The Ghost House by Helen Phifer Page A

all mine in case you’re wondering. I only drink rosé, my brother drinks the red. I forgot to put them out for the bin men.’
    ‘Don’t worry. You should see mine, it’s full of empty Stella cans and they are all mine.’
    She laughed and tugged at the blue hat that was firmly back in place.
    ‘You know it’s driving me mad wondering what has happened to Jenna,’ said Will. ‘She couldn’t vanish off the face of the earth with no trace. I’m worried in case she has gone and done something stupid. There are so many horror stories of teenagers falling out with their families then going and killing themselves. It makes me feel sick.’
    Annie agreed with him it wasn’t that long ago she had been first on scene to a teenage girl who had hanged herself because she was being bullied. It had taken her weeks to get that image from her head.
    She took a loaf of bread from the cupboard before turning back to him. ‘Now, I’m warning you: toast I can usually manage but I’m not that good in the kitchen. For some reason I tend to burn everything.’
    ‘That’s OK, I’m used to it. My mum was an awful cook. I had to learn how to cook at school to stop my dad and me getting fatally poisoned. My dad had tears in his eyes the first time he had a roast dinner he didn’t have to use a carving knife to eat the veg with. God bless her. He was more upset than my mum when I moved out. He said there was no way he could go back to the burnt offerings. But then he never had to because she went out shopping one day with her friends and collapsed in the street; she died instantly from a massive heart attack.’
    ‘I’m so sorry. That must have been a terrible shock for you all.’ She watched him fiddle with his mug then passed him a plate of toast.
    His eyes lit up. ‘Is that real butter?’
    ‘Yep, not much point in eating toast covered in margarine: it tastes like plastic.’
    ‘Annie, I’m impressed. I don’t think I’ve ever met a girl who admitted to eating butter. My last girlfriend only bought that lower than low fat rubbish. I used to eat my toast dry it tasted so bad.’
    Annie felt her cheeks turn red. ‘Just don’t tell my slimming club leader. It’s one of the reasons I’ll never be a size ten. I like my comfort food and wine far too much to be able to give it up.’ Now she felt stupid as well as fat
. Way to go. You’ve just admitted you eat more than an elephant to a guy who thinks anorexia is in fashion
. She turned to the sink so he couldn’t see her face and began to rinse the pots.
    Will carried his plate over and put his hand on her arm. ‘That was really nice, thanks. I’m sorry if I upset you, I didn’t mean to.’
    Annie turned to face him and felt fresh tears threaten to fall. ‘It’s not you, it’s me. Since I hurt my head things have been affecting me in the strangest ways. I keep crying over nothing and talking utter crap.’
    He stepped closer and pulled her towards him, holding her tight. She let her head rest against his chest. Will lifted his hand to stroke her head and she pulled away feeling self-conscious.
    ‘I’m sorry. See what I mean I keep acting weird?’
    He stepped back to give her some space. ‘Well, I’m not sure what my excuse is apart from the possibility the butter went straight to my head.’
    They began to laugh and Annie felt her heart flutter. Damn, she really liked him even though she knew she shouldn’t. ‘Come on, let’s go and check out the house before we get ourselves in trouble
    She led him out to the tiny path she had run along yesterday. She was terrified to be going back into the old house so soon but she wouldn’t tell him that. At least she wasn’t alone this time. He followed behind her until they reached the house.
    ‘Can you imagine living here? It must have been so amazing,’ said Will.
    ‘It is beautiful but I don’t think that having this house and all the money brought them any happiness. From what I can gather they were afflicted