One rainy night, p.15
One Rainy Night, page 15
‘Sure am, sweetheart.’
‘Have you got any bodies?’
‘Mine. And it wants you, Trevor. Real bad.’
‘I want dead people,’ he said.
‘Maybe we can go out and find some.’
‘None in your house, though?’
‘I wish there was. But you come on over, now. OK? We’ll have us a real good time.’
‘Fine,’ he said. ‘See you.’ He set the phone down on its cradle and struggled to fill his lungs.
13
Tom held the flashlight on the fusebox, and Denise flicked the switches. They stepped out of the small room. Denise squinted when she met the brightness of the kitchen. Kara, waiting there, let out a sigh as if her world had just undergone a tremendous improvement.
Denise smiled. ‘Better, huh?’
The girl bobbed her head. ‘Darkness is not one of my favorite things.’
‘This is better, all right,’ Tom said.
His eyes shifted upward quickly to Denise’s face, and she felt herself blush. In spite of the towel draped over her shoulders to cover her bra, she suddenly felt almost naked. It hadn’t bothered her earlier, while they dried themselves in the bathroom and made their way through the house by flashlight. Nobody could see much, and she’d been too relieved by the change in Tom to care much about modesty.
‘Maybe we should get into some dry clothes,’ she said. She turned to Kara. ‘You don’t think your folks would mind us borrowing . . .’
‘Oh, no. Let’s go and change. This feels yucky.’
‘Could I use the phone first?’ Tom asked her. ‘I want to call home and make sure my parents are OK.’
‘OK, sure.’
He thanked her, then picked up the kitchen extension. He tapped in the number. He smiled nervously at Denise. His gaze dropped for a moment. He looked away fast. ‘Hi, Mom, it’s me . . . No, nothing’s wrong. Can I talk to Dad, though?’ Covering the mouthpiece, he said, ‘Sounds like everything’s fine over there.’ He took his hand away.
‘Yeah, hi Dad. Nothing weird’s going on over there, is it? . . . Well, some guy tried to break in over here. The rain’s black, Dad . . . No, I mean it. And it’s really dangerous. It’s making people into killers. I heard they broke into the Edgewood, too, and killed some people there . . . No, I’m not on anything. It’s really true. I don’t know what’s going on, but I wanted to make sure you’re all right and warn you and Mom. You oughta get out one of your guns and keep it around. Don’t let anybody into the house . . . I don’t know why there haven’t been any reports on the TV. Maybe nobody knows about it . . . Look, if you don’t believe me, take a look at the rain. But be careful, OK? Don’t get any on you, or it’ll make you want to kill people . . . You can’t talk to them, they’re not here . . . They’re at the Edgewood. They called from there . . . Yes, I knew. I’m sorry. But jeez, it’s no big deal . . . If I try to come home, I’ll get wet. Besides, I have to stay here and take care of Denny. She’s all alone, and there’s no telling what might happen . . . OK, then ground me. For godsake, Dad, this is a real emergency. I’m not kidding. Something really terrible’s going on, and I don’t understand it, but it’s sure happening . . . Just get a gun and watch out, OK? I’ve gotta go.’ He hung up. His cheeks puffed out, and he blew air through his pursed lips.
‘Guess you’re in hot water,’ Denise said.
He laughed. ‘Well, at least they’re safe. Dad might want to kill me, but they’re safe.’
‘Do you want to call your parents?’ Kara asked Denise.
She shook her head. ‘They’re out of town.’
‘I hope it isn’t raining where they are.’
‘Me, too. But it’s a long way from here.’
‘Can we change, now?’
‘Yeah, let’s.’
Kara led the way. Denise turned off the kitchen lights and followed, Tom walking close behind her. It felt good to know he was there.
So weird, she thought. A while ago, he was a raving lunatic and you were scared to death of him. Now, it’s like he’s your protector. All it took was enough hot water.
‘Maybe we can find me some aspirin,’ he said.
She looked around at him. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Just a headache, mostly.’ In a louder voice, he said, ‘You’ve got a mean swing, Kara.’
She looked back, contorting her face. ‘I’m awful sorry.’
