauses. "That wasn't supposed to be a pick-up line, by the way."
"Of course not," I say. Damn it, am I starting to blush? I feel as if I'm blushing. I should probably just abandon the line and head to another coffee shop, but it'd be totally obvious what's wrong, and the last thing I want to do is run away from a guy. "Deja vu's pretty odd," I add. "Maybe it's my perfume, something like that."
"Maybe," he says. "Well, I'm sorry to have bothered you."
Once he's turned back to face the front of the line, I find myself trying to work out what to do next. This guy, who for some reason I'm convinced is named Reed, is pretty hot, and my life is definitely not at the kind of place where I can afford to just ignore random meetings. Still, I've got this really strange vibe from him, as if somehow I have met him before. The last thing I want to do is seem like some kind of tongue-tied idiot, so I guess I should just learn to let this one go.
While some English girl places an order in the line directly ahead of Reed, I try to act normal. Sure, I'm imagining what it'd be like to go on a date with this guy, but that doesn't mean anything's going to happen. It's simply a reflection of the fact that I haven't had a proper date for a very long time. I'm totally overreacting to what amounts to little more than a quick, snatched conversation in a coffee shop and a brief case of mistaken identity. Damn it, I need to get a grip before I fall completely down the rabbit hole.
"Chloe?" Reed says suddenly.
Turning, I see that Chloe is -
I pause again.
Chloe?
Who the hell is Chloe? As I watch a puzzled-looking woman walk away, I realize that something strange is definitely happening here. I turn and look back at Reed, and I can see that he's thinking the same thing.
"Your name's Reed," I say cautiously. "Isn't it?"
He stares at me. "Caroline?"
I take a deep breath. It's as if there's some kind of mental block that's preventing me from remembering exactly where I've met Reed before, but I feel as if we have a strong connection. Sure, it could be a case of deja vu, but I can't shake the sensation that this guy has meant something to me at some point in the past.
"Do you want to get a coffee?" he asks after a moment. "Maybe... talk about this?"
I nod.
Later that day, we meet up for a drink. We talk about our lives, and about how we each have this very strong feeling that we've met before. It's crazy, but I swear to God I've spent time with him in the past, and he admits that he feels the same way. It quickly becomes clear that I remember specific details about his life, including the fact that he has a son named Tommy, but neither of us can explain how we could have met before without remembering. Eventually our conversation turns to recent events. We both have a vague memory of something huge happening, some kind of life-changing event, but after a while we realize that we're both stubbornly unable to remember the details. By the time the evening ends, we're at a loose end, but we agree to meet up again the next night, to talk about it some more. Eventually, after several of these meetings, I end up going home with him. In some strange way, it even feels as if we've slept together before, but finally we decide to stop focusing on the weirde
r aspects of our meeting. One night in late October, we go for our first proper date, to a little Chinese theater in downtown Manhattan...
And that's when I discover that suddenly, out of nowhere, I seem to be fluent in Chinese.
Also by Amy Cross
THE BODY AT AUERCLIFF
“We'll bury her so deep, even her ghost will have a mouth full of dirt!”
When Rebecca Wallace arrives at Auercliff to check on her aged aunt, she's in for a shock. Her aunt's mind is crumbling, and the old woman refuses to let Rebecca stay overnight. And just as she thinks she's starting to understand the truth, Rebecca makes a horrifying discovery in one of the house's many spare rooms.
A dead body. A woman. Old and rotten. And her aunt insists she has no idea where it came from.
The truth lies buried in the past. For generations, the occupants of Auercliff have been tormented by the repercussions of a horrific secret. And somehow everything seems to be centered upon the mausoleum in the house's ground, where every member of the family is entombed once they die.
Whose body was left to rot in one of the house's rooms? Why have successive generations of the family been plagued by a persistent scratching sound? And what really happened to Rebecca many years ago, when she found herself locked inside the Auercliff mausoleum?
The Body at Auercliff is a horror story about a family and a house, and about the refusal of the past to stay buried.
