Shut Up & Listen

21. Prelude to Interruption

[maverik george, 26 (2002)]

December 2002

"What was that sound?" Maverik peeked into the bedroom where he saw Lonnie sitting on the bed calmly. He looked around the room and didn't see anything. And so, he approached his son of five years as his eyes began to well. "Lonnie, what's wrong? What happened? Where's Mason?

Lonnie's face ran red and the wellen tears began to spill over, dropping from his eyes and falling, streamlike, down his cheeks. He shook his head.

"Lonnie. Stop crying and tell me what's wrong."

"I cant!" He yelled lowder than the soft spoken boy had ever yelled before. Maverik grabbed his child's shoulders, looking into his eyes.

"Baby boy you gotta calm down."

He began heaving, "I'm trying." He got out between staggered breaths and howls of terror.

"Where's Mason?"

"He was b b bleeding." He hiccupped. "We were just playing."

"Just tell me where. I will help."

He pointed to the closet and Maverik decided that maybe the door slamming was what he'd heard before. He opened the door and saw the boy sitting in the corner with his head down. He called the boy's name and lifted his head up only to make the blood spill out of his mouth onto his tee shirt making Maverik jump back. He sat on his butt, staring in horror at the breathless child sitting in his son's closet.

He stared at the child until his face became distorted, a horror film in his own home and his son may or may not have been the main character. He turned back to see his child crumbling at the sight of his father and his friend.

"Come'ere." He crawled to him, kneeling as the child scooted off of the bed. He grabbed him up, holding him for a moment. He looked over his child's body. Then his face. Eventually, though fearing, he looked into the child's eyes— blankness and hollow forced him to look away as if he'd seen a man with no eyes at all. Standing, as calm as he could,  he took Lonnie to the car. Running back across the lawn, he locked up and drove over to Cliff's house. He left Lonnie with his cousins and Cliff's wife, Evis Ann while petitioning his friend to ride back with him.

Back at Maverik's, he slowly walked up the steps of the back porch with Cliff right behind him. He held his hand with the key in it up to the door handle but was delayed, angering Cliff who snatched the key from his hand and unlocked the door himself.

"Where?" He asked simply, having been in a certain private line of work his whole life, Maverik knew he could help him. But when maverik led him to the room in silence and opened up the closet, Cliff turned quickly at the uncanny sight.