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“Good. Come on... maybe later you can help me take some pictures.”
Oliver smiled at that. “Can we go in the boat?”
“I don’t know,” David said honestly, looking back at their father again, wh
o was beginning to look impatient. “We’ll try. Come on.”
David turned, satisfied that Oliver was following him again. But he’d only t
aken a few steps before he heard his brother make a strange sound beside him
--a surprised burst of air rushing from his lungs--and the hair at the nape
of David’s neck prickled as he spun around, and froze to find that Oliver wa
sn’t behind him at all.
“Oliver?” he demanded, his eyes darting towards the trees in search of his mi
ssing twin as panic rose in his chest. “Oliver!”
“Ouch. David?” Oliver’s voice was muffled, but definitely there.
“Where are you?” David asked, moving forward cautiously.
“I’m right here,” Oliver said, sounding put out. “I hurt my butt.”
Feeling relieved, and a little amused, David put down his gun and knelt dow
n towards the ground as he proceeded forward, following the direction of hi
s brother’s voice. “Keep talking to me...I can’t see you.”
“I’m down here, David. I can’t get up. It’s too high.”
David’s head snapped to his left, and he moved towards the thick trunk of a
tree where a hole in the ground was barely visible through the tall grass. K
neeling, he looked down, expecting to see Oliver, but... the warm spring air
suddenly felt cold against David’s skin and a peculiar ache stirred his gut
as all he saw was darkness below him. Day turned into night, the sky sparkl
ing with stars that had grown faint in the last half hour, and looking over
his shoulder, his father had also vanished.
No. This wasn’t how it had happened three years ago. Now...the place hidden
in the woods, not very far from their house was littered with debris, and th
e plate his father had secured over the opening of the hole his brother had
fallen into was open.
For several long moments, David stared into the entrance, sorting the past f
rom the present, jumping when he felt a cool hand on the back of his neck.
“I loved you once, you know,” his mother’s voice said quietly, and David tur
ned his stiff neck to look over her shadow behind him. “My perfect little bo
y... both of you were perfect.”
He closed his eyes, unsure if it was her words causing his nausea, or the ear
lier blow to his head. But, even with the way his tongue seemed to stick to t
he roof of his mouth, and the weakness he felt every time he used a muscle, h
e found it in himself to respond. “I hate you...bitch.”
Mary Martin sighed behind it as her hand on his neck became a little tighte
r, not enough to hurt, just enough to make him nervous.
“You’ve just made it so hard, David...” She paused to laugh to herself, alth
ough it was void of all humor. “And to think, you used to be the good one. E
veryone noticed, too... around the time you started walking. I remember you
were just the sweetest little thing, so...sensitive to others. You never cri
ed, did you know that? And when someone else did, you’d just sit with them..
. like just being there could make all of their troubles go away. That’s wha
t you were... my perfect little boy.”
Mary’s fingers moved further up David’s neck, sending a cold chill through
him as he involuntarily convulsed. “Whatever I am now, you made me,” he w
hispered, dropping his hands to the ground in an effort to keep himself up
. He felt like the world around him was spinning, like balance never exist
ed. Heavy. He felt heavy.
“But you were a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Mary continued, as if she’d never
heard him at all. “After what you did... after... no little angel could have
been capable of hurting his own brother the way that you...”
“Liar!” David suddenly cut her off. He closed his eyes and allowed his head
to fall forward. He was tired. Ready to stop, but not before he said it. “I
know the truth. I remember it. You can’t lie to me anymore, because I know.”
He paused, working hard to turn his head and look at his mother, who was su
ddenly frozen in the dark, her expression barely visible, but readable. It l
ooked like shock, stuck there on her face. “And I’ll tell everyone.”
Mary gasped as if she’d been slapped, her eyes snapping to her son’s face.
It was a strange variety of things that David found in her expression then.
Shock. Anger... but mostly sadness. “Oh, David... things don’t have to be
like this anymore.” She suddenly smiled, unnerving him as she knelt at his
side. He wondered if she had even heard anything he said. “I’m gonna make i
t better again.”
“Again?” he repeated, frustrated when he found that he was slurring again. “
It was never...”
“But that means you can’t come home with me,” she said thoughtfully as she
knelt at his side, and David watched in horror as she reached for one of hi
s ankles, dragging it towards the drop. “But don’t worry... it’ll be better [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]