Cole: Mind of Madness: A Prelude (A Phoenix Club Serial Thriller)

Chapter 3

Two days passed, and Ezra thought less and less about the barn and grew more relaxed concerning Henry's homelife with his dad. Henry said there had been no more "mysterious" trips to the barn; his dad only went to the barn to feed the pigs and keep things clean, and usually, Henry went with him.

A couple of days before Halloween, Henry met Ezra in the woods at their spot by the stream. When Ezra saw his face, he knew something was wrong. The boy looked distressed and worried. The knot in his gut that had been steadily unraveling over the last couple of days suddenly cinched tight again.

"Henry?" Ezra hopped across the narrow stream and nearly lost his balance when his boots slipped on the frozen grass. "Whoa." He caught himself before he tumbled back into the icy water and walked over to Henry. "What's wrong?"

Henry sank onto an old log sprinkled with frozen moss. He hung his head and picked at his pant leg. Ezra sat beside him.

"Henry?" Ezra's concern for the other boy deepened, grinding his guts harder. "What is it?" He hesitated. "Your... dad?"

Henry sniffed and nodded.

"What about him?" Ezra asked quietly. "Did he... do something?"

Raising his head, Henry looked anxiously at Ezra. "Yeah," he whispered. "Yesterday, just before dinner, he started acting... upset again. Like the day of the funeral. All agitated and... and like he was mad." Henry lowered his eyes. "He yelled at me because the food I cooked wasn't as good as mom's food. Then he started..."

"What?" Ezra whispered, feeling sick to his stomach.

"He started... talking to her again." Henry swallowed thickly. "Mom."

"What did he say this time?"

"H-He said it was her fault. Said if she was still here, it wouldn't have happened."

"What wouldn't have happened?"

Henry shrugged and looked sick. "I-I don't know. But he was getting angrier, practically yelling at her, slamming stuff around. I-I think he was crying a little bit, too. Like how you cry when you get so mad. He started throwing dishes at the wall, breaking them."

Ezra wrapped his arm around Henry. The other boy trembled, a deep fear resonating in his watery eyes. "Did he hurt you?"

"No," Henry choked softly. "I-I thought he was going to, the way he looked at me. But then he just said he was going out, and he left."

The creepy feeling crawled back into Ezra's gut. "Where did he go?"

"I don't know." Henry sniffed as he laid his head on Ezra's shoulder. "But he came home real late. After midnight. And..."

"And what?" Ezra tensed.

Henry straightened and looked at Ezra. "He drove out behind the barn again," he whispered with a tremor. "I woke up when I heard his car. I waited for him to come to the house, but he was out there a long time."

"What did you do when he came in the house? Did you talk to him?"

"No," Henry whispered. "I pretended to be asleep when he came to my bedroom door and looked in on me. He just... stood there. I could feel him staring at me." He swallowed. "It... it scared me. It felt creepy."

"Did he come into your room?"

"No. He closed my door and went to bed."

Ezra released a shaky breath. "And this morning? Was he still mad?"

Henry shook his head. "No. It was like before. He was all calm and... happy. He apologized to me again for the way he acted last night. He said he was still adjusting to losing mom."