Secrets, Murder and Lies Read online

  Secrets, Murder and Lies

  Title Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Secrets, Murder and lies

  Copyright 2016 R.J. Adams - Smashwords Edition

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorised, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Chapter 1

  Sophia tosses and turns in her bed, her eyes flutter in her sleep and she calls out to her mother. As she stirs between the sheets, I know she thinks she is listening to her mother’s voice telling her to get out of bed. It’s hard to ignore when Sophia describes this in her sleep. She is such a talker.

  Her mother, that’s what she believes anyway, this is what she has always believed, however Sophia’s mother died a year ago and every day since then she claims her mother talks to her.

  She was killed by her stepfather in a vicious attack, stabbed to death multiple times, I still remember the crime scene now; now he sits in prison. He is now spending his days currently awaiting to die on death row.

  Sophia awakes from her sleep, mumbling words to herself again. “I’m ok mother, I will get this sorted. Do not worry. They will pay, they will all pay.”

  Sophia lives with her Aunty Teresa and to say it has been a tough year is an understatement. Since her mother died, Sophia got into trouble at school and was taken out permanently, she distanced herself from her friends to the point she no longer has them and regularly talks to herself in the bedroom. She barely speaks and most of the time stares out of the window.

  She was always a little strange and even before her mother died she acted a little, well, odd really. Hanging around with strange people and locking herself away in her bedroom, her behaviour changed when she turned fifteen and we never knew why. But since that fateful day her odd behaviour became much worse.

  Teresa is worried about her but there is nothing that she can do. I however, am her cousin. We live together in the same house and since she has lived with us things have gotten, well, horrible.

  I look at her in the bedroom, sat on the edge of the bed in her long white night gown staring out of the window yet again. She is motionless and quiet now.

  “Sophia, is your tutor coming today?” I ask her quietly, sometimes if you startle her she attacks you. But she says nothing to me.

  I dare not approach her; she has become so vicious you don’t know how she will react. We constantly tip-toe around her, but we cannot give her up, my mother has legal guardianship until she is eighteen and then, well, I don’t know.

  Plus my mom would never disown family. No matter how hard things get my mother believes family should always remain with family.

  Sophia is classed clinically depressed with severe mental instability; she is on countless medications since her mother died, even before then she was on some sort of pill. I guess I would be too if I discovered my mother’s blood soaked body lying across her own bed and her partner who I adored tried to kill me.

  He tried to kill Sophia. She had seen what he had done, walking in the bedroom and seeing her dead body just lying there, she ran hid in the bedroom, he kicked the door down but luckily, she survived.

  I cannot imagine what she had to go through; I guess that would be enough to make anyone lose their mind a bit.

  I leave her to it. She is sat there mumbling stuff to herself, I cannot hear it exactly but I do not want to be around her right now.

  As I head downstairs, I hear my mother in the kitchen making breakfast. The smell of eggs and bacon is so tempting that it makes your belly rumble.

  “Breakfast darling?” she asks as she turns towards me dishing out some bacon on a plate.

  “Mmm yes please, I’m starving,” I can feel my mouth watering, it smells so good.

  “Where is Sophia?” She looks around seeing she has not come down stairs.

  “Sat on her bed mumbling to herself again. Did you come into the room last night?”

  My mother shakes her head as she places eggs fresh from the pan onto my plate, “no darling, I didn’t even wake last night, first time in a long time Sophia hasn’t woke up screaming.”

  That’s true; even I slept through the night last night, minus someone slightly disturbing me walking across the bedroom floor. I hadn’t noticed she didn’t wake screaming. This happens so often I guess it’s something you eventually get used to.

  “Why do you ask?” My mother prompts.

  “Oh, I thought I heard someone come into the room and speak to Sophia, Sophia didn’t say anything but I thought I heard someone, must have been my imagination,” I shrug stuffing my face.

  It could just be my imagination. For weeks now I have heard the shuffling of feet in and out of our room or voices in the dark, if I’m not having bad dreams I’m hearing things. I would move bedrooms but it’s only a two bed house, there isn’t anywhere else for me to move to.

  We did live in a larger house, a very big house in-fact, but when my father left he took all his money with him and my mother and I had to go to what our budget suited. I remember my dad leaving, he waved goodbye to me, he looked so sad. But my mother and I packed up our stuff and left, I still don’t know why till this day.

  The house we live in now is lovely. A nice lounge area and dining room, a reasonable sized kitchen and a back garden my mother has beautifully done out herself.

  There are two very large bedrooms upstairs and shower room and separate bathroom. It sounds extravagant but it’s nothing compared to what I have lived in previously.

