Revenge After Death ( Michael Ford ) novel Chapter 340

I suddenly felt a huge pang of sympathy for Steven. I instinctively reached out to hold his hand, but I recoiled in the end.

I didn't know what sort of person I really was, after all.

I wondered if Steven and I could even have a future together.

"Stephie, you're not a bad person," Steven said as he held my hand firmly.

Even at times when I doubted myself like this, Steven chose to believe in me.

"Do you know why Eason changed his name?" Steven asked. He seemed eager to cheer me up and was trying to change the subject.

"It was because he kept having nightmares after Simmy's death. He kept feeling like Simmy's ghost was following him around or something, as if he were by his side all the time. He even got electrocuted at home once and said he saw a ghost."

Steven chuckled and continued, "His parents tried bringing in all sorts of exorcists to exorcise the ghost. But a psychiatrist ultimately said that he was just hallucinating due to being electrocuted.

"But he was still worried, so he had a fortune teller change his name to get rid of Simmy's ghost. Simmy died in a fire…" Steven paused and tightened his grip on my hand.

His Adam's apple bobbed as he continued, "Anyway, the fortune teller told Eason that his old name was too easy for ghosts to latch onto, so in the end, Eason became his new name as it was shorter."

I stared at Steven, who was telling me what should have been a funny story. However, I couldn't bring myself to laugh.

I could tell that Steven was trying hard to cheer me up. I found his clumsy attempt rather endearing.

"I just want to make you happy, but I always end up messing things up," Steven said in a hoarse voice as he slowly released my hand.

We remained silent for the rest of the journey.

Once we were back home, I locked myself in Steven's basement.

I stared at the linked clues on the wall and lost myself in thought.

I wondered who Steven was protecting by being so evasive.

At the moment, the two people who seemed to matter most to him were Simmy and Stephanie.

However, both of them were "dead".