Shadow of Death (SOD)

Chapter 23

Asher had wanted to look up more details on his laptop, but the feeling of being watched just didn’t sit right with him.

Hence, he decided to take a shower and free his pocket from the sharp panels and screen of his damaged phone.

Afterwards, he cleaned his room and trashed his phone with a solemn look.

He was broke.

Even though they were comfortable, there was no way his father would get him a new phone so soon after paying his fees into the university and also getting him a laptop as a gift for doing well in his final high school exams.

So he could only sigh in silence as he descended the stairs.

It seemed like Jesse had gone to school and Jayden had gone out to look for work as usual.

Only Clara remained.

Walking to the dining table, Asher grabbed an apple and walked towards the kitchen, where his mother was seen cleaning up.

"Good morning, Mum."

Clara lifted her head with a soft smile.

"Morning, Asher. Hope you slept well?"

Crunch!

Asher bit into the apple, then began chewing while giving his mum a nod.

"Of course."

He bit into the apple again, then thought for a few seconds.

"... Although, I have a slight headache, though."

"Awww... my darling. Want a head massage?"

Asher chuckled, then shook his head.

"Nah. I will be fine."

Eating his apple carefully, he thought long and hard about how to table the matter before his mum.

Nothing much was coming to mind, so he did the only thing he could.

"Uh... Mum?"

"Hm?"

"Why haven’t we introduced ourselves to the neighbours yet? And neither did they bother to come welcome us, and we have been here for a week now."

"..."

Clara thought long and hard as she carefully placed a washed plate in a rack, then shrugged.

"I honestly don’t know. I didn’t think it was right to go over and introduce ourselves to them since they didn’t come over. It’s a new city, honey. We don’t even know the rules here.

"What we consider nice and friendly could be termed ’suspicious’ or ’trespassing.’ So we need to be careful."

’But I know a few rules.’

Asher sighed as he was almost finishing his apple.

"But I still think it’s the right thing to do, though. They need to know the kind of neighbours they have."

Clara wiped her hands on a piece of clothing before lifting her brows at him.

"Oh? Seems you are serious about this. Okay, let me humour you. Why do you want to do this?"

Asher shrugged and took the last bite of his apple, leaving him with just the stem.

"I just wanted to be friendly."

He began thoroughly chewing while his mum gave him a long look.

"Fine. You can do whatever you want."

Asher smirked.

"But I would need plates of your famous meat pies as a welcome gift for them all. Can it be done?"

Clara thought for a few seconds, then looked around the cabinets and drawers.

"Seems like I’m short of some ingredients," she mumbled while pulling a drawer open.

"I can go get some," Asher offered with a warm smile.

Clara cocked her shoulders, then began walking away.

"Lemme go get my purse."

"Okay, Mum," Asher beamed after her.

The moment she left, the boy’s face darkened as he looked around the kitchen.

’I not only need to know why they keep staring here; I also need to know more about this city. And who would know better than people who have lived here before we even arrived?’

But then, a thought crossed his mind.

’Shadows... If they can possess bodies and do all sorts of things, what’s stopping them from impersonating a living person? They could potentially act and imitate a person?’

He groaned and rubbed his temples.

"There’s really so much I don’t know yet."

Tak. Tak. Tak.

Clara walked over to the boy and handed him a bill.

"Here. This should do."

Pulling out a piece of paper, she handed it over to the boy too.

"These are the lists of things I need."

Asher collected the paper and money, then walked out of the house.

....

He scoured the streets for some minutes before coming to the supermart he had visited the second day they were there.

Grabbing a trolley and rolling around the mart, he began grabbing ingredient after ingredient and tossing them into the trolley.

His eyes scanned the place cautiously, fearing that he might be attacked by someone or something.

When he was done, he joined the queue and waited for some minutes before it got to his turn.

But when he got to the counter, his brows knitted in confusion as he stared at the cashier in front of him.

"Uh... you weren’t the guy here before?"

The man, who had been stretching out his hand to receive the items, lifted his head and stared at the boy.

The bags under his eyes were dark... unusually so.

The man stared at the boy from head to toe and most especially... his eyes.

Then he shook his head.

"He is dead."

"How?"

The cashier thought for a few seconds, then shook his head.

"Are you with the cops?"

"Huh? No?"

"Then? Will you hand over your items? Lemme scan them. There are people waiting behind you."

Asher looked behind him to see a few people glaring at him.

Hurriedly, he began handing his items over.

The beeps of the machine echoed in his ears, but the boy’s mind was now preoccupied.

’Dead? Did he lose his life in a Nightmare? Damn. This shit is becoming real by the second.’

"Ninety-nine point seven eight bucks."

Asher handed over the dollar bill and paid, then left.

"Do come again."

Asher nodded as he exited the supermart with a prominent frown on his face.

’I won’t let the same fate befall my family.’

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!