  My mother has a good job and she does work hard, but without my father’s income also from his company, downsizing was our only option.

  I hear a stomp, a very slow stomp on each step of the stairs. I guess that’s Sophia making her way down. It’s sad and depressing just listening to the way she walks.

  She walks into the kitchen dragging her feet, hair all over the place and scratches down her face.

  My mother rushes over to her, “oh my lord Sophia what have you done to your face.”

  “I didn’t do this, he did it,” she mumbles, her voice low and creepy.

  “Who? Who did this to you?” My mother asks demandingly but now Sophia says nothing.

  A part of me
believes Sophia is making this stuff up for attention, the other part of me believes she has serious mental issues and should be with professionals, but as I said, my mother will not have it.

  Before saying anything, my mother grabs her keys and her purse, ushers Sophia out of the house and into the car where she speeds off quicker than Flash.

  I look in disbelief, does she not realise she has just left me here all on my own? Okay, I am sixteen years old, I’m not a baby but still she left without seeming like she cared.

  In a huff I grab my school things and head for the school bus. My days are like this all the time, something happens with Sophia, my mother gives her all the attention and for a moment I feel like I don’t exist in her life.

  I know deep down that isn’t true, it’s just how I feel sometimes; our lives revolve around Sophia now and her weird antics.

  I stare out of the window as the bus drives along collecting everyone, my mind empty as I watch the blurring images pass us by.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” I hear the gentle male voice and something brush up against my arm. It’s my best friend and ex boyfriend, Jack.

  Yes, ex boyfriend and still my best friend. We had been dating since I was fifteen years old but not long after my sixteenth birthday things came to an end. It wasn’t because we wanted it to; it was simply because of the issues with Sophia.

  It broke my heart having to end it with him but I couldn’t out him through any of the issues anymore, it wasn’t his battle to fight.

  “Not really thinking anything,” I smile softly at him. His gorgeous green eyes shimmer in the sun reflecting through the window. His dark, almost black hair styled to perfection, his lovely fitted jeans hang nicely as his fitted shirt perfectly goes over those lovely muscles of his.

  I want to jump into his arms and have him wrap them round me but I can’t, I cannot drag him into my mess. He deserves better than that.

  “Could have fooled me,” his mouth curls up, “you looked like you were extremely deep in thought.”

  I shake my head, “no was just staring out of the window.”

  “Listen,” he moves closer, “I know what’s going on at home, my parents won’t mind if you want to sleep at mine you know, give yourself a break from the madness.”

  Madness? I almost laugh at the word. Madness doesn’t even come close to things that seem to happen in my house.

  Things move without anyone touching them and always when I’m around, although being so paranoid lately a part of me thinks this is my brain over-reacting. Sophia constantly talks to herself but insists someone is there.

  I feel uneasy sometimes, like something bad is going to happen. I have nightmares more than I have ever done before, a black figure always there trying to get me and sometimes, when I wake in the night, I catch Sophia sat up in bed saying ‘one day soon you will die,’ it’s not exactly something you want to hear now is it.

  “Umm, I will have to speak to my mom; you know what it’s like at home, not sure she will be okay with being on her own.”

  Neither of us like being alone with Sophia in the house, Jack knows this. I get he is trying to be nice, he always is when it comes to me, he is still very protective and caring.

  He smiles, “of course, well if you need me I’m not that far plus we have class together today.”

  The bus pulls up outside the school, I’m wondering should I text my mom now and ask her? Or wait until I get home and see what the situation is like after the drama this morning.

  I guess maybe I should just get on with my day as normal, I’m sure she will text me if things are really bad.

  Chapter 2

  I feel myself falling asleep in maths, I feel so tired, so drained and yet I thought I slept well last night. The sun is blaring in through the windows directly onto my desk, it’s hot in here.

  “Rayne, are you with us today?” I hear in the distance as my head touches the coolness of the desk, “Rayne sit up,” the voice commands and then I feel a slight pinch. I jump up realising Miss Stafford is shouting at me and I have been poked to wake up.

  “Sorry,” I mumble sleepily as she looks at me with her scrunched up old face. She turns back to the board and carries on with the equations.

  I’m pretty good at math normally, around a B+ average. Not the best in the class but certainly amongst the highest achievers.

  Miss Stafford is the strictest teacher in the whole school, although she has gone easy with me in the past year. At the lovely age of fifty two, she has never been married, I doubt ever had a boyfriend and is extremely prudish and uptight. She always wears long skirts to her ankles, a shirt with a jumper over the top and a small dainty Jesus necklace around her neck.

