A Place So Wicked by Patrick Reuman (life books to read txt) 📕

The door was already cracked open an inch or two. She eased it open quietly. When she stepped inside, a floorboard creaked under her, startling Trevor into a sitting position, his eyes wide and wild for a single second before seeing the movement was his mother. His face was pale and sweaty as he stared at her with glossy eyes.

“Honey, are you okay?”

He only nodded; his face sunken.

“We scheduled a doctor appointment for you, and it’s time to get ready and go.” She felt bad telling him this at the last minute, but Trevor had never been fond of visiting the doctor, and she didn’t want to upset him.

He just nodded again, propping himself up a little further. As he rotated to move his feet off the bed and get up, he groaned quietly in pain. Lisa moved in quickly to help him. But Trevor pushed through by himself, forcing himself to his feet. Lisa nearly cried as she watched her son start toward the door. He looked so…drained, reminiscent of how her mother looked in the days before her mother passed as the cancer took what little her mother had left of herself. She moved around like a ghost, like she was already dead even though her heart still beat.

It killed her to see such a similar pain in her son’s eyes. She went to him, helping him walk, guiding him to the door and then down the stairs. She even helped him get his shoes on before telling him to wait on the couch while she went to get his father.

She went outside to find Richard and Robbie standing behind the house talking beside the mower. The entire lawn had been cut, dead grass and living grass alike. She walked up to them just as Richard had finished talking.

“What’s green?” she asked, green being the only word she heard of the conversation they were having.

“Richard here thinks the grass is turning greener,” Robbie said.

“No. Not greener.” Richard sounded exasperated, like he had already explained this to Robbie more than once and was getting a little annoyed. “You see where the dead grass ends and the green grass begins? That border used to be further back; I swear.”

“Are you saying somebody repainted the grass?” Lisa asked.

“That’s the crazy part!” Richard held out his hand. “It’s not painted. It’s real grass, real green.”

Lisa looked into Richard’s hand at the loose blades of grass sitting within. She took them, holding them in her own, rubbing them with her fingernail. They did look like they were alive. But whatever Richard was suggesting couldn’t be reality.

“It was getting dark when we were out here yesterday. It probably just looks like the green expanded.”

Richard shook his head like he wasn’t sure and then dropped the blades to the ground. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Trevor is waiting. We have to get to his doctor’s appointment.”

“Let me just change my shirt really quick. This one’s all sweaty.”

As Lisa helped Trevor into the car, watching him struggle to buckle his seatbelt, she debated just taking him to the emergency room. If they didn’t have an appointment in literally fifteen minutes, she probably would have. But she had hope that this doctor they were going to see would have some sound medical advice. And if he recommended the ER, that’s where they would go.

About halfway through town, Lisa glanced into the rearview mirror and caught a glimpse of Trevor with a half-smile on his face, a radical change from the expressionless sickness he had been wearing just minutes before. The smile spread to her. Maybe he wasn’t as sick as he had looked. Perhaps she was even overreacting.

Now that they were deeper into town, she saw life—kids playing, people jogging, a person walking their dog. Maybe it was because they lived sort of near the edge of town that everything always seemed so quiet. But where they were now, driving through the heart of town, things were lively. As they pulled up to a stoplight, she heard kids laughing and playing in the distance, and the smile on her face grew.

The doctor’s office was a small, modest, one-story building. They found their way into a parking spot between a blue SUV and a car and got out. Trevor removed himself from the vehicle on his own accord, which had Lisa almost bursting with relief. She felt tears coming but pushed them away.

“You okay?” she asked, unsure of how to articulate what she was feeling.

“A lot better, actually. It’s weird.” He stretched his arms and cracked his joints. He almost wanted them to turn around and head home. Suddenly, he didn’t feel like he even needed to be there anymore. But he knew it would make his mother feel a lot better if they went inside, so he would do so.

Richard led them inside. Beyond the entrance were rows of seating on the right and the left, and straight ahead was a counter, separated from the rest of the waiting room by a transparent layer of glass. The woman behind the counter filled out paperwork as the three of them approached.

Lisa dinged the bell. The woman looked up, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, a complimentary smile on her face. She held the pencil exactly where she had left off as if she were waiting for them to go so she could continue as she was.

“Hello, I’m Lisa Prescott—”

The woman dropped her pen as if Lisa had startled her. Why she was startled now and not when Lisa dinged the bell was a mystery Lisa didn’t think was worth solving. Lisa smiled and continued as the woman picked up her pen.

“We’re here to see Doctor Ricketson.”

“Yes, yes,” she said in a near stutter. “He told me you were on your