Get Me To A Church

CHAPTER 9: NAUSEA

           "I hope that was the right thing to do," I said to Larry.

           "You didn't have a choice, man. The poor guy was in so much pain," he replied. "It's what he wanted."

           I furrowed my brows. "Yeah... I guess so. I just—"

           Both of us clenched up when we heard the doorknob rattle. Mrs. Packerton was back.

           "Oh shit! She's back!" Larry hissed. We looked around frantically for a hiding spot.

           "Quick, behind that dresser!" I whisper-screamed.

           Larry was my best friend. There was no one better to die with, though I wished Ashley and Todd were here too — not to die, obviously, but just so they wouldn't miss me as much. That thought brought another fleeting idea into my head: would Travis miss me? I would be dead and Travis wouldn't have anyone to talk to. At least I had Larry here. Oh my god, we were gonna fucking die.

           Larry was crouched and I was in fetal position behind the dresser. He kept itching his face nervously. "If we don't make it out alive..." I stared up at his wide-eyed expression, "I... I love you, dude."

           I barely smiled. I felt my breaths get shallower, like my body was on overdrive and I was gonna faint. "I love you too, man. You're the best friend I've ever had, you know?"

           He put on one of those I-don't-want-to-smile-because-I'm-very-fucking-scared-but-I-am-anyways-because-you're-cool smiles. "Same to you, little bud."

           The door creaked open and Larry stretched his arms out like a shield over me. We both squeezed our eyes shut and I pulled on my pigtails. We awaited our dooms. Something shadowed over us.

           "Hey, sorry to ruin the moment, but what the hell is this place?" Ashley asked.

           Larry and I opened our eyes and he put his arms down. We shuffled up right and stood in front of her. Thank god.... or uh, thank universe? Thank someone for saving us from our almost certain deaths.

           "Ashley!" I grinned breathlessly. "You scared the crap out of us!"

           "I can see that," she laughed.

           "Heh, man, am I glad to see you, Ash. I thought we were done for," Larry said.

           My fingers fidgeted; I was still stressed out, my heart was still thumping. "I thought you had to watch Benjamin." 

           Ben is Ashley's younger brother. I'd seen him a few times. He looked exactly like Ash but with stubby eyelashes and baby hands and very short hair. He was a pretty normal little dude: he liked superhero TV shows and cars.

           "My dad came home early so I rode over here straight away." She turned around and examined the room. "Sorry for giving you guys a scare, I—" her eyes fell on the corpse in the gurney. "...is that... Mr. Packerton...? is he...?"

           I frowned. "It was him. He's gone now. He's finally at peace," I told her.

           Before peeling her eyes away from him, Ashley muttered a little "Damn."  She faced us and swung her hands by her sides. "And please don't tell me—" she gestured at the buckets of diapers surrounding us— "this is what's going into the bologna..."