‘Hey, I’m glad you did it. God. I just can’t believe I was actually . . .’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Denise said. She paused in the living room to pick up the lamp she’d knocked over.
‘I hate it that I hurt you.’
‘I know. But you couldn’t help it. And I got you pretty good, too.’ At the other end of the sofa, she turned off the next lamp. ‘I’m just glad you’ re back to normal.’
‘Thank God we ended up in the bathtub.’
Denise crossed the foyer. As she reached for the switch panel, Kara frowned. ‘You’re not going to make it dark again, are you?’
‘You can turn on the hallway light. But your dad thought we’d be safer if the house looks deserted.’
‘Most people leave lights on when they’re gone,’ Tom pointed out.
‘Yeah, you’re right. OK.’ She dropped her hand away from the switches.
Kara started up the hallway, then halted. ‘Maybe it’d be better if somebody else goes first.’
Denise stepped forward. ‘Let’s go together.’ She took the girl’s hand.
‘Can I change first?’
‘Sure.’ The hallway smelled smoky. Though there didn’t seem to be any ashes on the beige carpeting, Denise’s burning shirt had left a grimy trail along the ceiling. She wondered if soap and water might take care of it.
When they came to Kara’s bedroom, Denise reached around the doorframe and turned on the light. They entered. Tom stopped in the doorway. ‘Are there fresh towels somewhere?’ he asked.
‘Oh, that’s a good idea. They’re in the closet by the bathroom.’
He went to get some.
‘Do you think he’s OK?’ Kara whispered.
‘I think so.’
‘Me, too. He seems really nice. Though he does tell a lot of fibs.’ She sat on the edge of her bed and started to undress. ‘I try never to tell a lie, especially to my Mom and Dad. I’m sure that I would never get away with it, anyway.’
‘Doesn’t look as if Tom’s getting away with it.’
She laughed. ‘He’s in trouble, all right. But I’m sure glad he isn’t weird anymore. Do you think it was just washing off the black water? That cured him?’
‘It sure looks that way.’
‘Yeah. I guess that’s a good thing to know.’ Leaving her underpants on, she stepped to her dresser. The panties looked damp and clinging. The backs of her legs had blotches of a faint reddish hue from the bath water.
‘Do the burns hurt?’ Denise asked.
‘Oh, not very much.’
‘Kind of like a little sunburn?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Me, too.’
‘You got a lot more on you than I did,’ the girl said. ‘Should I put on my nightie, or what?’
‘Might as well. I don’t think we’ll be going out.’
She pulled open the top drawer, took out a pink nightgown and fresh panties, and looked past Denise as Tom came into the room. Her eyes went wide. Denise whirled around. Some neatly folded towels were pressed to Tom’s side. His other hand was full with the fireplace poker, hammer and knife. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I just thought we’d better keep this stuff with us.’ He stepped toward Kara. ‘Do your parents have any guns?’
‘No. Dad doesn’t like them.’ She put on her nightgown.
‘Here.’
Kara pulled a towel out from under his arm. Tom turned away as she reached under her nightgown. She took off her panties, spent a few moments drying herself from the waist down, then stepped into the dry underwear. She went to her closet. She put on a pair of Alf slippers.
Then she led them down the hall to her parents’ room. ‘What do you suppose you want to wear?’
‘It’s up to you,’ Denise said.
‘How about warmups? They’d be good and cozy.’
‘Fine.’
Kara searched some drawers. She took out a royal blue warmup suit for Denise. The jacket had a hood, a zipper front, and white piping up the sleeves. The pants matched, with piping up the sides of the legs. ‘Snazzy,’ Denise said.
Kara gave her the suit, and a pair of white socks.
‘Dad hasn’t got anything as neat,’ she told Tom.
‘Whatever,’ he said.
She found a gray sweatsuit and white socks for him. He dropped the weapons onto the bed, and she handed the garments to him.
‘I’ll change in the john,’ he said.
‘We ought to stay together,’ Denise said. ‘Why don’t you just go in the closet?’
He left a towel behind for her, stepped into the roomy closet, turned on its light, and pulled the door shut.
‘Don’t come out till I say so,’ she warned him.
‘Aw.’
She laughed. She undressed in front of the closet door. It had a full-length mirror.
