ABOMINATIONS

CHAPTER SIX

C R A E

Caroline was at school, Crae having returned from walking her there about a half hour before, and their mom was sitting on the couch that she seemed to be attached surgically to and drinking a large bottle of wine. Crae remembered when before had moved out how his mom actually poured herself glasses. He wasn't sure when she had ditched that habit and decided to drink her wine or liquor straight from the bottle it came in. He wondered if it had anything to do with him moving out, but based on the way she treated him when he did visit home, he doubted it.

While his mom drowned herself in cheap wine, Crae hung out out of sight behind her, leaning against the wall of the hallway and watching TV. It was usually set to one of his mom's cooking or reality shows that she barely paid attention to, but this morning it was on the news, and Crae was actually interested in watching.

It was the usual type thing; weather, stories about happenings around the county and with the government. He was about to leave and go find something else to occupy his time until Caroline got home when the story on the news changed and the man started talking about a "dangerous individual" who should be avoided at all costs. Squinting over his classes to read the paper in front of him, the news anchor told the story of a young man whose name or age they had no idea. He told the story of this individual showing up to a police station a couple towns over from Crae, and when he thought about it the town was actually in Nevada, not California where he lived. The young man had been talking crazy, saying he had bad things happen to him, and being clearly on drugs. The news anchor cut to a clip of a police officer talking. He had a bandage around his head and his arm was in a sling.

"I never got his name," he was saying into the microphone. "But he told me this insane story of his brother and some unknown scientist or something strappin' him to a table and pumping him full of some drug or something. Then, get this, I told him we were gonna hold him at the jail for the night so we could get a specialist up there to talk to him -- since this dude was either off his rocker or on something strong --" he said, looking at the camera for a moment "--and he ran! I tried to grab him and I got ahold of his arm, and then he THREW ME into the wall!" The man shouted, waving his good arm around for emphasis. "He broke my arm, dislocated my shoulder, and gave me a concussion!"

"He sounds extremely dangerous," the unseen news reporter chimes in.

"Definitely," The officer agreed.

The news broadcast cut back to the anchor, who was now accompanied by a picture of the mystery man. The picture was blurry, taken from someone running after him, but Crae could make out a mop of black hair, a tattered yellow shirt, and since his head was turned slightly to look at his pursuers, Crae could see what looked like a giant tooth protruding from his lower jaw, like a tusk of some sort. He wasn't really sure what that was about.

"--could be anywhere from eastern Nevada to California. He should be treated as dangerous, and if you see this individual or have any clue to his whereabouts, dial 911 immediately. Next up, a heartwarming story about a woman who opened a gluten-free bakery to help raise awareness for people with Celiac Disease like her son."

Crae shook his head, turning and walking back towards his room while simultaneously turning on his phone and looking for other information about this dangerous tooth man. There were a couple articles speculating about what he was and where his "superhuman strength" came from. Crae found himself reading an Onion article calling him "Walrusman," claiming he was bitten by a walrus and now has tusks and super-strength. It was mildly entertaining.

Soon it was time for Caroline to get out of school. Crae walked there, enjoying the mild weather. He waited for his sister and when she came bounding down the steps he smiled and waved, prompting her to run over to him and jump up to hug him, nearly bowling him over.