C.H.U.D. LIVES!: A Tribute Anthology by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: QuarkXPress, ebook, epub
Publisher: Crystal Lake Publishing
Published: 2018-04-26T21:00:00+00:00

D.W.E.L.L.E.R. M.E.S.S.I.A.H.

Jason White

Oscar didn’t know that a human body could hold so much blood until he saw it spraying out of someone’s throat, felt its heat upon his face. The violence happened so quickly he stood frozen, watching long after it had happened, trying to process it, figure it out.

It was sudden, lightning quick. He’d been talking with the homeless guys when it happened. They stood on flattened cardboard boxes, cushioning for their feet.

Oscar had decided earlier in the day that he wasn’t going to go home anymore. Not run away so much as just never return. He’d always seen the “filthy homeless bums” (as his father often called them) standing around the streets to and from school. They had it pretty good. They didn’t have to worry about school and homework. The only thing he had to do now was figure out what to do with his school backpack and the black trumpet case he carried, the latter of which was becoming heavy and tiresome.

“Why you wanna live on the streets, little man?” the black man with the shaggy gray beard had said. “This ain’t no place for a kid. Especially a kid like you.” He pointed to Oscar’s tie and blazer the school forced him to wear. “Not these days.”

The other man was also bearded and when he smiled there were no teeth, his mouth an uninviting entrance to a dark cave. That’s another bonus for going homeless, Oscar thought. He’d never have to brush his teeth or take a bath.

His smile turned into laughter, despite no one having said anything funny. The black man went on, talking over the other man’s laughter.

“If I were you,” the black man said, “I’d just go on home and forget about your troubles. The troubles out here are worse.”

How the homeless man could know that for a certain confused Oscar. He’s never met the man before, so how could he know the nightmare of living in his apartment? He didn’t know, and that was the real fact. Yet, Oscar was just as ignorant of what the homeless man was talking about. All Oscar saw was freedom. Considering the homeless man lived out here, he had to know what he was talking about.

“Winter can be rough, I’ll bet,” Oscar said. The comment made the second homeless man stop laughing. His expression became grim.

“You’re sure right about that,” the black man said. He shivered despite the heat and endless layers of sweat that glistened upon his skin. “But there’s something else, something far more dangerous than any cold night, my little man.”

The violent thing happened then, as though to prove the man’s point. Something pushed against the cardboard upon which they stood. A hand, green with thick white claws, reached out and grabbed the laughing homeless man by his leg. The man was no longer laughing. Instead, his eyes wide with terror, he screamed. The black man screamed, too.

“It’s them!” he said. He backed up, turned, and ran into the darkness of the alley.

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