Experiment in Terror 09 Dust to Dust(49)

My mother cleared her throat. “I think we have come in here by accident. Could you tell us the proper way out of here? The front door and this door don’t seem to be working.” Her voice was shaking but she was holding it together.

The boy kept his eyes closed and mumbled a few incomprehensible words under his breath before saying, “You can get out through my window. Upstairs. But don’t go out my brother’s, you’ll fall to your death.”

My chest tightened as the kid reached for Michael’s mug and brought it toward him.

“I wouldn’t drink that,” I told him. “Something has gone rotten in there.”

He looked at me and his eyes were completely black, like a shark’s. My mom stiffened beside me, seeing it too.

“There’s something rotten in the whole house, so as long as the door stays open.”

“What door?” Ada asked, sounding like she wished she hadn’t opened her mouth.

He brought the mug to his lips and took a sip. Tiny black woodbugs fell from his lips, spilling onto the table where they squirmed. “You don’t want to go through that door,” he said. “I was brought there once.” He wiped his lips with his pajama sleeve, leaving the bodies of insects behind. He looked like he wanted to continue but he shut his mouth.

This had to be a dream. This couldn’t be happening. Nothing was making any sense at all and the longer we stood in that kitchen, talking to a little boy in a house full of dust, the more the outside world seemed to darken beyond the blinds.

This isn’t a house, I thought to myself. This is nowhere. This is where we were led.

The boy smiled at me. “I can hear your thoughts, you know.” He said this with pride and a wicked look came over his empty eyes. “You are opening the door wider, just by being here. That’s what he told me.”

“What who told you?” Ada asked.

“The man in the suit,” he said simply. “The more you stay, the wider the door gets. He says you need to stay here with me.”

“What is your name?” my mother asked in a harsh voice.

He turned the mug so we could read it. “Michael,” he said, pointing at the name on the mug. “My brother is upstairs. We’ve been waiting for him for a long time to come home.”

“Why?” I whispered. I found myself clutching onto my mother’s arm with my good hand.

Little Michael smiled at me. “Do you want me to show you?” He looked past me at Ada and my mother. “You’ll have to come too. Then I’ll show you how to get out.”

I wanted to find Dex and Maximus. I wanted a way for Ada and my mom to leave. We really didn’t have a choice.

“Okay,” I said. “Can you promise no harm will come to any of us, including Dex?”

Despite his eyes, he looked crestfallen. “I would never hurt my brother. I wouldn’t hurt any of you either.” He got out of his chair and started toward the hallway. He said over his shoulder. “But the man in the suit…” He raised his finger to his lips. “Stay quiet so he won’t know you’re here.”

But the man in the suit already knew we were here. That was the man in the living room. And when we crept down the darkened hallway, my eyes were drawn to the painting on the wall. What used to be a watercolor of people sitting around and talking and eating was now a scene of utter destruction, dismembered bodies being engulfed by flames. I could almost hear their screams and feel the heat of the fire.

There was a laugh from the living room and I could just see someone long legs as they sat in a chair, the wall blocking me from the sight of their body. A glass of scotch was on the table beside them. Silent night was humming softly from the speakers while the fireplace was now lit. The perfect scene on a cold winter’s night. Even though I knew I would see a cloven hoof if he reached for his scotch, and then maybe a face of unimaginable horror, I couldn’t do anything but stare.

But little Michael reached for my hand, tugging it, his finger still at his lips. His eyes implored me to follow him and to not go into living room.

He led us up the stairs, his ice cold hand in mind, and down the darkened hallway. All the doors we passed were closed and I couldn’t help but wonder which one Dex was in. Everything was so quiet, so, so quiet, that it was hard to imagine anyone being up here at all. But both Dex and Maximus had to be, unless the both escaped the way Michael was about to show us.

At the end of the hallway there was one door open and I got the impression that the inside of the house was a lot larger and longer than it should have been, as if it was existing in its own dimension.

“In here,” Michael whispered and pointed inside his room. We stepped in. There was a small lamp lit in the corner, casting the room in shadow. There were trophies and ribbons and pictures of cars and trucks on the walls. There was also a window that was slightly ajar, showcasing the brick wall of the neighbor’s house.