A Place So Wicked

by Patrick Reuman

  Now that he was outside, the two of them trailing their mother toward the neighboring house to the left, he was already feeling better again. It was like magic. If he had told either of them how he was feeling back at the house, they would have demanded he head upstairs and lie down. His sister could often be like their mom in that way, demanding the best of him, wanting him to get better. He loved her for that, but it could be exhausting.

  They reached the entry to the house’s walkway and took it up to the door. At their feet was a doormat that read “WELCOME.” Lisa knocked. They waited, Paisley looking up to the sky, at the grey clouds looking even darker than they had earlier at the park.

  Nobody came to the door. Lisa knocked again, this time a little harder, wanting to get their attention inside but not wanting to look rude or angry. She waited, hands on her hips, for someone to come to the door. A cool breeze rushed by, sending shivers down all their spines. It was definitely going to rain soon.

  Lisa’s frustration was growing. She stepped away from the door. There didn’t appear to be a car in the driveway, but the garage door was shut, so maybe the vehicle was inside it. She looked around, wondering if any of their other neighbors were out, anyone she could question about why people were leaving food on her doorstep but not introducing themselves. It began as a curiosity, but now it was morphing into an anger. Where the hell was everybody and why weren’t these people answering the door? It was summer. Surely somebody had to be home.

  She rounded a bush and approached the front windows which she was willing to wager led into the house’s living room. She was going to peek in, willing to look like a weirdo, her frustration clouding her judgement. She knew it was weird, what she was about to do, but now she was angry and curious, and ready, to find some answers.

  She tried to look through the curtains with no success. They were pressed tightly together, blocking out any possible view into the house. That was weird in its own right, she thought. Even when their curtains were closed, if you got close enough, she was sure you could see inside.

  Trevor and Paisley were staring at her with curiosity in their eyes.

  “Are you trying to see inside?” Paisley asked.

  “Yes,” Lisa replied, still looking for an angle in which she could see past the curtains.

  Trevor walked off to the left side of the house and then Paisley walked to the right, their minds in sync. They wanted to help peek into the house. It sounded fun. If anybody saw them, instantly they would become the creepy new family on the block, the ones everybody whispered about when they passed by each other while walking their dogs, stopping to talk, to gossip. But she was bored and very curious in her own right. She had just thought earlier that day, on her way to the park, about how weird it was that all the houses looked so uninhabited, at least from the outside.

  As she rounded the corner of the house, she noticed all the side windows were covered as well. She looked toward the top of the windows, where the curtain rods would be, and didn’t see anything, no gap between the wall and the curtain. She considered this fact. What if they weren’t hung by rods but instead nailed to the area around the window? It was a strange thought, but everything about what she was doing, and this house, was strange.

  As she headed further toward the back, something caught her eye. She hurried toward the window and pressed her face up against the glass, cupping her hands around her eyes to block out the intruding light. Her mouth grew wide.

  She called out. “Mom! Trevor!”

  Beyond the glass was a room, dim light pouring in through the small crevasse between the curtains. The room was large, maybe a dining room or something. In the distance, through an open doorway, she could see into the room where her mother had been trying to peek, into the living room. She heard her mother and brother coming and stepped away from the window.

  “Can you see into that window?” Lisa asked as she approached.

  Paisley just nodded. She was confused and now had more questions than she had come there with. Her mother moved up to the window and was peeking inside. Lisa stared inside a moment before finally speaking.

  “It’s empty.”

  18

  It started raining on their way back. It came down hard and quick, drenching Trevor, Paisley, and Lisa all before they could make it back to the house. They rushed in, rain pouring to the ground behind them.

  Paisley closed the door and let out a spastic shiver. Her hair was soaked, the strands huddled together as if searching for warmth. Trevor started drying his hair off with a hoodie that hung by the door. The living room was empty. Lisa kicked her shoes off and headed toward the kitchen, assuming that was where Richard was.

  “Stop!” she shouted, entering the kitchen and seeing Richard spooning the contents of one of the mystery dishes into his mouth. “Spit that out!”

  Alarmed, Richard leapt up and turned to the sink, spitting half-chewed peach cobbler into the drain. “What’s wrong?” he asked, turning back around.

  “The house next door is empty!” she said.

  His eyes went wide, one eyebrow cocked. “What?”

  “The house we went to next door is empty,” she repeated. “Nobody lives there.”

  Richard’s chest relaxed, the sweat that almost formed along his forehead receding. “And that has to do with this delicious peach cobbler how?”

  “I don’t trust these people.”

  “These people?” Richard asked.

  “Whoever is leaving this food sitting around. It’s weird.”

  Richard rounded the table toward his wife. “And you’re basing this off…the house next door being empty.”

  She started to say something but stopped. Part of her couldn’t understand how this bit of information didn’t faze Richard in the slightest. But that wasn’t the only reason she was going crazy.

  “Have you seen the other houses on the road? They all look quiet.”

