short horror stories

sunbleached part 2

He awoke to find his mother hovering over him. She was wearing her white Red Lobster shirt, with the nametag and the ridiculous tie. She had one hand on his forehead, simultaneously taking his temperature and pushing the hair out of his face.

"Hey honey," she said.

"Mom?" He pulled his head away from her and passed a hand over his face. He was on the couch in the living room. Late afternoon light streamed in through the window. No more than an hour could have elapsed. "What are you doing home?"

"Mikey called me. He said you passed out."

He noticed his brother sitting on the easy chair on the other side of the room. Michael regarded him solemnly, his little hands folded in his lap like he was in church.

"You're white as a sheet," his mother said. "How long have you been feeling bad?"

"I don't know. Just today I guess."

"I think we should get you to a hospital."

"No!" He made an effort to sit up. "No, I'm fine. I just need to rest for a while."

She straightened, and he could see her wrestling with the idea. He knew she didn't want to go to the hospital any more than he did. They didn't have any insurance, and here she was missing a shift at work besides.

"Really, I'm okay. Besides, we'd have to wait forever, and isn't Tyler coming over tonight?"

His mother tensed. She looked at him searchingly, like she was trying the fathom his motive. She said, "Joshua, you're more important to me than Tyler is. You do understand that, don't you?"

He looked away. He felt his face flush, and he didn't want her to see it. "I know," he said.

"I know you don't like him."

"It's not that," he said, but of course it was that. Tyler had to be here so he could feed him to the vampire. He had a feeling that tonight was going to be the night. He didn't know how he could go on much more, as weak as he was.

Michael piped up, his voice cautious yet hopeful: "It doesn't matter anyway, 'cause Daddy's coming back."

His mother sighed and turned to look at him. Joshua could see all the years gathered in her face, and he felt a sudden and unexpected sympathy for her. "No, Mikey. He's not."

"Yes he is, Mom, he told me. He asked if it was okay."

Her voice hardened, although she was obviously trying to hide it. "Has he been talking to you on the phone?" She looked to Joshua for confirmation.

"Not me," Joshua said. It occurred to him that Dad may have been calling while he was under the house, talking to the vampire. He felt at once both guilty that he'd left his brother to deal with that alone, and outraged that he'd missed out on the calls.

"You tell him next time he calls that he can talk to me about that," she said, not even bothering to hide her anger now. "In fact, don't even talk to him. Hang up on him if he calls again. I'm going to get his number blocked, that son of a bitch."

Tears piled in Michael's eyes and he lowered his face. His body trembled as he tried to keep it all inside. A wild anger coursed through Joshua's body, animating him despite the fever.

"Shut up!" he shouted. "Shut up about Dad! You think Tyler is better? He can't even look at us! He's a fucking retard!"

His mother looked at him in pained astonishment for a long moment. Then she put her hand over her mouth and stifled a sob. Aghast, Michael launched himself at her, a terrified little missile. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her chest. "It's okay, Mom, it's okay!"