ABOMINATIONS

CHAPTER ONE

Q U I N C Y

The puddle rippled as Quincy broke its surface with his foot. "Ugh," he muttered to himself, shaking off the water and moping in his head about how his right sock was going to be wet for the rest of the day.

It had rained the night before. Puddles lined the sidewalk and the air was still humid.  Quentin snickered next to him, but Quincy didn't even turn his head to look at him. He wiped his forehead, and was thankful that it was humid and that it was logical for him to be sweating. In reality, he was nervous, and he shoved his hands in his pockets to hide the fact that they were shaking. His brother was oblivious to both of his movements. Quentin trailed Quincy down the road, looking up and around at the shops that the two brothers passed as they walked.

"Quincy, are you alright?" came Quentin's voice, starting Quincy out of his reverie.

"Yeah," he choked, swallowing hard. "Yeah. Completely."

"You know we can still cancel and go home," Quentin replied, and even though Quincy wasn't looking at him he could imagine the furrowed brow and slightly turned down mouth that made up his brother's concerned face. He kept his eyes forward.

"No, no, it's fine. We're almost there anyway."

Quentin seemed to take this as a decent answer. "Okay, I trust you," he said, and Quincy felt a shiver run down his spine.

They finally came to what appeared to be a normal alleyway. It was dingy, and more puddles lined the way down in between the two buildings. There were some trash cans, trash bags, and an old tire, but aside from that it was empty. The two boys walked down the length of the alleyway, stopping almost at the end at a door to their left.

"Here we are," Quincy said in a low voice. He gulped as he looked up at the metal door looming in front of him. It was ominous, completely sleek and giving no indication as to what was on the other side. The only discernible feature besides the doorknob was a rectangular cutout that looked like it could move. Quincy raised a nervous and and knocked twice on the door. For a few moments, nothing happened. A few muffled and unintelligible noises came from behind the door. Quincy and Quentin exchanged a glance, but their attention was brought back to the door when the little rectangle slid aside to reveal total darkness. Quincy could barely make out a pair of eyes in the dim light.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" said the eyes behind the door, eerie and in a voice that was almost a growl.

Quincy sighed, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. "Brett, c'mon, it's us."

The voice behind the door changed tones. "Aww, I was having fun, hehehe!"

The rectangular window slid closed. Brett began to open the door and Quincy lost count of the sounds of locks unlocking after seven. Finally the metal door opened and slammed into the wall next to it with a boom that reverberated through Quincy's teeth. Brett smiled wide, his gaze flitting from Quincy to Quentin and back to Quincy. He held out an arm and in an overly grandiose voice, announced, "Welcome!"

Quincy rolled his eyes again, but out of the corner of his eye he could see Quentin practically glowing with amazement. Sometimes he forgot how easily impressed his brother was.

"Come on," Brett said, sweeping the hand that was outstretched in a motion gesturing the two inside. His hair fell over his eyes and he blew up at it to get it to the side. "This way."

"I must thank you both for coming. This is going to be... very interesting." Brett's voice echoed around the dark building as he led them through a mostly empty room. Quincy wondered to himself what this building once was, and why Brett had what seemed to be total ownership over it. The only source of light was coming from a half-open door that opened with a loud creak when they reached it. Brett stepped aside and let the pair of brothers in first.