  “Quiet…?” Richard said.

  “And empty. This whole damn street feels empty. You haven’t noticed that?”

  Richard pointed at the wall, in the direction of the house across the street. “People live right across the road. That girl Toby is out with, she lives right across the street.”

  Lisa withdrew, her rant suddenly seeming less logical, even to her. The fact that he was right, that someone did live across the street, frustrated her. She fought the urge to walk right over to the window and make sure it was still there. She didn’t do that. She stood facing her husband, his eyes showing obvious concern for her.

  “If you’re that concerned about that house being vacant, check the other houses. See if they’re vacant. Would that help?”

  It would, she thought, but she wasn’t going to do that. She already looked crazy enough; she didn’t need to add sprinkles. She pulled out a chair and took a seat at the counter. Placing her head in her hands, she rubbed her eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Hun. I’m just stressed with Trevor being sick, and the basement, and the lawn. It’s just a lot.”

  Richard put his hand on her back and rubbed gently. “I’m going to call the realtor tomorrow about the basement key.” He kissed the back of her head. “I’ll get it taken care of.”

  The walk back took place mostly in silence. Toby still couldn’t believe what had happened. One minute he was staring at an old car where a murder may have taken place, the next, the girl of his dreams was kissing him. He recalled the brief, but amazing, feeling of her body against his, her lips, her soft, pink lips pressing against his own.

  Robert was trailing in the back again. He hadn’t said a single word since they left Monkey Hill. He was fairly certain that was the reason why none of them were talking. The pure hatred he thought he saw in that boy’s eyes after he turned away from Addy was almost mesmerizing, like endless wells of fury. He half expected Robert to club him in the back of the head with a rock and drag him off into a ditch somewhere.

  But he didn’t make Addy kiss him, now did he? Something told him that Ro
bert didn’t care. Was it jealousy? Was Robert in love in Addison? He couldn’t know. He had only just met Robert that day and only met Addy shortly before that. Either way, it wasn’t his problem. Not until Robert killed him, anyway.

  As soon as Robert split off from them, Addy’s face grew into a huge smile. She stepped closer to him, so close, in fact, that their arms were touching.

  “Sorry about that,” she said.

  For the kiss, he wondered.

  “He’s had a crush on me for as long as I can remember. I forget about it sometimes. I thought his head was going to pop right off when he saw me kiss you!”

  “Well, I thought he was going to kill me.”

  Her cheeks turning red, Addison laughed, her smile so big, and beautiful, and contagious, that one even grew on his lips.

  “No, no dying for you yet.”

  “I’m glad for that one.”

  When they reached the end of their road, Addison reached out and grabbed Toby’s hand. She pulled, turning him around to face her. Their eyes met, and he fought the urge to look away, embarrassed for reasons he couldn’t begin to explain. Her teeth peeked out from between her lips. He smiled back, wondering if his face had turned red yet.

  “Thank you for coming out with me today. I had a wonderful time.”

  “It’s no problem at all,” he said.

  “I think you’re really great,” she said, finding his other hand with her own. “There’s just something about you. I feel like I can really be myself when you’re around.”

  He wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he said nothing at all. He couldn’t take his eyes off hers, and off her smile, which glowed, and her cheeks, which bloomed with rosy color. A feeling was growing inside him, a fluttering, like everything within him was undulating, his inside unable to sit still. Butterflies, he thought. He supposed he finally understood what that meant.

  “And you’re just so adorable, with how nervous you are around me and whatnot.”

  It was his turn to blush, his cheeks running red in an instant. He wanted to speak, to tell her he wasn’t nervous, but he was too nervous to get the words out. Before he could, she leaned into him again, wrapping her arms around him, and his moving around her. Their lips met. Hers were soft, and wet. She tasted like everything he could have dreamed of.

  When she pulled away, a drop of rain fell from the sky, landing on his nose. He looked up at the dark skies and even darker clouds, which he hadn’t even noticed until then. He had been too distracted by Robert, and then by Addy and her lips.

  “It’s going to rain,” she said. “We should hurry back.”

  They ran down the sidewalk, the rain covering them, their laughs plenty, fighting to be audible over the rain, which had started coming down harder. They still held hands as they went, until finally arriving in front of Addison’s house.

  They stopped for a minute, letting the rain drench them. They ignored it, too deeply engaged in each other to care about getting a little, or a lot, wet. She pulled him in one more time, their lips, their entire bodies soaked. The kiss was salty. He never wanted to pull away. But, alas, she finally did, taking a step back, their eyes snapping to each other’s as if drawn by something supernatural. She waved goodbye, a quick, flirty wave, before turning around and hurrying inside.

  When he rotated to face his own house, for a second, beyond the layers of falling rain and dimming skies, he thought he saw something. He thought he saw people, not one or two, but many, far too many to count in that one second, all staring out the windows of his house, all staring at him.

