A Place So Wicked Patrick Reuman (children's ebooks free online TXT) 📖

“Toby!” Paisley said.

“Huh? What?”

“Are you going to say something or…just stand there staring at him?”

“I’m sorry,” Toby said. “Sorry. What’s up?”

Robert wasn’t smiling, nor did he look angry. He appeared completely passive, as if this was a business meeting he didn’t want to be at but was forced to attend. It must have been Robert’s turn to be silent because he wasn’t saying a word. Paisley looked at them both like they were aliens.

“Okay,” Toby continued. “Did you want to come in?”

This woke Robert. He looked at Paisley now, a wild glare in his eyes. He took a step back, as if Paisley were going to pounce on him.

“No. I don’t want to go in there. I was hoping Toby would come hang out for a bit.” Robert was suddenly smiling, like everything that was taking place was completely normal and he was a regular visitor to the Harrington household.

Toby did not want to go hang out with Robert, not even a little. In fact, he was quite scared of Robert. He was fairly certain Robert didn’t like him in the least bit, and his being there was very suspicious.

“Well, don’t look like I just pissed in your cereal.” Robert laughed. “I just want to talk a bit. I’ll have you back in no time.”

In how many pieces would the bigger kid have him back in? Toby looked past Robert to Addison’s house. He hoped she would come out, see Robert there, and come save him. He was sure she would find it just as strange that Robert was there as he did. But the house across the street looked just as empty and quiet as all the other houses on the road just then, as if Addy had never lived there, as if nobody had ever lived there.

“Okay,” Toby said, realizing that Robert probably wasn’t going to go away and that he just had to man-up and face whatever this was head-on. All Toby had to do was be smart. “Just really quick. I have some things I’ve got to get done around the house.”

Robert smiled. “Right.”

“Just let me get my shoes on,” Toby said.

Paisley stepped back and nudged the door closed a bit then whispered to Toby. “Is everything all right? You seem a bit off about Robert being here.”

“I’m all right. I’ll just be a minute. I’m not going to go far.”

Toby pulled the door back open and stepped out into the sun. Robert made room for Toby to join him on the walkway. Paisley watched the two boys for a few seconds before closing the door. She was concerned for her older brother, about how he was acting toward the kid being there, but she was even more worried about her being there alone with everybody sick. She was thankful he intended to come straight back.

Toby noticed something as he and Robert walked toward the sidewalk. The grass appeared to be greener, like someone had come back and painted it. But if they had, they’d done a horrible job. Only part of the yard was green again, the area closest to the house still brown and dead looking.

Robert led him down the road, just a couple feet ahead. Toby trailed wordlessly. Part of him hoped that if he never said anything, the two would just make a lap around the block, ending up back where they started without a word ever being said. But Toby wasn’t a fool and he knew Robert was there for a reason. That’s why he was keeping his guard up, his eye on the other boy. Addy had said Robert held a life-long crush on her. Perhaps he had somehow found out that Toby and Addy had had sex. He wanted to believe she wouldn’t tell him something like that, but he saw no other reason why the burly kid would be there. His only questions were why she would have told him and what he was planning to do about it.

When they reached the end of the road, Robert came to a stop. He looked up the road, in the direction the three of them had walked the day before, an expression on his face as if he were deep in thought.

Toby wanted to put an end to any idea Robert had before he could put it in action. They definitely weren’t going back up to monkey hill, just the two of them. “I don’t really have the time to go anywhere. Do you want to just take a walk around the block?”

It sounded incredibly strange asking Robert this, but he had to. The closer he kept them to Toby’s house, the safer he was. Or that’s what he told himself. He supposed if Robert’s plan was to kill him in a jealous rage, it wouldn’t matter where they were, on his block or a mile away, he was still going to do it.

“Okay,” Robert said, starting off to the right.

Toby remained in the back, trailing. He felt he could keep a better eye on Robert that way, making it less likely Robert could get the jump on him. Toby may have been smaller than him in stature, but he was fairly certain he could outrun the boy if he needed to.

It wasn’t until they were just over halfway around the block, passing the houses that lay right behind Toby’s house, just beyond the backyard woods, that Robert finally spoke.

“You and Addison had sex, then,” the boy said so casually that Toby nearly stopped in his tracks.

Toby had been staring at the houses as they passed by, noting how vacant they looked, just like the ones on the next street over, his street.

“What?” Toby said.

“There’s no sense in denying it,” Robert continued. “I mean, why wouldn’t you? She’s beautiful. Plus, she told me. She can’t help it.