‘You really got wrecked,’ Kara said.
Denise nodded while she dried her hair. She looked as if she’d sunbathed in the nude and stayed out too long. And maybe as if there’d been a tree above her, a few leaves blocking out the sun so she ended up with pale blotches here and there. The red was very faint, though. She suspected it would go away entirely in an hour or so.
The discoloring across her throat was a deeper red than the burns. Where Tom had choked her. That would probably turn into a bruise. The same with the patch under her left breast. Where he’d punched her. She had two crimson streaks across her belly. One from the tip of the umbrella, a longer one from the point of the fireplace poker he’d whipped at her while she stood in the tub. The umbrella hadn’t broken her skin at all, but the poker had scraped off a layer. The skin was ruffled up around the edges of the wound, leaving a strip that looked raw and juicy.
She pointed to it for Kara’s benefit. ‘I’ll have a nice scab there.’
‘I had a really bad one on my knee. I had it forever.’
‘Did you pick it off and eat it?’
‘Oh, gross!’
‘Hey,’ Tom said. ‘I’m missing all the fun.’
‘Just admiring the wounds you gave me.’
‘You should see what you did to my arm.’
‘Sorrrry.’
Kara laughed.
‘Can I come out, now?’
‘No way. Stay put.’ Though Denise’s skin wasn’t very wet anymore, it seemed moist and clammy. The towel felt good. Her burns were a little tender, but didn’t hurt much. She gently patted the streaks on her belly.
When she was done, she stepped into the warm-up pants and pulled them up. They were soft and clingy. They seemed to trap in the heat of her skin, making the burns feel slightly worse. Otherwise, they felt wonderful. She put on the jacket. She raised its zipper to her throat, then lowered it a few inches to let some air in.
She rapped on the mirror.
‘Yo.’
‘I’m dressed. Are you?’
‘Yep.’ He opened the door and came out. The sweatsuit came with him. Drooping and baggy. He looked like a kid lost in the clothes of a giant.
Denise laughed. Kara, grinning, shook her head.
‘Your dad must be a pretty big guy,’ Tom said.
‘Oh, he is.’
‘You aren’t gonna lose your pants, are you?’ Denise asked.
‘If I do, you’ll be the first to know.’
‘I’m not sure anyone will know,’ she said.
‘Look at this,’ he said, and pushed his right sleeve up to the elbow. His forearm showed a red crescent of teeth marks. But the skin wasn’t broken.
Denise pursed her lips. ‘I did that, huh?’
‘You should see what you did to her,’ Kara said.
Denise lifted the bottom of her jacket.
‘Yeah, I know. You weren’t wearing that before, remember?’
She blushed. That seemed to make her burns feel even hotter. She pulled the jacket down again.
She went to the bed, sat down, and put on the socks.
‘What’ll we do now?’ Kara asked.
Tom picked up the fireplace poker. He frowned at it, and turned it slowly in his hands. ‘Well, I came over here for some popcorn.’
‘Yeah. Why don’t we make a new batch and have a nice party and watch some TV.’
‘Might as well,’ Denise said. ‘It might be a long night.’
Warriors
1
‘Messy, messy stuff,’ Buddy said. He dropped the last of his chicken bones onto the paper plate on his lap, then leaned forward and set the plate on the coffee table. He settled back against the sofa. Smiling, he raised his hands to show the others.
Lou, from his seat across the room, could see the shiny grease and flecks of chicken fat on Buddy’s fingers.
‘What’re you trying to do,’ Sheila said, ‘make us sick?’
‘It’s just so messy. Sticky. Ick.’ With that, he turned sideways and held his dripping hands in front of Maureen’s face. ‘Be a good girl and lick them clean for me.’
‘For godsake,’ Sheila muttered.
Cyndi grinned. Doug tore a chunk off his drumstick and turned his head to watch.
Maureen swallowed her mouthful. She stared at Buddy, her eyes narrow.
‘Do you have a problem with that?’ he asked.
She shook her head. With the back of her hand, she wiped the grease from around her lips. Buddy took the plate off her lap. She sat up straight. Then she opened up, and he slid his right thumb into her mouth.