  But then he blinked, and he felt the cold rain pattering down onto him. And he was alone then, no Addy, no faces in the windows, just him and the house, which stood tall, and large, larger than any of the other houses on the road, looming over everything. It blended in with the rain and the darkness, looking like it wasn’t a house at all, but rather a shadow, a dark murky shadow of a house. But most of all, in that darkness that surrounded them, the house looked right at home.

  19

  They had ordered in, a party-sized pizza and some chicken wings. It was a meal that any of them would have been excited about under normal circumstances. Only this time, they weren’t, because they couldn’t be. Their appetites were drained away by the basement stench, which had leaked out from the basement even further, building up throughout the house like a fog.

  The pizza and the wings ended up in the fridge, only a handful of slices having been eaten by those dedicated to getting something in their bellies. Their stomachs hurt, maybe from hunger, or maybe from whatever Trevor may have passed on to them all. The others were too busy fighting the air, resisting their very need to breath, to inhale whatever lingered in the space between the walls.

  Richard had been close to storming down into the basement and ripping the door off its hinges. Only he knew it wouldn’t be that easy. And if he did do that, if he opened the door leading down into that pit, doing so would release the built-up air within into the rest of the house. He recalled how terrible the smell had been when he opened the basement door the last time. He didn’t dare open the other door.

  Plus, he would have to go alone if he did. Robbie was upstairs sick, reminding Richard of his own pains. He didn’t want to go down there by himself. It was childish, he knew, but something about the place gave him an uneasy feeling. Anyway, he had already planned to visit the realtor’s place the next day. He would demand the key or they would be moving out. He wasn’t sure if that was even an option due to their finances, but he had to do something. In the worst case, he hoped Robbie would be feeling better tomorrow and could go down there with him if they had to. He hoped.

  They had tried to watch a movie for a little while, but they all gave up in near unison. The smell was rather terrible downstairs, and only getting worse, but they all knew it was slightly less bad upstairs, and even better behind the closed doors of their bedrooms.

  Upon a relieving suggestion made by Lisa, they turned the television off. She had said she wanted to go upstairs and do some reading, which was a lie, but something she really did do quite often prior to them moving there. It was a good excuse. She didn’t know then that everyone else wanted to flee to their own bedrooms, but they did.

  Trevor was quick up the stairs, his stomach pains crawling back rapidly. Whereas he had felt better earlier, even amazing when he was next door creeping in the windows, he felt brittle again, ready to lay his body down on the bed where it could find rest.

  Paisley, even though she dreaded the thought, wanted to put distance between her and Trevor and whatever he had. She was beginning to feel ill, not having been attracted to the pizza in the least bit even though she had hardly eaten that day. She saw what had happened to their uncle Robbie when she peeked into his room to invite him downstairs to eat. He looked terrible, and she didn’t want to feel how he looked, even though it was probably too late, given how she was beginning to feel now.

  Toby was feeling a little off as well, only not bad enough that it was plaguing his mind like it was the others. His thoughts were elsewhere. Had he really seen all those faces in the window earlier when he was standing across the street or had it been a trick of the light, the rain and darkness mangling his vision, causing him to see things that weren’t truly there? They seemed so real yet, in an instant, they were gone.

  Once in his bedroom, Toby allowed his mind to wander. First, his thoughts sought shelter in comfort, in the day’s earlier events. His first kiss. Well, almost his first kiss. He had kissed two other girls in his life, one being Shelly Rosenski, a girl he knew back in the fifth grade. It had been a dare from her friends. He wasn’t sure why he had been chosen for the dare and didn’t really care. It had been his first kiss, and he was proud of it because Shelly was very pretty. The second kiss came four years later, in the ninth grade. Kelly Brickey was the girl’s name. She was a cheerleader. She had long, red hair. Her eyes were so blue you could get lost in them like a diver in the ocean. But most importan
tly, depending on how you looked at it, the kiss had been accidental, or at least, him being a part of it was.

  The kiss in itself hadn’t been accidental, he didn’t think. It was he, the recipient, who had been the accident. Josh Armstrong, a new kid at his old school, who he hardly knew but for some reason wanted to be his friend for a short while until he made the football team and found more valuable friends, dragged him out one Saturday night to a party. He was not familiar with parties nor did he usually attend them. For that matter, he wasn’t usually invited to them, either. But there he was, standing around a bunch of kids that he only knew slightly, mostly from one of his crowded classes or another. Beers were in hands and everyone was talking loudly and joking around.

  Kelly had just downed a beer, one of many, he was willing to wager, and just out of fate, he was standing right next to her. Toby hadn’t been talking to anyone, not since Josh had disappeared into the crowd ages before. He had a beer in his hand but hadn’t taken more than a sip out of it and hadn’t even enjoyed the one he did.

  He was facing Kelly, out of coincidence as well. The party had been crowded, and two other people were engaged in a conversation on the other side of him. It was either stare at them while they talked, looking even weirder than he felt, or face Kelly, who wasn’t paying the least bit of attention to him or anyone in the room.