Teen Life

(24) Teen Life

Chapter 24

Dinner time

Bladen Smith

We all just sat around the table staring at each other until Gemma returned with the food, she placed a bowl on the table and headed back into the kitchen, returning with a tray in one hand and a jug in the other. She placed them on the table, sat down and started dishing up for herself.

“Dig in, she said, looking up from her plate when none of us bothered to dish up for ourselves.

“You heard her, dig in,” Langden said, putting some salad and a piece of meat that looked like steak on his plate.

After that we all dished up for ourselves, except for Brady and Tailynn who didn’t look to good at all. I played around with the food on my plate. I didn’t have much of an appetite after what I just witnessed and from what I could tell, neither did Shiloh. She was nibbling on her salad as she nervously looked from one person to the other.

The room was awfully quite, not one of us knowing what to say. Two people had died in the last hour and it didn’t seem like the rest of us were doing to good. Tailynn was still rocking back and forth as if it somehow calmed her, she was eating a piece of meat but it didn’t seem like she was really thinking about what she was doing. Lainey was extremely pale and looked sick. Brady looked heartbroken and seemed like Gemma had completely lost her mind.

As I played with the food on my plate the smell from Diago’s maggot infested body that still laid in the living room was getting stronger. I pushed my plate away and as I did this Langden jumped up, spitting a piece of meat that he was chewing onto the table. Everybody’s heads jerked up and we all stared at him as he grabbed the jug of juice, took a sip and spat it out again as he washed out his mouth. I looked down at the piece of meat that he had spat out and realized why the smell was growing stronger, it was crawling with maggots.

“Oh shit!” Storm moaned as he skidded back his chair and jumped up. I looked to his plate and watched as maggots started crawling out of the meat. Soon every plate was crawling with maggots.

“Did you eat any of the meat?” I asked Shiloh worriedly.

“No, just the salad,” she answered, looking nauseous.

“Good, me too,” I replied as I got up and held my hand out to her, she took it willingly and I pulled her to her feet. We were making our way out of the dining room when Lainey came running past us. She ran into the kitchen and we followed to see what was going on. She almost made it to the sink but not quite before she bent over and spilled her guts all over the floor. It was a mixture of food, slime and maggots, the sight almost made me throw up.

Shiloh’s face went pale for a second, but then she managed to pull herself together. She walked over to the sink where she filled a glass of water and handed it to Lainey who was sitting on the floor, breathing heavily while shaking violently. Lainey took the water from her and took a sip before throwing up again. Sage and Langden joined us in the kitchen at that moment to see what was going on.

“How are you feeling?” Sage asked as she walked over to where Lainey was sitting.

“Sick, I feel sick. It’s this thing,” she answered, placing her hand on her stomach that was abnormally big. I didn’t notice it before but now that she pointed it out it was hard to miss.

“It gotten bigger,” Sage remarked, looking at Lainey with worry clearly written over her face.

“Are you pregnant?” Tailyn asked, walking into the kitchen.

“Yes,” Lainey answered, her face twisting before she threw up again.

“It’s his, that thing’s, isn’t it?” Tailynn asked, staring at Lainey with her cold eyes.

“Yes,” Lainey replied again, looking horrified at the truth of the matter.

Shiloh backed away from her and took her place beside me, I could tell that she was scared and shocked but she didn’t say anything, probably not wanting to make the situation worse for Lainey.  Taylyn and Langden left the room and I could hear them telling the others in the dining room about Lainey being pregnant. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to be mean with Lainey, this wasn’t her fault but at the same time I had to worry about Shiloh’s safety. I was determined that I wouldn’t let anything happen to her and if that meant coming across as an asshole then it was just too bad.

“Come on,” I whispered, taking a hold of Shiloh’s hand. She shook her head in agreement and we took one last look at Lainey as Sage was helping her to her feet before we headed back into the dining room. Gemma was busy cleaning the table, she was throwing the maggots onto the tray with the meat and salad while mumbling something about wasting food.

Shiloh Cooper

“I’m tired, I’m going to try to get some sleep,” I said, to nobody in particular.

“You can’t go alone,” Langden stated from where he was pacing up and down.

“Bladen will come with me, won’t you?” I asked, turning toward him and the smile that crossed his face made me forget about all the horrible things that have happened over the last few hours.

“I’m not leaving your side for anything,” he said and I couldn’t help but return his smile.

“Ok then, where are you guys going to sleep?” Langden asked.

“In my room, there is only a small mirror hanging on the wall, I’ll remove it and put it in one of the empty bedrooms, maybe it will help,” Bladen answered. Langden nodded his head in agreement and nobody else really seemed to care so we said goodnight and headed upstairs.

I was really glad that Bladen agreed to come with me. The smell downstairs was killing me and I couldn’t stand being around the other kids for much longer. They were all acting so strange and freaking me out. I was scared and tired and just wanted to be alone with Bladen for a while so that we could try to figure out what was going on and how to get out of the house.