Isabella's Heiress Read Free Page B

you something which I would rather have saved you from.” He turned to face the road behind her, motioning for her to do the same thing. “Tell me, what do you see behind you?”
    Emma turned and looked behind her. “Nothing, just mist.”
    â€œAre you sure? Look again.”
    Of course I’m sure,
thought Emma. Just then the mist rolled back to reveal the cab of an old lorry. The lorry was parked at an odd angle with its hazards blinking on and off and Emma could now hear the low rumble of its engine ticking over. A faint flicker of recognition flashed through her mind.
    â€œNow what do you see?”
    â€œA lorry.”
Where did that come from?
    â€œYes, a lorry. Does it stir any memories?”
    Emma struggled to remember, her frustration slowly building. “I can’t…I…why can’t I remember?”
    â€œYou cannot remember because your mind will not let you. You were involved in a collision with that lorry, Emma.”
    Emma’s eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
    The heat from the lorry had caused the mist around it to rise and Father Eamon motioned to a wooden seat set against a park wall. They went and sat down.
    â€œEmma, you stepped off the curb into the path of the lorry. There was nothing the driver could do.”
    â€œOh, come on, please! The chances of me surviving something like that, let alone walking away unscathed, arenil!” Any other time, Emma would have left there and then; but a combination of Father Eamon’s voice and her own confusion kept her on the bench.
    â€œEmma, you didn’t survive. You were killed by the impact.”
    Emma went to answer but nothing came. She grappled for the correct response but all she could do was stare blankly at the wall opposite. Eventually she looked up. “You’re wrong. If I were dead, I’d have wings or something. I’d be sitting on a cloud playing a harp.”
    This brought a low chuckle from Father Eamon. “That’s not quite how it works.”
    Emma looked up, her eyes widening. “Really, how does it work?”
    â€œWe can cover that later. Right now I want you to think about everything that has happened to you. The mist, the thickening, the complete absence of human activity. You know that this is not right; this is not the way things are supposed to be. Look deep inside yourself. Even if you cannot remember anything before this morning, part of you knows that something has happened to account for all of this.”
    Part of Emma did know that Father Eamon was right. But to suddenly find out that you were dead, even if you couldn’t remember anything about your life, well that wasn’t right, was it? Her face hardened.
    â€œThis isn’t right. There’s another explanation for all this!”
    Emma got up from the bench and went to walk away. She was sure that if she could just get out of the mist everything would become clearer, but Father Eamon placed a hand gently on her forearm. She looked at him and saw a thin smile cross his lips.
    â€œEmma, you can leave if you so wish I cannot stop you. But I should ask that you walk with me for just a short while longer. Please.”
    Father Eamon guided Emma back to the lorry, whilst she in turn looked for something that would prove him wrong. At the back, the rear tyres acted as a full stop to a set of skid marks, which went on for twenty feet. Between them, there was a slick red and brown trail that ran in a smeared line and continued under the lorry. Emma was in no hurry to see where it finished
    Father Eamon turned to Emma, the smile now gone from his face. He offered her his arm and Emma nervously accepted it. Immediately, the ground dropped away and her stomach forced itself into her throat. The world started to lose focus as the steel grey clouds gave way to bright daylight.
    A wave of nausea washed over Emma. She put her hands on her knees and started to suck in air, her eyes watering as steam