I wake up early, as usual. I look down and Stan is still asleep. I put on my glasses and walk to the window. There are no cars. Mom never came home, like usual. I walk into the kitchen and start making some pancakes. I walk over to the fridge and grab some fresh strawberries.
"Morning," A groggy voice behind me startles me and I jump. I see Stanley.
"Morning, you scared me," I tell him. He laughs.
"I saw," He remarks.
"I made pancakes," I motion to the small stack of pancakes. We sit and eat the pancakes and fruit. He has syrup on his pancakes, but I don't.
"It gets everywhere and then everything is sticky," I argue.
"But it's worth it!" He throws his hands up.
"Is it?" I ask.
"Yes, it is," He stands firm.
"Whatever, personal preferences," I give in. He smirks.
"I should go home and change," He sighs, telling me.
"Okay," I say a bit disappointed. Before I can say anything else, the phone rings. I walk over to the phone and pick up.
"Hello?" I ask.
"Deirdre?" The person on the other side asks.
"Yes," I answer, confused.
"Hey, it's me, Eddie. Can you meet us at Bill's house, something happened to Beverly, Bill won't say what," Eddie talks quickly.
"Okay," I respond, a bit overwhelmed.
"Have you seen Stan?" He asks me.
"Yeah, he's with me, why?" I ask.
"Oh, we haven't been able to get through his phone, tell him too. Coming mommy! I have to go, bye," He hangs up. I look at the phone and sigh. I put it back on the wall and walk over to Stan.
"That was Eddie, something happened to Beverly. Everyone is gonna meet at Bill's house and head over," I fill him in on what just happened.
"Okay, can we stop by my house first?" He asks.
"Of course," I tell him. I quickly clean up and get changed. Then, we get on our bikes and ride to his house.
"Stay here," He tells me and runs in. I sigh. I look at the house he lives in. It looks nice, like a classic, ideal American house. I assume his household is the same, ideal. Stan rushes out and gets back on his bike. We ride to Bill's house. He lives on the same street as me, just some houses down. The boys are already in the yard, waiting for us.
"God, finally you two decide to show up. I was gonna go buy you some condoms," Richie says with a smirk. I roll my eyes and show him the finger.
"Let's go," Stan says, looking away. Bill leads us to her house. We soon found out she lives in an apartment. She is sitting on a fire escape.
"I- I need to show you something," She says to us.
"What is it?" Eddie asks, worried.
"More than what we saw at the quarry?" Richie asks with a sly look.
"Shut up, just shut up Richie." Eddie quickly shuts him down.
"My dad will kill me if he finds out I had boys in the apartment," She says, looking worried.
"It's okay Bev, he won't know," I step forward and reassure her.
"We'll- we'll leave a lookout. Richie, s-s-st-st-stay here." We all get off our bikes and walk towards the stairs.
"Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, what if her dad comes back?" Richie asks sounding worried. I shrug and Stan turns back around.
"Do what you always do, start talking," He offers. I smirk, walking up the stairs.
"It is a gift," Richie calls after us. We enter the apartment through the back door. She immediately shows us through the hallway. She stops at the corner and looks at a door.
"In there," She says after a long pause.
"What is it?" Stan quickly asks.
"You'll see," She says, making me nervous.
"Great, bringing us to see the bathroom," Eddie says sarcastically to hide his fear. "You know that 89% of the worse accidents occur in the bathroom and kitchen. And that's where all the bacteria and fungi are, and it is not a hygienic place..." He pauses as Bill opens the door. There is blood everywhere.
"I knew it," Eddie gags.
"It looks like the shining in here," I say, looking at the gory scene.
"Do you see it?" Bev asks.
"How could you not?" I ask, horrified.
"What happened in here?" Stan asks.
"My dad couldn't see it," She tells us. "I thought I might be crazy."
"Well if you're crazy, then we're all crazy," Ben says.
"We c-can't leave it like this," Bill says firmly. I sigh.
"Bev, where are your cleaning supplies?" I ask. This is going to be a long day. She leads us to a closet and takes out sponges buckets and trash bags. We fill the buckets up with water and start scrubbing the blood off the walls. I had to get Eddie a clothespin to cover his nose because he was so disgusted. Every few minutes I can hear him gagging. Bill pours the last bucket of bloody water down the tub and we start taking everything out of the room. We go outside and dump the trash bags into the big garbage bin.
"Geeze! What took you guys so long? What did you even see?" Richie asks when he sees us emerge from the building.
"What's up with all the bags?" He asks.
"They're filled with blood," I tell him.
"What the fuck, seriously?" He asks. I simply nod my head.
"Did she murder someone?" He asks, following me and Stan to the garbage bin.
"No," Stan rolls his eyes.
"Is she on her period?" He asks.
"No!" I tell him.
"What happened?" He asks impatiently.
"Just wait like 2 minutes," I tell him, the bag slipping out of my hands on my side. He sighs. Stan sees it falling and we rush to the bin. I can't reach the top of it. We're screwed. I push up as high as I can, but Stan does most of the work. I look back and see Richie left. I dust my hands off when it gets in there.
"Good teamwork," Me and Stan high five.
YOU ARE READING
All Alone | Stanley Uris
Adventure"That's what adults do. They only think about their problems... And when they don't have any, they make one up. Us kids, we can see the reality of life more than they can, and that's what's truly terrifying. Something they'll never want to come to t...
