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

know, hunny.” His mother leaned forward in bed a little. “Infections can relapse. Or sometimes you just feel better but you really aren’t. It happens all the time.”

“What do you guys expect us to do?” his dad asked. “Just up and leave? And with what money? I haven’t even started working yet. We’re living off money we had before the move, what was left over after putting a down payment on this house. We can’t just get up and leave even if we wanted to. We don’t have the money right now. If this haunting,” he said sarcastically, “would have waited a couple months, that would be fine. We’d have money, but right now, we just don’t.”

Toby was feeling defeated. He wasn’t sure how he expected this to go, but it hadn’t gone their way at all. He just wished his parents had a little more faith in them. But Paisley had one more trick up her sleeve.

“What about the food people keep leaving outside then?” Paisley said the words staring straight into her mom’s eyes.

“We’re not going anywhere, and that’s final!” his dad shouted, clearly aware of the dig Paisley had attempted, angry at the buttons she was trying to push. “And I don’t want you telling these things to Robbie or Trevor. They’re both sick enough as it is. They need to get their rest, not worry about ghost stories.”

“What do we do now?” Paisley asked once the door was closed and they were walking back down the hall.

Toby shrugged. “I don’t know. We need more information.” When they reached the bottom of the stairs, he walked over to the window, looking out to the front of the house. “Maybe Addy would know what Robert was talking about.”

He felt Paisley’s stare, and he knew what she was likely thinking. Of course she would know what Robert had been talking about; they were best friends. But if she already knew…

He shook the thought away. Addy was good. There had to be an explanation to all this.

“We could try Addy,” he said.

Before Paisley could object or voice his own worries, he hurried out the door. He didn’t even look both ways before crossing the road, knowing full well that their road was never more than a ghost town. He was moving with determination, eager to find a resolution to all this insanity. He wanted his parents to be right, for Robert to have been just trying to scare him because he was jealous of his relationship with Addy.

But the sick feeling that overtook his stomach as he reached Addy’s door told him he wasn’t so sure about any of it. For the first minute, he just stared at the door, afraid of what truths could be on the other side. He pounded three hard knocks on the door. Silence ensued. He glanced behind him, at Paisley standing on the sidewalk at the other side of the road. She looked strange, there, solitary and alone.

He turned, thinking he heard a shuffling sound, quiet, but there, behind the door. Pausing, he held his breath, hoping to hear more. There was only silence again, like whoever was there was also remaining as still and silent as possible, trying to listen to him. He knocked again. When nothing happened, he steeled himself and called out.

“I heard you! Addy, please!”

He thought his efforts were going to be in vain, but then he heard a sound, and the door handle turned with a click. The door opened. But it wasn’t Addy. Instead, it was a taller version of the girl he knew, an older, sterner-looking one. He imagined this woman as a drill sergeant or the principal of some difficult-to-get-into private school where they secretly plotted world domination.

She stared down at him. In his mind, he wanted to ask where Addy was, but for some reason, he was suddenly afraid to speak. The woman looked up, at Paisley across the street. Toby was too nervous to turn around and follow her gaze.

“Are you here for Addison?”

He shook his head.

“She’s not here. She’s out with some friends. She won’t be back for a while.”

She smiled. Or that’s what it looked like she was trying to do. It came out cringy and fake, he thought. Like she was struggling to keep the smile going long enough for him to walk away.

“Thank you.” He turned quickly and headed back across the street, feeling the woman’s gaze on his back.

The two retreated inside, partially to form a new plan, but mostly to get away from the scarecrow woman that must have been Addy’s mother. Toby plopped down on the couch, defeated. That was the extent of his plan. He didn’t know what to do now. He wasn’t some hero. He was just a kid. His sister was just a kid.

Standing in front of him, his sister looked down at him. She looked nervous because she was nervous. Toby wasn’t the only one with a friend she was suddenly unsure of, a friend that had been acting strange.

Toby looked at her quizzically.

She took in a deep breath and tried to smile. “I might know someone we could talk to.”

29

“So, you met this kid at the park? He was just sitting there on a swing?” Toby asked.

“Yes.”

They were nearing the end of the road. The conversation was quick back at the house, both of them eager to get out there and do something, anything to try to help their family. There didn’t seem to be much of anything they could do, not without knowing what parts of Robert’s story were true. The only way to find that out was by acquiring an insider, someone from Black Falls that might have some clue as to what was going on.

When the park came into view, Toby felt it looked desolate, like the remnants