Also by Amy Cross
LAST WRONG TURN
If you're out late at night and you see her face, it's already too late.
Lost on a rural English road, Penny and her husband are involved in a sudden, violent car crash. Waking up tied to a metal table in a remote farmhouse, Penny quickly discovers that she's the latest victim of a strange, deadly family. But Penny is different to all the family's other victims, because she just happens to be eight-and-a-half months pregnant...
Fighting not only for her own life, but also for the life of her unborn child, Penny desperately tries to escape. When she comes face to face with the mysterious Enda, however, she quickly learns that getting away from the farmhouse might not be enough. Soon, Penny finds herself locked in a desperate struggle to keep her baby from becoming not just a victim of the farm, but one of its new occupants.
Last Wrong Turn is the story of a woman who desperately tries to save her child from a horrific fate. Contains adult language and scenes of violence.
Also by Amy Cross
PERFECT LITTLE MONSTERS
AND OTHER STORIES
A husband waits until his wife and children are in bed, before inviting a dangerous man into their home...
A girl keeps hold of her mother's necklace, as bloodied hands try to tear it from her grasp...
A gun jams, even as its intended victim begs the universe to let her die...
Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by Amy Cross. Some of the stories take place in seemingly ordinary towns, whose inhabitants soon discover something truly shocking lurking beneath the veneer of peace and calm. Others show glimpses of vast, barbaric worlds where deadly forces gather to toy with humanity. All the stories in this collection peel back the face of a nightmare, revealing the horror that awaits. And in every one of the stories, some kind of monster lurks...
Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories contains the new stories Perfect Little Monsters, I Hate You, Meat, Fifty Fifty and Stay Up Late, as well as a revised version of the previously-released story The Scream. This book contains scenes of violence, as well as strong language.
Also by Amy Cross
ANNIE'S ROOM
1945 and 2015. Seventy years apart, two girls named Annie move into the same room of the same remote house. Their stories are very different, but tragedy is about to bring them crashing together.
Annie Riley has just broken both her legs. Unable to leave bed, she's holed up in her new room and completely reliant upon her family for company. She's also the first to notice a series of strange noises in the house, but her parents and brother think she's just letting her imagination run overtime. And then, one night, dark forces start to make their presence more keenly felt, leading to a horrific discovery...
Seventy years ago, Annie Garrett lived in the same house with her parents. This Annie, however, was very different. Bitter and vindictive and hopelessly devoted to her father, she developed a passionate hatred for her mother. History records that Annie eventually disappeared while her parents were executed for her murder, but what really happened to Annie Garrett, and is her ghost still haunting the house to this day?
Annie's Room is the story of two girls whose lives just happened to be thrown together by an unlikely set of circumstances, and of a potent evil that blossomed in one soul and then threatened to consume another.
OTHER BOOKS
BY AMY CROSS INCLUDE
Horror
The Body at Auercliff
Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories
The Printer From Hell
The Farm
The Nurse
American Coven
Annie's Room
Eli's Town
Asylum
Meds (Asylum 2)
The Night Girl
Devil's Briar
The Cabin
After the Cabin
Last Wrong Turn
At the Edge of the Forest
The Devil's Hand
The Ghost of Shapley Hall
The Death of Addie Gray
A House in London
Table 9: A Ghost Story
The Blood House
The Priest Hole (Nykolas Freeman book 1)
Battlefield (Nykolas Freeman book 2)
The Border
The Lighthouse
3AM
Tenderling
The Girl Clay
The Prison
Ward Z
The Devil's Photographer
Fantasy / Horror
Dark Season series 1, 2 & 3
The Girl With Crooked Fangs (Vampire Country book 1)
Ascension (Demon's Grail book 1)
Evolution (Demon's Grail book 2)
The 13th Demon (Demon's Grail book 3)
Grave Girl
Graver Girl (Grave Girl 2)
Ghosts
The Library
Thriller
The Girl Who Never Came Back
Other People's Bodies
Dystopia / Science Fiction
The Dog
The Island (The Island book 1)
Persona (The Island book 2)
Mass Extinction Event
