The Wrong Direction

Chapter Thirty-Two

Adriana

Chapter Thirty-Two

I should have known this whole trip to Larr's shack was too good to be true.  It was his home, for one thing.  Why wouldn't he run into us?  If we had just left a minute or two earlier, we wouldn't be in this mess.

"Um, we were inspecting your property for poisonous mosquitoes," Liam explained, speaking slower than usual as he thought of some random excuse.  "They're very deadly.  One of our friends was bit by a poisonous mosquito.  His name was Ben, in case you knew him.  Um, well, basically, he's brain damaged now."  I noticed that when Liam referred to Ben as a 'friend', his voice sounded strained, as if it had took everything in him to call Ben that.  If Ben was here, he would probably tackle Liam with one of his disturbing bear hugs and profess his undying love for him.  For Ben, anyone calling him their friend was a big deal.  It never happened.  Not even during family reunions.

Larr nodded, petting his disheveled beard.  It was as creepy as it sounded.  "Hmm . . . me see. Poor Benny-Boy.  Me liked him.  No wonder he never showed up at me mansion.  And ta think me's been waitin' all dis time for 'em, dat poor boy."

Niall snickered.  "You think your house is a mansion?  Wow, you really are -"

I elbowed Niall in the rips.  If Larr realized he was insulting him, we'd all be screwed.

"What were ya sayin', pretty-boy?" asked Larr, looking directly at Niall.

A choking sound escaped Niall's lips.  He looked down at me and whispered, "He thinks I'm pretty?  He's almost worse than Ben!"

"He is worse than Ben!" I hissed.  Ben may have his psychotic episodes sometimes, but he sure wouldn't feed two innocent strangers to wolves.  Larr seemed to think that kind of behavior was perfectly acceptable.  The nerve some old men have astounds me.

Instead of charging at us like a murderer, Larr stared at Niall and I, a clueless look on his face.  Finally, he just shrugged and walked over to us.  He patted Niall on the shoulder like he had known him his whole life.  "Haha, yer funny, pretty-boy."

There was only one possible explanation for Larr's strange behavior.  He had to be deaf.  Otherwise, he'd be attacking us by now.

"Anyway," Liam said, taking a step towards Larr.  "We were just leaving.  We would have told you that we were inspecting your property, but you weren't around."

"Er, dat's fine."  Larr waved his hand at us in a 'move along' motion.  "Ya kids are so polite.  So unlike me gnomes.  Dey are monsters, me swear!"

I nodded at Larr, trying to look calm.  I laughed at his comment to try and seem friendly, but instead I just sounded uncomfortable.  "That's nice, Larr.  Anyway, it was nice talking to you."

"You three will come back ta check fer more of those dangerous mosquitoes, right?" Larr asked.  "Me don't wanna be devoured by dem."

All three of us nodded very quickly.  It was like we had rehearsed it.  "Of course!" we all chorused, although we were most definitely lying.  There was no way we would ever come back here for that.

Larr grinned crookedly at us.  He waved - although it looked more like he was pretending to be a fan with his hand - and turned around.  We stayed frozen in place until Larr disappeared into his shack.

That was the last thing I had ever expected to happen.  I was so sure Larr was going to tie all three of us up to his shack and feed us to the wolves.  Maybe he finally realized that his evilness is not okay, or he is just a firm believer of second chances.  Or maybe he is just hallucinating and didn't realize who we were.  I wouldn't be surprised if any of those options were true.