Kindred Spirit - Noah Harris Page 0,5

checking the time on the wall clock. “Nine, that’s not even close to sleeping in. Shut up.”

The voice chuckled, and the knowing sound of its mirth brought a scowl to Levi’s face. They both knew he should have been up a couple of hours earlier, but Levi had never been very good at waking up. The problem with having a spirit follow you around your whole life was that the damn thing grew to know just about everything about you. Levi was just glad the bastard couldn’t read his thoughts unless he was actively trying to communicate with him. Otherwise, he’d never have a moment’s peace.

“Lou, don’t start. I haven’t even had my coffee yet,” Levi grumbled, pouring himself a cup.

He felt Louis move away from him, though he knew the spirit wouldn’t go far, it rarely did. For as long as Levi could remember, the spirit stuck by his side unless somehow compelled to push further away. Levi wasn’t sure if it was a matter of choice or if Louis was somehow incapable of moving too far from him. For all that Lou knew about him, there was only a little that Levi knew about him.

Levi hadn’t even been sure the spirit was male, not for certain, or even human for that matter. Louis had been around all the way back to Levi’s earliest memories as a young boy. The spirit had started off as a voice that only he could hear, and it wasn’t until he was in his early teens that he started being able to see the spirit. For whatever reason, Louis always chose to look like a mirror image of Levi and even sounded like him when he spoke. The only reason Levi could differentiate Lou’s voice from his own internal thoughts was the strange reverberation that tinged the edges of his voice.

“You could’ve woken me up if you were so worried about it,” Levi told him.

So you can spend the first half-hour yelling at me for waking you up? I know better.

Levi rolled his eyes, taking his cup of coffee out onto the front porch with him. Much like the rest of the house, it wasn’t large, big enough for a couple of chairs with room to walk on and off it when needed. That too was fine. He wasn’t exactly one for having a lot of company over. He tended to keep to himself as much as possible, even if he did sometimes need to go into town and to other homes dotting the area around Gilcreek.

These people are going to think you’re some lazy city boy, you know that, right?

“They’re not going to think anything they haven’t already thought for the past year, don’t start with me. If I want to go into the office late, then I can go into the office late. If anyone needs me to fix something, they know how to get ahold of me,” Levi said, taking a sip.

If you kept the ringer on, sure.

Levi scowled but said nothing in response, again quietly conceding that Lou had a point. As the town’s only local handyman, it probably would have been a good idea to make sure his landline wasn’t on silent. Cell service was spotty at best in the town and non-existent as far away as Levi’s little house was. Still, the townspeople were used to his quiet distance, and they’d leave a message on the machine if they needed something.

There’s a message waiting.

Frowning, Levi found himself wondering and not for the first time if Lou really could read his thoughts but just liked to pretend otherwise so he’d always have access to what Levi was really thinking. It was more likely Louis just knew Levi that well. He should, after being together for what Levi suspected was all of his twenty-eight years of living.

“Damn it,” Levi muttered, pushing himself up. “I was really hoping I could slack off.”

You always want to slack off.

“Not true.”

Says the man who turned off his alarm in the middle of the night because he didn’t want to wake up at seven.

“It would be really nice if you would do your resting thing when I do. I hate it when you watch me in the middle of the night like that.”

I was resting. You waking up woke me up. It’s kind of rude when you think about it.

“No, it isn’t. Rest heavier, or sleep, whatever you want to call it.”

Like he even knew what to call the moments when Louis lapsed into