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

When he hurried through the door, he found Paisley on the couch. The house was just as silent as he had left it. He stared at Paisley, who was staring back at him, her eyes wide with concern.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I—” He felt frozen. “I don’t know.”

He looked up the stairs, wondering if he should go get his parents. They were sick and he didn’t want to disturb them. But if they were all going to die…

“Toby!”

He turned to Paisley, who had stood. “What’s wrong? You’re scaring me.”

He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to calm himself. He wasn’t sure he was thinking or acting rational. After all, Robert had just told him they were sacrifices. What part of that was rational? He walked over to the couch and took a seat. Paisley sat back down beside him.

He wasn’t sure where to start. He was afraid he would just sit there in silence again, staring off into the distance, but when he looked into Paisley’s eyes, words just blurted out.

“Robert said we’re sacrifices!”

He explained everything Robert had said, trying his best to leave out the stuff about him having sex with Addy. She didn’t need to hear about that. He watched her eyes widen as he explained how they were all supposed to die, and soon.

“I know it sounds crazy,” Toby said. “I think he might have only been saying it because he’s jealous that Addy likes me. She told me as much yesterday.”

“I don’t know…I don’t think he was lying.”

Paisley’s words caught Toby off-guard. He looked up at her quizzically, trying to make out if she was being sarcastic or if she was serious.

“You have to admit it, some of it makes sense. Everyone is sick except us. People are leaving food at our doorstep for what seemed like no reason at all.”

“But sacrifices?” Toby said. “Sacrifices to what?”

“You’d said that Robert said the house was going to hurt us.”

“So the house, then? We’re sacrifices to the house?”

The conversation went dead as they both contemplated what they were saying.

“He knew that everyone was sick,” Paisley said. “How would he have known that?”

One thought was that maybe Addy had told him, but he didn’t recall telling her in the first place.

“Whatever is going on, maybe we should get out of this house,” Paisley continued. “Maybe we should tell Mom and Dad and get everybody out of the house. Trevor had started getting better as soon as he left. Then when he got back, he got sick again.”

Toby nodded, considering it. That much made sense. If they could get everybody out of the house, that would be a start.

Together, they headed upstairs to tell their parents. They had decided, just before leaving the living room, that they needed to tell their parents the truth together, otherwise they wouldn’t believe them. But it was just as likely they still wouldn’t believe them even after the story was told because the story in itself was insane. There was no clear path.

They stood outside their parents’ bedroom door. Toby felt like he was in one of those old sick houses where they would throw the sick patients during deadly pandemics. His little brother was behind him in one room, his uncle in another, and his parents ahead of them. He took in a deep breath and tapped on the door lightly, giving them a moment to ensure they were decent before pushing it open slowly.

His parents were conscious and alert, both of them averting their gaze to Toby and Paisley as they entered.

“Hey, you two,” their mom said. “What’s up?”

Toby wanted to get straight to the point. “I—” He looked at Paisley for strength then back to his parents. “I think we should all leave. I think we should get away from this house.”

“What do you mean?” his mother asked.

His dad looked a little dazed a second prior but looked a little more attentive now. Toby started telling them the story. He spoke quickly so he could get it all out before one of them interrupted. He told them all about how Robert knew that they were all sick and how he said the house would hurt them. When he finally stopped, he was a little out of breath. His dad’s eyes had widened part way through the story. Toby had thought it was because his father shared the same surprise he had when hearing it all first-hand.

It wasn’t.

“What are you trying to say? That there’s ghosts in the house?” The words came from his father with mocking venom. Toby was caught by surprise and unsure of what to say because he wasn’t even sure what it really was that he thought was in the house. His father continued. “So, what? You want us to up and leave because some kid, that by the sounds of it doesn’t like you very much, tried to scare you and said that the house is going to eat us or something?”

Toby suddenly felt small and foolish. He wanted to take a step back, but the only place back he could go was out of the room completely. His dad’s face had reddened.

“How did he know you’re all sick?” Paisley blurted out. “He knew you were sick and he thought it was funny.”

“Because fuck HIPAA and doctor-patient confidentiality,” their dad said. “Someone from the doctor’s office obviously blurted our business to someone. There are no secrets in small towns. They need something to entertain themselves with.”

His father sounded so confident. His face had lightened a little, his anger temporarily redirected at the town rather than them.

But Paisley wasn’t ready to back down. “Why did Trevor get better when you guys left to go to the doctor and then got sick again as soon as he got back here?”

“I don’t