  She always talks about Jesus, like she is trying to convert you or something. Even in math she finds a way of sneaking him into the topic.

  Every equation relates to some form of text in the bible, it’s extremely annoying. Her long bony fingers click at you when she feels you are not paying attention and she always has a slight bit of red lipstick on her teeth.

  I carry on with the equations she has since put up on the blackboard, and smudged half of the chalk onto her jumper, sometimes I think she needs glasses, but my mind is focused on wanting to get out of here.

  I have never been like this before. I like school, I enjoy school, it gets me out of the house and I have some nice friends. Even after everything that has happened some have all stood by me. And Jack? Well, it’s obvious between us and everyone we meet that Jack and I clearly still have feelings for each-other, but the arguments and the issues, it just got too complicated.

  Sixteen and in and out of a complicated relationship, surely these things are meant to come when you are older, much older.

  The bell rings, finally end of class. I go out in the hallway and head to my locker, my next class is biology which is not one of my favourites, but Jack is in this one. He always does the disgusting bits; I do not have a strong stomach at all.

  As I reach my locker I see Jack stood there casually, leaning against my locker with the charming smile from ear to ear.

  “What has put you in such a mood,” I ask slightly pushing him from my locker.

  “A nice hour with you dissecting things and watching you freak out,” he winks cheekily.

  His cheeky wink that makes me go weak at the knees, his dashing almost perfect smile. God I want to kiss him, but I can’t.

  “You coming Jack,” I hear, that awful high pitch annoying girlie voice. It’s none other than the school slut Lucy. God I can’t stand her.

  Ever since Jack and I have broke up she has done nothing but try and get her claws into him. Constantly flirting, laughing at practically everything he says, even things that are not funny, dressing to slutty for even your average prostitute. She is just plain awful.

  However, being the kind person that he is, Jack likes to see the good in people and believes she is nothing but friendly. I swear sometimes men just have no brains.

  “Uhh yeah, wait, where? I’m heading to biology now with Rayne, where are you going?” he asks, confusion all over his face.

  I see the evil glare she gives me before she turns to Jack, “well I switched classes, didn’t like my other teacher and having so many issues so I moved,” she giggles annoyingly.

  God I want to hit her. Her constant digs at me about being a virgin are irritating. So what if I am a virgin, I don’t fancy myself being labelled the school bike, although it’s a title she seems happy with.

  I slam my locker door shut, give her a ‘you’re a slut fuck off’ stare and walk away. Jack makes a good choice and follows after me. Sure enough, the clicks and clangs of her cheep heels hitting the floor can be heard not far behind him.

  I go and sit at my usual desk and as usual, he sits next to me, making a thud as he drops his books down onto the desk. A part of me wants to jump up and scream ‘ha-ha bitch’ but instead, I opt for a very cocky smile right at her.

  She tries to sit next to us b
ut as we are already lab partners, she is moved on to none other than Tommy. Now, Tommy is a lovely guy but his body odour and personal hygiene is not so nice or pleasant to be around.

  His hair is full of dandruff; it literally falls onto his shoulders on a daily basis like snow. With that amount he could make a snow machine blow for days. His teeth are yellow and thick in plaque and the smell, Jesus! It’s vile, like he never ever showers or changes his clothes.

  I do feel sorry for him at times, like I said, he is a lovely person but no-one wants to get close enough for long periods to get to know him better.

  As Lucy plonks herself next to him, against her will, I feel a slight sense of pleasure looking at the disgusted look on her face that’s staring at me from across the room. I give a sarcastic wave and dive into the lesson with Jack.

  “Now don’t forget, you need to remove the heart as cleanly as you can,” Mr Jones instructs as I almost vomit all over Jack’s lap. I see the amusing look he is giving. He thinks this is funny. I could slap him, I really could.

  He pulls the heart out from the cut open frog and places it in-front of me. I need to take my mind of it, quick think.

  “So seeing anyone?” I blurt out before my mind can think of something more reasonable.

  “What? No of course not, why are you?” He asks shocked at my question.

  “No not really, don’t have the time. I think you should though, I mean, if you want,” I tell him trying to sound like I’m happy about the idea.

  “Look, I know things are hard but I don’t think it would be fair on you for me to see other people, besides, you have my heart” he whispers.

  Wow, that makes my heart sink and a small smile appears on my face, no matter how much I try to hide it. I look up at him heavily concentrating on dissecting the frog.

  I pull out my phone and text my mom; I do want to spend the night with him. I want to see if we can maybe make a go of things again, even though I keep telling myself I shouldn’t. I send her a quick text then quickly put the phone back in my bag.