Chomp

Chapter II

Sirens blared across Nampa that night as the darkness was lit with hues of red and blue. A massive search had taken place for Marcus Hill but they never found him. A few witnesses stated that they saw him playing by himself with a ball on a street but that was it. The search went on for hours and was once again resumed in the morning.

Peter had a tough time sleeping that night. The constant barking of the search dogs kept him awake. Apparently a boy had gone missing in their neighborhood yesterday and the cops had knocked on their door to find out if he or his wife had seen the boy.

Peter in his late sixties felt exhausted as he walked into the kitchen to fix a breakfast for Rose and him. Bacon and eggs would do but lately he'd been having trouble chewing bacon.

'Did they find him yet?' Rose said as she slowly dragged herself into the kitchen. She still had her night robe on and her brownish honey blonde hair tied in a knot.

'I don't think so,' the retired scientist replied.

'It rained a bit last night, won't have to water the backyard today,' said Rose.

'You didn't sleep either?' Peter asked, lifting his head watching her sit next to the counter.

'I woke up twice,' she sighed. The cops left the area after midnight. The mother of Marcus insisted them to stay longer. A group of neighbors formed a search party and continued to search for the kid until 2 am. Two guys got their dogs which weren't useful for searches but they thought that it would be of some help.

***

The rats had feasted on the little boy and they loved the taste of human flesh. The blood had dried in a few spots on the wooden floor and had turned dark maroon. A few bones were scattered next to boxes which had acted as make-shift homes for some of the rats. A rat sat inside the rib cage as it relished the soft lungs. The body was in a different section of the basement. A cabinet placed at the center of the basement, separated it into two unequal halves.

One rat dragged a huge chunk of the brain up to the power unit and nibbled on it. The rats would fight each other for the meat. Orangy-yellow liquid oozed from the freshly bitten parts into the power unit and caused a spark, causing an outage.

***

'The dogs will be of no use to the cops now,' he said as he went to get the newspaper. The bulb in the entryway went off.

'Huh? I just changed that bulb last week!' Peter groaned.

He brushed his hand through his grey hair back and forth in confusion and flicked the switch a couple of times. Daylight lit the entryway through the long glass panes on either side of the door. A film of dust had settled on top of the wooden shoe rack and the miniature Boise Capital Building giving it a dull look. Rose absolutely hated the dust and would always brush the furniture. But now Peter had to do most of the dusting as his wife's arthritis had got bad and she couldn't move much around the house.

'PETE! I THINK THE LIGHTS ARE OUT!' Rose screamed from the kitchen.

Peter sighed and headed to the basement door. The power unit was downstairs and he hadn't been there in months. He gripped the handle, twisted it and pushed it. The door didn't budge. It had been jammed for a long time and he didn't bother fixing it every time he walked past it. But today he wasn't going to forget. If he did, then they wouldn't have power for the rest of the day and Rose would kill him.

Peter brought a crowbar from the garage and hit the lock several times. THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! The lock gave away the third time and the door moved backwards a little. The old man was greeted with a strong aroma and dust. The dust activated his sinuses which made him sneeze repeatedly. The dry palms of his hands became moist with all the aerosols that he exhaled as he walked towards his bedroom.

'Did you check the unit?' Rose called from the kitchen as she saw him walk past the door.

'No. Just call the electrician. I don't think I can go down there. My sinuses got bad.'

'How many times did I remind you to fix that door and clean the basement? How many months has it been? What will the electrician think of how we keep our home when he walks into that mess?' she continued to rant.

'We're calling an electrician, not the President! Just call the damn guy!' Peter scowled back. Now he would not only have to deal with his sinuses but also the migraine that his wife just gave him.