Creeping Shadow (The Rise of Isaac, Book One) Read Free

through the next door that gave access to the house.
    Oliver mentally prepared himself for the conflict he was about to face. "Mum?" he called.
    There was no answer so they moved into the small living room where family photos gazed at them from every wall.
    May dropped down into an armchair and switched the television on. "Maybe she's with a client," she suggested.
    Oliver nodded and exited the room, moving past the cream-carpeted staircase towards the kitchen. There was a conservatory at the back of the house where their mum cut people's hair. He glanced into it, confirming it was empty before returning to the kitchen.
    Oliver placed the food he had bought in the fridge. As he shut the door he spotted a chopping board and recipe book laid out with a series of ingredients atop the mottled, blue worktop. The book was open on a recipe for a casserole.
    He grabbed the house phone on the counter and dialled his mum's mobile number. It started to ring and he turned abruptly at the sound of a song playing in the kitchen, hanging up as he spotted her phone which was making the noise. It lay on the dining table which was tucked into a corner beneath a noticeboard; it was crammed full of important letters, bills, events and cards.
    He checked the calendar pinned up on one corner, noticing she had only had two appointments that morning. He picked up her phone and tried to unlock it but couldn't guess the passcode.
    Oliver exited the kitchen and went upstairs, checking the bathroom before entering his own room. He changed out of his damp uniform into jeans and a t-shirt then pulled on a hoody, zipping it up against the cold.
    His room was small and simple with white walls and navy sheets on the bed. He had a desk below a window for his laptop and a shelf beside his bed for books composed mainly of thrillers, mysteries and detective stories.
    He opened his laptop and found it still switched on from the previous night. The webpage he had been browsing was still up, describing the ideal candidate for the British security service. He hadn't fitted the profile, especially in terms of his grades though it was the only career he could ever imagine himself in. He had deleted his essay on career choices after realising that.
    "Olly?" May called from the hallway.
    He shut the laptop with a sigh and hurried out, spotting May across the hall looking into their mum's room.
    "What is it?" Oliver asked.
    She turned to him, looking pale and frightened.
    He blinked in surprise, feeling his gut constrict. "What's wrong?"
    "We need to call the police," May said, her eyes wide with fear.
    Oliver hurried across the hall and pushed past her into his mum's room.
    He gasped in shock.
    It had been ripped apart as if someone had taken a chainsaw to her possessions. The curtains and sheets lay in tatters, feathers were strewn everywhere from the torn pillows and the bed was chopped clean in half.
    "MUM?" May shouted, her voice shaking.
    There was no response.
    Oliver's heartbeat thundered in his ears. "She's not here," he breathed.
    May reached into her pocket and retrieved her mobile. Oliver gazed at her numbly as she phoned the police, feeling as if he was going into shock.
    * * *
    Oliver and May sat in the living room while they waited for the police to arrive. They were given the advice to ring their mum's friends incase she was with someone. They were still dialling people when the doorbell made them jump.
    Oliver sprinted to answer the door with May hot on his heels. He wrenched it open and found a young policeman standing there. He had blonde hair that was swept back over his head and gelled perfectly into place.
    "Good evening, I'm Officer Hawking. I hear your mother has gone missing, is that correct?"
    "Yeah, come inside," Oliver said, stepping aside to allow the man access.
    Hawking stood in the hallway, gazing around it as if he could sense something they couldn't. "How long do you suspect she's been missing?" he asked.
    "I'm not sure. We were home from