Shadow of Death (SOD)

Chapter 24

Since Clara was already busy, it took a few hours to finish preparing the meat pies.

By the time she was done, it was already 6 PM.

She packaged them all nicely and arranged them neatly on the trays.

By this time, Jesse and Jayden were already back.

"Wow. Mum made her famous meat pies?" Jesse asked in surprise as she reached out for one of the pies on the trays.

Asher’s hand shot forward as he grabbed a wooden ladle and struck the back of her hand.

"Hands off. Those aren’t for you."

"Ouch. What’s your problem, Asher?!" Jesse shouted as she rubbed her aching hand.

"Why did you have to strike her, Ash?" Jayden asked with a raised brow as he reached for one of the pies.

"Touch them, big bro, and suffer," Asher declared with an icy glare.

Jayden’s hand froze mid-motion as he blinked at his brother.

Asher reached forward and grabbed the tray away from his siblings.

"These aren’t for you. Mum made them for me."

"For you?" Jesse repeated.

She then turned around to shoot Clara a glare.

"Why just for him? What about your other kids? You know... I knew it; you love Asher more."

Asher rolled his eyes.

"Quit acting like a baby. Act your age, girl. In no time, you would be attending prom too."

The boy facepalmed himself with a slight shake of his head.

"I pity the guy who would ask you out for prom. He would have to deal with such a crybaby."

Jesse frowned, and her face immediately changed like someone who was close to tears.

On seeing this, Clara sighed. She was heavily tired.

She had been working nonstop, and now her kids wouldn’t just stop yapping.

"Those aren’t for him. He wants to distribute them to the neighbours."

Jayden lifted a brow.

"Huh? Why? What’s the occasion?"

"It’s no occasion. I just felt like introducing our family to the neighbours," Asher replied as he counted the meat pies carefully.

Jayden rose from the chair and walked over to grab an apple, which he washed before raising a brow.

"Why? They hadn’t bothered to introduce themselves like the good neighbours they should be. So why do we have to go out of our way to be friendly?"

Asher heaved an exhausted sigh, then turned around and began walking.

"I have already had this talk with Mum. Can’t go through this again."

Soon enough, he walked out of the house, leaving his siblings blinking.

"Uh... when did Ash become so generous?" Jesse asked as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"Exactly."

Crunch—!

Jayden bit the apple, then nodded.

"He’s usually protective of his things and doesn’t like sharing much. But now? He got Mum to prepare her famous, delicious meat pies for the neighbours? Sounds fake."

Clara waved her hands dismissively as she pulled off her apron.

"Stop overthinking every little thing. He’s just tryna be nice for once."

She yawned tiredly and began walking back to her room.

She had even managed to prepare dinner, so she genuinely just needed a few moments of rest.

....

Asher could be seen standing outside and scanning the whole place.

Left and right; wherever he turned, he saw the same housing structure.

"I wonder what the designers drank that day to think of doing this."

He sighed and then began the arduous task by starting from the neighbours on his right.

He started from as far back as he could and began knocking on the houses one by one with a welcoming smile while distributing the pies.

If he knocked on a house thrice and there was no response, he would simply move to the next.

Knowing that people could be stuck in a Nightmare; whatever it was, he wouldn’t want to be the cause of their deaths.

Besides, it was evening, and most people must have been returning from work by now or hadn’t even returned yet.

Well, the less, the faster he could complete his work.

After distributing for thirty minutes straight, he finally reached his house again and then looked ahead.

The neighbour’s house where the person kept looking at their house almost every time.

Looking back at the tray, he nodded with a proud smile.

There were still four meat pies left.

Quickly grabbing one, he pocketed it.

"I mean, after all this is over, I deserve a good treat myself. Mum only does this twice a year. Before we left our city for here, she had already done it.

Today doesn’t count because I’m doing a good deed."

He smiled and then began walking towards the neighbour’s house.

Reaching the small gate, he could see that it was slightly open as if welcoming him in.

The time was already 6:30.

His father should be returning home anytime soon.

Well, he let himself in.

After yesterday’s event, there weren’t many things that could scare him anymore.

And if the neighbour was a Shadow like he suspected, he came prepared.

Today, he wasn’t going to be caught unaware.

Calmly walking towards the front porch, he heaved a sigh and slowly gave it a gentle knock.

Then waited.

A few seconds turned into a minute.

A minute turned into two.

He then knocked once more.

’I know that she didn’t go out yet. So why isn’t she responding?’

He waited once more and gave the door a much firmer knock.

"Oh, wait. There’s a doorbell. Silly me."

He shook his head and pressed the doorbell on the side.

Ding—! Dong—!

Then he waited.

Within a few seconds, footsteps could be heard in the house leading up to the door.

His heart was pounding anxiously as the footsteps drew nearer and nearer.

Then,

Click—! Creak—!

The door could be seen slowly cracking open while Asher quickly held out the tray in front of him with a wide-ass smile on his face.

"Hi. I’m Asher Dawson, nice to meet you."

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