Page 8 of The Dearly Departed

“What is it?” Shawn asked, worry in his tone.

“Looks like … I don’t know … storage or something,” I replied, taking in the stacked boxes, some taped shut while others lay open.

“What kinda storage?” Ike asked. “Like … coffins?”

“No, dumbass,” I muttered, taking a step inside.

Carefully, I lifted one cardboard flap to take a peek inside one of the boxes to find office supplies. A glance inside another uncovered sealed boxes of tissues.

Ike and Shawn wandered in behind me, and Shawn pulled the door shut with the careful precision of a guy who had sneaked out of a house or twenty in his time.

Another quick look around, and I concluded that, while the room was used for storage, it wasn’t entered too often, judging by the layers of dust on some of the boxes and the dirt, dust bunnies, and debris collected in the corners.

“We’ll sleep in here,” I announced, wandering around stacks of boxes to find the room’s perimeter was sparse, with plenty of room for three teenage boys to tuck away and sleep.

How convenient, I thought. Almost like it was meant to be.

“You’re serious?” Shawn asked, watching as I got down to stretch out on the floor.

At least it’s carpeted, I thought as I took off my jacket and tucked it beneath my head to use as a pillow.

“Yeah. Why?”

Ike was already making himself comfortable along another wall as Shawn stared at me incredulously.

“What if someone sees us?”

“You should probably hide then,” Ike said, and I gestured, as if to say, He gets it. Why don’t you?

“If someone comes in, they’ll find us.”

I frowned. “You wanna go scope out the rest of the place and find a better room to hide in? Be my guest.”

Ike’s disembodied voice came from behind his wall of boxes as he snickered. “Have fun with the dead bodies, Shawny.”

Shawn ignored his teasing and said, “Bram, what if they catch us?”

With a groan, I sat up and saw the terror in my friend’s eyes. He had a right to be scared. We all did. But nobody ever escaped from hell for good without dealing with a little fear.

“We’re not getting caught, okay?” I promised. “Now, shut the hell up and get some sleep.”

CHAPTER TWO

“Abraham!”

I sit up abruptly and watch in horror at the sight of his fat hand tangled in her hair, her bare feet kicking against the floor of my bedroom as he drags her away from my bed.

Her stuffed bunny falls from her hand as she reaches out for me. Its floppy body tumbles to the floor.

“Abraham! Help me!”

“Anna!” I shout, my voice breaking with desperation.

I climb from my bed and try to run, try to reach her, but my legs are stuck, frozen, glued to the ground I stand on. All I can do is stare and watch as he takes her, wrenching her away from my reach and hauling her down the hall to his room. And she screams and screams and screams my name, over and over and over again.

“Abraham! Abraham! Help, Abraham, please! Abraham!”

“Abraham!”