Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92668 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92668 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“Was that Stanley I heard outside?” Mum asked, coming downstairs while tying the belt of her dressing gown.
Dad smiled at her. “Yes. I’m glad you’re awake, dear. We need to call the electricity company to get it turned on at The Ivy.”
“Ah, of course.” Mum secured the rope belt with another knot and pushed her hair behind her ears. “I suppose you need me for that, don’t you?”
“We do, because Stan is going to give the electrics a once over later on, and it’ll be much more helpful with it working.”
Mum grinned at me, although the sadness of her grief still lingered in her gaze. “Then can someone make a cup of tea while I undoubtedly suffer through at least twenty minutes of godawful hold music?”
CHAPTER SIX
The lights worked.
Under Stan’s advice, I was to turn off the electrics to the main area of the house once I’d confirmed they were working. He wanted to run a couple of tests I didn’t exactly understand, but I would flip the trip switches like he’d said.
The annexe had been an extension about twenty years ago, and it had its own trip switch box thingymabob, so he was quite happy for me to use the electrics in here instead of the main house.
I couldn’t be happier about that.
I wasn’t, however, happy about having to venture into the main building with my friend, the dead badger.
Not that he was my friend.
I just really hoped the box with the switches was not in the kitchen.
Mum seemed to think it was in the laundry room, and that wasn’t any better. It was right next to the wildlife morgue, and there was no way I’d be able to avoid that smell. It was kind of noticeable in the annexe, to be perfectly honest, and I was absolutely dreading having to get rid of it.
Maybe I could open some of the doors while I was here. Air it out a bit until the council stuck a rocket up their arses and sent someone to remove the animal.
Surely it was a hazard. And didn’t they carry diseases? Badgers, that was—I was almost certain they carried the thing that killed cows.
Tuberculosis.
That was it.
Why was I even thinking about that?
Ugh.
I shook off those thoughts and, after leaving my phone and keys on the counter in the annexe, walked outside and around to the front door. We hadn’t had a chance to locate the key for the inner door yet, and that was fine by me.
Opening that door would only lead to the rotting smell coming directly into the space. At least there was some kind of barrier for now.
I carefully made my way up onto the creaking porch and unlocked the front door, bracing myself a little for the stench. It wasn’t quite as bad as yesterday, probably because we’d left the doors open then, so I steeled myself and marched forwards.
Gently. Just in case the floorboards gave out.
Sheesh.
Even I knew I was being a bit dramatic now.
I rolled my shoulders and looked around. The wall light behind the counter was flickering, but the single bulb in the chandelier over my head was as bright as it could be, so the wall sconce’s issues were more the bulb than the electrics.
Probably.
I was no genius, after all.
A poke of my head through the living room revealed one light on weakly and the other off, but that was good enough for me.
I made my way through the building towards the laundry room. The fuse box was high up, and I wrinkled my nose up as I considered how the hell I was supposed to get something six inches higher than I could reach.
I went on a small hunt for something to boost my height, eventually coming across a small stepladder leaning against the back of the house.
Okay.
That would work.
I carried it back inside, set it up against the wall, and climbed it. The fuse box’s cover was hanging off at one corner, and I carefully scanned the little labels above each switch. Upstairs lights, upstairs sockets, downstairs lights, downstairs sockets, outdoor sockets… The main one was pretty obvious, and I took a deep breath as I reached out and pushed it in the other direction.
I held that breath for a second as a monstrous click rang out through the air.
What was I expecting? The badger to come back to life?
Actually, yeah.
Kind of.
Little bit.
I needed to stop letting Jade coerce me into watching horror movies. I wasn’t that good with Halloween, never mind actually scary things, and that was the whole reason I’d thought something was going to happen.
I shook off those thoughts and climbed down the ladder. I needed to make sure I’d done it correctly, so I planned a quick route in my mind of the easiest way to check all the rooms for power.