‘Suck it, honey, suck it.’
Lou’s heart started thumping. Maureen shut her eyes. She was breathing hard through her nose, her breasts rising and falling under the thin shirt. Buddy plucked the thumb from her mouth. It came out with a wet slurpy sound. He stuck in his index finger.
‘This is disgusting,’ Sheila said.
Buddy grinned at her, then pushed against Maureen, his hand pressing her down until she was slumped against the sofa back. The breath hissed through her nostrils. She writhed a little. He took out the finger and slid his middle finger into her mouth.
‘Yeah, suck it hard, baby.’
‘Oh lordy,’ Doug murmured.
Her legs swung apart and she pushed at the floor and one side of her shorts gaped. Lou could see up the leg hole. He gazed at the shadowy smoothness of her inner thigh. He almost had a view of her groin, but not quite. If he got down and sat on the floor . . . But Sheila would catch on.
He squirmed. It’s a good thing I can’t see any higher, he thought.
‘When you’re done with him,’ Doug said, ‘I could use some of that. Don’t know how I got chicken grease all over my dick, but . . .’
Cyndi jabbed his arm.
‘Just kidding, just kidding.’
‘Shithead.’
Buddy popped his middle finger out of Maureen’s mouth, and poked in his ring and pinky fingers together. ‘Ooooh,’ he said. ‘So tight and wet. Love it. Suck, honey, suck.’
Sheila, sitting on the floor near Lou’s chair, twisted her head around and scowled up at him. He knew his face was red. He knew he was panting some. He hoped Sheila didn’t know the reason why, and just thought he was upset. At least his legs were crossed so she couldn’t see the bulge. He shook his head to show her just how disgusting he considered Buddy’s behavior.
‘Thank you so much,’ Buddy said. He took the fingers from her mouth, clutched her breast and squeezed it through the shirt. She gasped and her lips peeled away from her teeth. ‘Just drying off,’ he said. He turned his hand over and wiped its back against her shirt. Lou watched how it pushed her breast in, and how the breast came springing back when it went away.
‘I don’t believe you,’ Sheila said.
Buddy grinned at her. If you don’t like it, go home.’
‘I don’t think we should all just sit here and let him do stuff like this.’
‘Buzz off,’ Cyndi told her. ‘She deserves anything she gets.’
Buddy jammed his left hand into Maureen’s mouth. All four fingers at once. She choked, grabbed his wrist and shoved his hand out. As the fingertips cleared her lips, he drove his right fist into her belly.
Her breath gusted out. She lurched forward, hunching over her thighs, and wheezed for air.
‘You’re such a bastard,’ Sheila said. ‘It’s no wonder Lisa dumped you.’
The mention of Lisa made Lou go tight and cold inside. For a while there, he’d been able to forget about her, forget what they’d done to Chidi.
Buddy grinned at Sheila. ‘She didn’t dump me. She just got a hankering for some dark meat. That’s all over now.’
‘Done,’ Doug said. ‘Well done.’
Buddy chuckled.
‘That’s sick,’ Sheila muttered.
Lou reached to the lamp table for his drink. He picked it up. The cold, wet glass was slick in his sticky fingers. He thought about Maureen sucking his fingers clean, but the idea of it didn’t turn him on. This damn talk about Lisa and Chidi.
Maureen was still bent over, huffing for breath.
‘I sure hope Lisa’s all right,’ Buddy said. He looked at Cyndi. ‘You said she’s babysitting tonight?’
‘Yeah.’
‘You wouldn’t know where, would you?’
‘Oh, sure. They live just down the block from me. The Foxworths. That’s where she is.’
‘I think I’ll give her a call and check up on her.’
‘She isn’t interested in you,’ Sheila said.
‘Oh, don’t be too sure about that.’ He grabbed the back of Maureen’s neck and pushed, using it like a handle to help himself off the sofa, shoving her down hard against her thighs. ‘Keep a sharp eye on my honey, folks. But no feelies. That means you, too, Sheila.’ He winked at her.
She gave him the finger.
That’s twice in one night, Lou thought. She’s sure getting brave with Buddy. Any braver, and she would probably get herself stomped.
Buddy laughed and strode out of the room.
