A Place So Wicked

by Patrick Reuman

  As Toby reached the top of the stairs and rounded the corner into the hall, he saw his uncle down on his knees, staring at the floor under him, the black mass hovering over him like a cobra ready to strike, and he knew exactly what Robbie knew. It wrapped its darkness around Robbie, but unlike with those in the basement, it didn’t rip into him. There was no fury. It just spread around him, calm, and quickly, consuming him. Robbie’s skin turned dark in an instant, and then his uncle burst into black dust.

  Toby came running back down the stairs.

  “Where’s Robbie?” Paisley asked.

  But Toby didn’t answer. He just grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door. From the basement, Addison came running, the only captor who hadn’t been mauled on site. Behind her was another, a tall man who was trudging up the stairs on all fours, his skin darkened and sickly like he had just crawled up from the grave.

  Eli stopped, the others not noticing right away. But when they both looked back, Eli shouted, “Keep going!” He slammed the front door behind him and held it shut as something slammed against it on the other side.

  Toby remembered as they reached the car that he hadn’t grabbed the keys, but then Paisley pulled them from her pocket. She must have grabbed them in the moment he was upstairs. A love for his sister lit warmly inside him, an admiration that she was smart enough, and on her toes and had her wits enough, that she was able to grab the keys, something he had completely forgotten about.

  She tossed them to him and then hurried into the passenger seat where Trevor sat, still mostly unconscious. Toby climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car. Another car was parked behind them, blocking the end of the driveway. So Toby had to crank the wheel and pull over the curb, clipping the car as he pulled out. When their car hit the other, Trevor’s head popped up for a moment, a gleam of life in his eyes. He mumbled something unintelligible and then dropped his head onto Paisley’s shoulder.

  They were alive. That was one fear that ravaged Paisley as she sat tied up in the basement, the fear that if she were to make it out, the others would already be dead. The car bobbed as Toby reversed them into the road and turned to drive away.

  As he did so, his and Paisley’s eyes met Eli’s. Eli stared back from right outside the front door. But he wasn’t frowning. Instead, he had the only smile on his face that Toby had ever seen. The kid looked happy.

  Then Eli waved for them to go. He couldn’t hold the door much longer. Something was still pushing on the door, but he no longer thought it was Addison. He watched as the car drove away, Paisley still staring back at him.

  He wasn’t sure what was going to happen. But he knew he had to try and get to his mother, to get them out of this town. As soon as Paisley’s car was out of sight, he released his hold on the door and started running as fast as he could. Behind him, the darkness smashed through the glass, through every window in the house, and slithered into the air like smoke from a burning fire.

  As they drove away, Toby kept glancing into the rearview mirror. The darkness had leapt into the sky, consuming it at a speed he couldn’t even imagine. Before he knew it, everything behind him was consumed by it. He remembered Eli’s story about the town’s old name, Dead Falls, and knew now what had been causing the land, and all the people living there, to die. He wondered then if that’s what would happen, if the entire area would return to the decay that gave it its name. Did they do the right thing? Tears formed in his eyes as he thought about all the people that were just like Eli, the people who lived there but had not taken part in the madness, not directly at least. What had they done to those people? Did they deserve this?

  But then Paisley touched his arm. “Are you okay?”

  He just nodded. He was okay. They were all going to be okay. Paisley hadn’t asked again about Robbie yet, but he knew she would; they all would. But for now, right then, they had each other, and as long as it stayed that way, he knew they would be all right.

  THE

  END

  THANK YOU FOR READING

  I hope you enjoyed A PLACE SO WICKED by Patrick Reuman. If you would like to follow him for further updates regarding his books, please feel free to join his newsletter mailing list and follow him on Amazon. If you feel so inclined, please also leave a review wherever you purchased this novel.

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  Patrick Reuman is a medical lab scientist by day and a writer by night. Most importantly, he is the father to a wonderful little boy named Aidan. He has been writing ever since he was sixteen when a school assignment pushed his imagination toward creating his own stories. One day, he hopes to conquer the world but will settle for conquering the literary world first.