Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

?Photo album.?
?Oh my God!? Cassy squealed, ?little baby Adam!? She flipped thr ough the
photos, at tur ns aah-ing then giggling.
?Ther e?s one r ight at the back,? he was leaning over her shoulder now , ?must?ve
been taken w hen I was only a few hour s old.? She flipped to the last page and
indeed ther e was a pictur e all on its ow n: a tiny baby w r apped in a w hite blanket;
eyes closed.
?Sickly child,? she mur mur ed.
?Poor lighting? Adam defended.
?But you?r e almost blue!? She flipped the photo over. On the back in thin black
bir o was a date ? Adam?s bir thday ? and a quote: ?And they shall be one flesh, one
hear t, one soul ? EMMA? she r ead.
?You ever hear of a poem called ?Emma??? he asked. She shook her head.
?Ther e?s a book. Jane Austen. The quote doesn?t r ing a bell, though.? She flipped
the pictur e back over to consider the tiny, w r inkled gr ey face.
*
Cassy w oke smoothly to the noise but wasn?t sur e if it had come fr om inside the
r oom or fr om her sleep. She came to a little mor e, could smell smoke, and str etched
a hand acr oss to the empty side of the bed next to her. The noise came again and
she sat up a little. Adam was in the shadow s, sitting in the chair in the far cor ner ,
the tip of a cigar ette bobbing w her e his hand shook. He was cr ying. She slid out of
bed and as soon as he r ealised that she was awake he began to r ub at his eyes. She
sat by his feet and r ested her head in his lap.
"Hey,? she w hisper ed.
?Didn?t mean to wake you,? he said, his voice a little cr oaky. He took a pull on his
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