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

He heard new gags as soon as he reached the peak of the stairway. Only these were coming from down the hall, in the bathroom, not from downstairs. He moved quickly, pulling open the bathroom door without a knock. His mom was sitting on the floor, in a way that told him she had been there for a while, laying back against the tub, her head tilted to one side, her eyes directed at the floor. The smell of vomit was thick in the air. She looked up, noticing Toby in the doorway.

“Hey, honey,” she said, her words slurred like she was intoxicated.

“Dad, he’s—he’s sick,” But she was, too. “He was puking in the sink downstairs.”

“It’s all right, I’ll take care of it.” With the tub edge as a crutch, she pushed herself to her feet. He hurried to her side, but like his dad, she held out her hand, refusing his assistance. “I’m fine. I’ve got it. I was just feeling a bit off earlier.” She looked down in the toilet, cringing as she flushed it.

When she started moving toward the door, he stepped out into the hall, out of her way. She moved past him and began toward the stairway. She seemed to be walking stably, a small amount of weight falling off his shoulders at the fact. He felt fine, only the slightest hint of a pain gnawing at his insides, but it was so slight, and so faint, that he didn’t even notice it unless he tried to.

But what of his brother? And his uncle? Once his mother was gone from view, he quietly pushed open Trevor’s door. His little brother was lying in bed, facing the wall, a soft snore emanating from his location. He was alive, which was half of what he was looking for. He had hardly seen his brother lately and knew little of his current state other than he was still sick. But he was breathing, and that was what was important. He closed the door slowly, not wanting to wake the sick kid.

It wasn’t until he was leaving, as he was closing the door behind him, that he noticed the smell inside Trevor’s bedroom. He froze in place. It had been faint, but he was sure that it had been there. He reopened the door and allowed the room’s aroma to infiltrate his nostrils. He was right. The scent was weak, barely there, and barely different from the similar smell that had spread throughout the house. But what was in the room was something stronger, something worse. It was the same putrid, vile, nearly intolerable scent that claimed a certain area in the basement, a specific location, right in front of the locked door.

He wondered then if he would smell the same thing when he entered his uncle’s bedroom. He did. It engulfed him the moment he opened the door, even stronger there than in Trevor’s room. He had to step back. He almost closed the door right then but remembered why he was there. He listened closely, waiting for some sign that his uncle was still alive. He heard breaths, shallow, but definitely there.

He closed the door the moment the breaths registered in his mind. His stomach spiraled and his vision sputtered. Was there nowhere safe to exist in the house anymore? He wanted away from the bedrooms, heading for the downstairs. But down there was closer to the basement. The upstairs had once been the safe haven from the stench, but now, there was no such thing.

He heard his mother comforting his father as he reached the lower floor. He was no longer hovering over the sink but was instead sitting at the kitchen table. They were sitting alongside each other, talking quietly. He couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, and they stopped when they saw Toby enter the kitchen.

“Are you guys okay?”

“Yes, of course, hun. We’re fine. It was just a spurt. We must have contracted whatever your brother and Robbie have, but we’ll be fine.”

They didn’t look fine, and neither did Trevor and Robbie. “Maybe we should all go to the hospital,” Toby said.

“No, it’s fine. Really,” she said. “They’re up there sleeping; we should leave them be. And I called the doctor. They couldn’t fit us in today, but we have an appointment first thing in the morning. Don’t worry.”

Paisley was approaching the house. She hated how it stood there, huge and hovering, like a colossal being watching her approach, waiting for a chance to consume her. She tried not to look at it, staring down at the sidewalk instead.

She had left Eli a few minutes prior, but she still felt great. She wished he would have walked her all the way home, but he refused to join her any further than the end of her road. He said he had some things to do, which he probably did. She was just being greedy.

She enjoyed spending time with him. At the restaurant, they had breakfast, both of them choosing omelets. Neither ended up eating all that much. They were far too busy talking, and once that started, her stomach forgot all about being hungry. He told her all about the school he attended, the one she would be going to. Turned out, he was actually a year older than her and, thus, a year ahead of her in school. But he said the school wasn’t all that big, so they would probably still see each other quite often.

Eli had only lived in Black Falls for a few years now. They had moved there after Eli’s father lost his job in a factory shutdown. His aunt, his father’s sister, had lived here for years and convinced them that moving here was the best thing to do. That way, she could help them, and the town was just amazing, they were told.

Paisley was