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

 Richard sat down at the edge of the bed and pulled his socks off, discarding them on the floor without care. It was their first night there, he could worry about being orderly later. Rays of bright moonlight shined down through the currently curtainless window, lighting up most of the bed.

Behind him, his wife removed her clothes, sliding on a silky lavender sleep top. She crawled under the covers without adding the bottoms. She watched the back of Richard’s head for a minute, but when he didn’t turn to face her, she remembered how he looked a bit ago.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” she asked.

He moved at her words, climbing into bed alongside her. She scooted closer, her nose just inches away from his scruffy cheeks. He couldn’t help but crack a smile and let his head turn to face hers.

“It’s Robbie.”

“What about him?” she asked.

“Did you notice he didn’t bring any way of getting back home? He even brought his own box of stuff. I saw him try to sneak it by when you and I were setting up the couch.”

“Are you sure he was sneaking it?”

“Well, he didn’t exactly announce it. And he hadn’t mentioned anything before about bringing any of his belongings.”

There was a pause.

“I don’t think he’s planning to leave,” Richard continued. “He mentioned a couple weeks ago that he and Jasmine had been arguing. He was worried they were going to break up. I’m wondering if maybe they did.”

She scooted further close to him. “Maybe you should ask him about it tomorrow.”

“Maybe. I don’t want it to come off like I want him to leave, though. I mean, I do, at some point at least. But I don’t mind him staying here for a bit until he can figure out what’s going on. I just wish he would have told me, been up front about it, you know?”

“He was probably worried you’d say no. Do you think he’ll get a job around here and just get his own place?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “It might be good for him.”

She slid her hand across his bare chest and grazed it downward along his side. He felt a tingle rocket through him, lighting fires of sensation in every corner of his body. Suddenly, he couldn’t think straight, half forgetting what he was even talking about.

“Maybe we could discuss this another time,” she whispered like a siren calling his name from across the open sea.

Lisa moved her hand further down his body until she felt him harden quickly. He pulled her in close, and she could feel his warm breath on her skin. She remembered just then that Toby was in the next room over. She would try with the best of her ability to keep it down. The house was still very empty, and sound would easily travel along its walls to every vacant corner. But all concern and logical thought fled her mind when he slid his hand under her top and started inching it up and over her shoulders.

 Trevor lay there in his bed, staring out the nearest window, as if, were he to take his eyes off it for even a second, the light would be whisked away by some unknown entity and his room would be plunged into an infinite darkness. It was a mostly irrational fear and one he should have been able to discard years ago, yet there he was, nearly shaking in fear. It was the new house. It was creepy. And it was too large.

Being afraid of this gigantic, empty, dark thing was not all that crazy, he told himself. He knew, because he had looked it up before in an attempt to rid himself of it, that a fear of the dark was a primal thing for humans, something dating back to the dawn of man, stemming from the very human inability to see well in the dark. During the night, when the sun was down and the world was engulfed in shadows, was when humans were the most vulnerable, when humans went from being the alpha predator to the scared prey.

He was afraid of the dark. But, if someone were to ask him if this was the case, or even assert that it was, he would stand tall, broaden his shoulders, and state firmly that it was not true. That usually worked. He was pretty large for his age, about the same size as his older brother, who was three years older than him.

Not that many people asked him, though. The only one that really knew about his fear was his sister, and even she hadn’t asked about it in ages and probably assumed that he had gotten over it. He wished he had; he really did. He wanted to turn over and face the wall, to look in the direction that his sister was in, but he just couldn’t get himself to remove his eyes from the window.

Secretly, he was very happy that Toby had passed on this bedroom, the one next to Paisley’s. For a fleeting moment, he considered standing from the bed and heading over to his sister’s room, but he didn’t. He wouldn’t. That was childish. What did he expect from her anyway? Anything, he guessed. Even though she was barely older than he was, he looked at her like an older sister. When they were little, when they still shared a bedroom, she would tell him stories to keep his mind off the dark until he fell asleep. He could remember it like it was yesterday.

He smiled. She wouldn’t be over there cowering in fear. She was probably sound asleep by then. He wondered what time it was, how many hours he had left to steal some sleep before his family would arise and want him to help with the house.

All he had to