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

the playground. As she reached Eli’s house and looked back, it felt almost as if the playground was really his backyard.

He told her to wait there. He creeped around the side of his house, checking if there was a car in the driveway. There was. He had said he wasn’t sure if anybody would be home. His dad was at work, he knew, but his mother only worked part-time but had said she needed to go somewhere not all that long before he left the house. Meaning she hadn’t left yet or was already back.

He disappeared through a side door. She turned, taking in the contents of their backyard. There were three bicycles leaning against each other, the entire mass of bikes propped against the back of the house. A shed stood at one end of the yard, creating what seemed like an imaginary border between the yard and the field. Near the center was a circle of grey bricks in the shape of a small firepit. Around it were several lawn chairs. Closer, she saw piles of grey and black ash and partially charred logs filling the inside. There were a few toys scattered throughout the yard, a toy gun and a large pool ball. She wondered if Eli had a little sister or, more likely, a little brother.

Eli came back out the door in a hurry. “Go!”

But before she could even process what was going on, a woman came trailing out behind him. The woman’s face turned red when her eyes landed on Paisley.

“Oh!” She blushed.

“Mom,” Eli said sternly.

“I’m sorry. You just left in such a hurry and were acting all secretive.”

“I was just trying to get going, Mom. I’m hungry.”

“Right. Of course.” She hurried over, putting her hand out for Paisley, then pulled it back in, glancing awkwardly at Eli before putting it back out. “I’m Eli’s mother. It’s nice to meet you.”

Paisley took her hand in her own, shaking it with a slightly forced smile. “I’m Paisley.”

“I didn’t realize he was getting food with a girl.”

Paisley, catching what the woman was implying, joined in on the blushing. “Oh, no, I don’t think it’s like that. We’re just hungry.”

“Oh, of course not!” She looked over to her son with the biggest smile Paisley had ever seen. “So, I haven’t seen you around before,” Eli’s mom continued. “Where do you live?”

“Ri—”

“Abbott!” Eli cut Paisley off. “She lives on Abbott. She just moved back. She used to live here, but her family moved away. They just moved back.”

“That’s great! Black Falls is a good place. And it should be getting even better soon!”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Eli cut in again. “Mom, we have to get going.”

His mom smiled and nodded. “Okay, you two have a good time.”

She turned and headed back inside, offering her son a final glance and smile as she opened the door and disappeared inside. Eli let out a breath as he touched Paisley’s arm and guided her away from the house, back toward the playground.

“What did she mean? About the town getting better?”

“Oh, I don’t know. She’s weird sometimes.”

Paisley nodded, fine with the answer, she supposed. But that didn’t answer the bigger question that she was about to ask.

She stopped. He kept going but only for a moment before noticing she was behind. “Why did you lie about where I live?”

His gaze diverted to the ground then came back up but still didn’t meet her eyes. “I just didn’t want her gossiping. I know her. She’s going to call up all her friends and ask about you. At least this way, I’ll have her thrown off the trail for a little while.”

She couldn’t tell if he was lying. The story in itself seemed like it made a fair amount of sense. And she trusted this kid. She wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was because she just felt like she needed someone, or maybe it was because he looked about as alone as she felt, but she really did trust him.

“So, where should we eat?” she asked.

“There’s a place a few streets from here.” He pointed beyond the playground in a direction Paisley had never been before.

26

At the top of the stairs, Toby heard gagging. He entered the kitchen to find his dad hunched over the sink vomiting. His head was partially hidden in the sink’s depths. The splatter against its metal interior was audible. The stink of the vomit mixed with that of the air and almost made Toby puke as well.

He gagged, feeling acid rise painfully up his throat, but forced it back down before it could erupt like a volcano. He hurried into the kitchen to help his dad, but when he got close, his dad lifted his hand to hold him back. He didn’t want help, which left Toby standing there, watching his dad projectile vomit into the sink. He turned away, afraid that one more second of it would have him painting the floor with his own innards.

Something occurred to him just then. His dad’s gagging was very loud, and the house was empty silent. Why hadn’t his mom come rushing in yet? Where was she?

“Mom?!” he called out from the downstairs hallway.

No response came. But she was definitely there. She had been upstairs before they went down into the basement. He recalled his dad going up there, he assumed, to talk to her, probably about them not finding the key. But she hadn’t come down with him when he came down.

He gave one last glance at his dad, who had cranked on the water to drain out the sink. He wasn’t done, but he was gagging far less than he had been a few moments earlier. Hesitantly, Toby left the kitchen and headed up the stairs, unsure, and a little afraid, of