All The Pretty Ghosts (The Never Series Book 1) by Jamie Campbell (my miracle luna book free read .TXT) 📕

before we stood outside a building that had been partially destroyed. Whether it was from a lack of maintenance or human intervention, I wasn’t sure what had caused all the damage.

“This is your home?” I asked. She nodded and led me through a broken door. I had to duck and let go of her hand just to follow. The hallway was like a small dark tunnel. For someone as tiny as Lilia, it was easy to negotiate. I was a little bigger so I had to crouch down to move along.

Lilia passed through another door, this one was only barely hanging onto the wall by a broken hinge. It was going to fall down completely sometime soon. Hopefully that time wouldn’t be now. I tried not to touch it as I went underneath.

“This is my home,” Lilia declared with pride. It was a small, dirty room. But all four walls were intact and the window actually had glass in it. She was doing a lot better than many other people.

On the floor was a thin layer of blankets, another one balled up to act as a pillow. It was the only thing in the room. “You sleep here every night?”

She nodded, actually managing to summon a smile in the horrible conditions. “Nobody can find me in here, I’m safe. You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

“Never,” I promised. I doubted I would be able to find my own way back anyway. Kids were better at hiding than they had been since I was last in the city.

“Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?” Lilia curled up in her poor excuse for a bed and lay down. I sat next to her, tucking the blanket up to her chin.

“Yeah, I’ll stay. Don’t you want to wash your hair?”

She shook her head, her curls bouncing. “Changed my mind. It’s too cold.”

“Sleep well.”

Her sleepy eyes were already starting to close. “Everly?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you think they’re coming back?”

I rubbed her back, unable to answer her question. It wasn’t because I didn’t know the answer, because it was a firm no. But I didn’t want to be the one responsible for taking away the little girl’s hope. It was all we had left. Hope was a commodity in short supply. The more you had, the richer you were.

“Go to sleep,” I whispered instead. Lilia settled into the bed further and sighed. Such an innocent little child, she didn’t deserve to be fending for herself.

I considered taking her back to my house on the hill but I knew it was useless rescuing every child I came across. It wouldn’t even create a dent in the problems of the city. Lilia was probably better off here anyway.

I waited until Lilia’s breathing became rhythmic as she drifted off to sleep. I crept out as quietly as I possibly could. I needed to find Oliver and get the food so I could go home. I’d had my fill of the city for one day.

For a lifetime.

I stood at the door to the hall and tried to spot the face I knew so well amongst the many that I didn’t. It was possible I did know lots of the people here but they had changed so much since the Event I couldn’t recognize them.

“Hey, there you are,” Oliver said behind me, scaring me half to death. I spun around out of instinct, my hand ready to punch him in the face and defend myself. “Whoa, it’s okay. It’s just me.”

“You shouldn’t sneak up on a girl like that. You might lose your teeth or something.”

He gave me his famous wide grin that always made me want to smile too. “I’m not scared of you. Especially when I’ve found you some food.”

“You did?” That was a relief, I could be on my way home and not have to return for a very long time. I would make the food last as long as possible, living off the barest of minimums.

“Come on, I’ll show you.” He waved me along to follow him. I trailed close to his heels to make sure I didn’t lose him amongst the people or debris.

We skirted around the outside of the hall until we reached the back of the kitchen area. Oliver pointed to a box on the stainless steel bench. “Take that box, it should keep you going for a while.”

“You’re sure it’s okay just to take it?” My old sense of decency screamed that I was stealing. After all, I hadn’t done anything to work for the food, and money hadn’t been used in a long time.

“If you were staying in the city you would be given a daily meal. This is the same thing. Take it.” I studied Oliver’s face to make sure he was okay with it. His eyes were nothing more than sincere. I stepped forward and picked up the box. It was heavy with food, it should last me as long as I’d hoped it would.

“Thank you,” I said gratefully. I would have hugged him if my arms weren’t full.

“I take it you’re going to go straight home now?” Oliver asked, a sad resignation to his voice.

“Before it gets too dark, yeah.”

“You haven’t changed your mind about staying?”

“No.” I wanted to give him a different answer, I really did. But coming into the city had only strengthened my resolve to hide away and pretend it all wasn’t happening. We could live out the end of days until we all destroyed each other.

It wouldn’t be too long.

Oliver suddenly smiled. “You can always change your mind.”

“I’m not going to.”

“But you can.” There was no use in arguing with him, we could do it all night and the only outcome would be fatigue.

“Thanks for the food, I’ll see you around,” I said. He nodded sadly and let