Teen Life

(26) Teen Life

Chapter 26

Floating

Sage Johnson

I woke to the sound of breaking glass, jerking up and watching as both Lainey and Brady woke too.

“Let’s go see,” I said, getting out of bed. Brady jumped up and moved to the door before I could get there. I let him take the lead if it would make him feel better. Lainey walked beside me and I couldn’t help but notice that her stomach had tripled in size over night.

“How are you feeling?” I asked her, unable to stop myself from staring.

“Sick,” she answered as she held her belly with both hands.

“This thing is heavy,” she stated, looking at me worriedly. I didn’t know what to say to her. She knew that she was carrying that things child but we had no idea what to expect.

We made our way into the kitchen to find Langden, Tailynn and Gemma arguing.

“What’s going on?” Brady asked, stepping over some broken glass.

“It’s all rotten,” Tailynn answered, looking at us like we were idiots. Like we should have expected that all of our fresh food would be rotten. I looked over at the table and nearly gagged at the blackened, maggot infested food.

“I’m hungry,” Lainey said from beside me and everybody’s eyes fell onto her stomach.

“Well there is nothing to eat and you shouldn’t be feeding that thing anyway, its evil,” Gemma said as she started cleaning up the table. Sometime during everything that happened she had really lost her mind.

“How are you feeling Lainey?” Langden asked, walking towards the window and staring at something outside.

“Sick, sore and nauseous,” she answered, still holding her stomach. He shook his head but continued staring outside.

“Where is Storm?” Brady asked as he checked the fridge to make sure that they weren’t lying about everything being rotten.

“His dead,” Tailynn answered like it was nothing new. A shudder ran through my body as the fact that yet another one of us had died sank in.

“What happened?” I asked, not that it really mattered but wanting to know.

“Look for yourself” Langden answered pointing outside.

I walked over to the window with Lainey following close behind me and looked outside in the direction where Langden was staring. Storm was floating upside down in the pool, the water a disgusting black color.

“We have no idea how he got out, the doors and windows still won’t open,” Langden said, tearing his eyes away from Storm’s floating body.

“Oh shit,” Lainey moaned and stumbled to the sink where she threw up a mixture between slime, maggots and blood. When she was done she washed out her mouth and slid down against the cupboard sobbing. I sat down beside her and took her hand in mine. I wanted her to know that she wasn’t alone but more then that I didn’t want to feel so alone myself.

“There is a basement, I didn’t notice the door before because it is actually inside of one of the cupboards. It’s locked up pretty good but I’m sure we can get it open if we tried,” Langden stated, looking at us.

“I’m not going into the basement, you’ll be dead in a second,” Lainey said through her sobs.

“I don’t think it is a good idea,” I stated, thinking of all the evil things that could be lurking down there.

“It’s the only option we have, I’ll go with you,” Tailynn said with no emotion.

“Ok, then it is settled, you guys stick together and if we find a way out we will send help for you,” Langden said as he walked over to one of the drawers and took out a few knives.

“Will you help me get these shelves out?” Langden asked opening the door to a long cupboard.

“Yea sure,” Brady replied, taking one of the knives. They started working on getting the shelves out as Bladen and Shiloh came walking into the kitchen.

“Glad to see you survived the night,” Tailynn commented, glaring at them with her cold eyes. They looked at her strangely and then focused their attention on Langden and Brady.

“What’s going on?” Shiloh asked, looking away from then to me.

“Langden found a basement door, he and Tailynn is going to go in and see if they can find a way out, if they do they will send help for us,” I explained, squeezing Lainey’s hand. She was still sobbing furiously and her body had started twitching.

Gemma had finished cleaning the table and looked up at them with a hand full of worms.

“Don’t bother looking for something to eat, it is all rotten and if you happen to wonder where Storm is just look out the window,” she said and then threw her hand full of worms into the dustbin.

Shiloh and Bladen made their way over to the window hand in hand and I heard a sad moan escape Shiloh’s mouth when she saw Storm’s body floating in the pool. Bladen pulled her away and held her in his arms to comfort her.

Lainey’s stomach growled beside me and I remembered the two boxes of chocolate that Noriko had hid under her bed.

“I’m taking Lainey back to bed,” I stated, getting up and holding my hand out for her to take. She smiled at me and let me help her to her feet.

“I don’t think that is such a good idea,” Brady said from where he was helping Langden.

“It’s not going to make a difference,” Tailynn said, shrugging her shoulders.

“I’m not letting you two go alone, I’ll come with. Bladen can help,” Brady said, wiping his hands and handing the knife to Bladen who just nodded and took it from him. Shiloh slipped down against the wall and watched them take apart the cupboard as Brady and I helped Lainey out of the kitchen.

We stopped for a second at the toilet so that Lainey could pee and then we headed back to my room. Once we were inside I dug out one of the boxes of chocolates from under Noriko’s bed. Brady and Lainey both sighed in appreciation when they saw what I had.

“We better check if they are still ok before we eat them,” Brady said holding out his hand. I handed him the box of chocolates and watched as he opened it and took out one of the bars. He opened it and broke it into little pieces to make sure there were no maggots inside.

“Looks fine,” he said, smelling a piece and then placing it in his mouth. He chewed on it and then swallowed as me and Lainey waited for the outcome.

“I think it is ok,” He stated, popping another piece into his mouth as he handed the box back to me. I took out two of the bars and handed them to Lainey, she took them looking very grateful with a huge smile on her face.

“You should check everyone before you eat it just to be sure,” Brady said, holding out his hand for another one.  I handed him one and then started unwrapping my own.

I broke it into little pieces like Brady had done and when I was happy that there was no maggots in it I placed a piece in my mouth and started eating. It tasted delicious and I have never been so thankful for a bar of chocolate in my entire life. When we were all done with our second I handed Brady and Lainey a third and took one for myself as well. I opened it, checked it for maggots and placed a piece in my mouth.

At first the taste was the same as before but then it started to change to something foul and disgusting. I spat it out on the floor and watched as it turned black.