Sweet Things by Douglas Wright

Author:Douglas Wright
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horror, halloween, mystery, metaphysical, supernatural
Publisher: Dark Carnival Studios
Published: 2017-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

TWO LEFT FEET

Winner of Joe Lansdale’s Contest (2012)

Dexter Fairchild knelt, his knees settling over the chipped floor. He clenched his fists together and pressed them hard into the worn mattress. The fifteen-year-old stared at the ancient water stains on the ceiling. His pulse fluttered like a moth in a mason jar. Words drifted over his lips just above a whisper. “Please make me better, God. I’ll give anything to be like everybody else.”

Moments later, his gentle mumbling was interrupted by faint slurping outside his window. He blinked against the gloom and drew a long silent breath before sinking back on his turned-up heels. A water droplet struck the grimy floor, splashing icy tendrils over his bare toes.

“You praying for me, son?”

The baritone voice was suave, smooth and filled the air like a heavy blanket of floating silk. Dex thought of his dead grandfather. His voice used to sound the same, like a sophisticated devil from a 1940s Hollywood movie, dripping with not only flames, but with charismatic soul.

Dexter craned his head and carefully scoured the bedroom. Everything appeared normal. Nothing out of place.

“Well, my son?”

The debonair Cary Grant voice reverberated from the cracked window. Dexter focused on tiny ripples that shivered across the glass. Through the pane, he could still see the old oak tree. Its limbs looked gnarled in the dark, no longer the friendly daytime branches that supported his ancient tire swing.

He shuffled in closer to the bed. Waves of anxiety prickled his skin while his heart thudded like a Tommy gun. His raspy breathing overtook the silence. All he wanted now was to accept that the Lord had arrived, that the good entity had come like the preachers did in the olden days, to help him become what his parents believed, the miracle that was their son.

Dexter had no idea of what miracle his mom and dad was referring to, because ever since kindergarten, his peers had battered him senseless. Even today high school kids would shout, “Hey Disc,” rather than Dex. At times the moniker stuck more in his craw than any other, it would bother him so much that he’d race home after school and flop onto his bed and silently cry.

Next to the window, a plump effervescent face jiggled in a puddle of moonlight. “My son,” the shadowy figure said, “you call?”

Dexter rose to his feet. His voice came out feeble and weak. “No.”

“Of course you did. You sent me a Christmas list, didn’t you?”

Dexter thought back to when the Eaton’s catalogue arrived on his doorstep. In a moment of reflection he remembered when his little cousin Jamie, came to stay that weekend in September. Once Jamie spotted the Wish Book she immediately wanted to write Santa. So she and Dexter sprawled out over the living room floor and rummaged through the catalogue, picking out what they wanted.

The memory swiftly dissipated and Dexter found himself staring blankly at the haunted face before him. A crimson glow leaked from the old man’s pipe while a criminal smile stretched his shadowy features out of shape.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.