The relief from shedding was so intense it took me a while to realize I was naked with my brother and sister sobbing on either side of me. I grabbed my underwear, shook off my sheddings, and pulled them on.
. . . i had the dream again . . . its like she doesnt even . . . whats wrong with them . . . why didnt brandon get transformed like us what makes him so special . . .
I only caught glimpses of the new words. I'd have to read myself and check for new House Rules later. I pulled on my pants, my shirt, my hoodie. After I put on my socks and shoes, I knew I'd have to make a decision—I could either comfort my brother and sister or I could clean up my sheddings.
Just looking at Boy and Judith crying on the floor made me feel helpless. What was I supposed to do? Tell them everything would be okay? Nothing was ever going to be okay.
It was better to just start cleaning up. There was no way I was leaving my old skin behind, and the sooner it was cleaned up the sooner we could get out of there. So, I got to work.
I got a new trash bag from under the kitchen sink, grabbed the broom and dustpan from the pantry, and went back into the dining room. Judith had stood up by then. She was wiping her eyes and sniffling. Boy was still on the floor crying. Judith went to him, picked him up, and hugged him.
"Don't worry," she said. "It's going to be okay, Shawn."
"My name's not Shawn."
Judith and I both tensed up, but for entirely different reasons. She was confused because he just said his name wasn't what she knew it to be, but I tensed up because he might have just broken one of the House Rules.
The first House Rules appeared on my skin after my first shedding, which was only about a week after everyone moved into 407 West Marshall Street. I didn't know that I'd shed, and I thought that first itching I felt was just that—an itch. But then it spread. It got worse and worse. It wasn't even an hour before my entire body felt like it was on fire and I thought I was dying.
I went to the main floor bathroom and took off all my clothes. I thought getting undressed would help, but everything hurt too much by that point for anything to make a difference. I fell to the floor from the pain, screaming. A few seconds later, the bathroom door opened and the others crowded in around me as I writhed around. No one knew what to do.
When I accidentally scraped open a part of my elbow against the floor, the little bit of relief that came was enough to teach me what to do—keep ripping. I tore every last bit of old skin off me, and when I was finished and the pain had faded mostly away and I'd calmed down, I saw the new words.
The words were different and they made new patterns on my body, but the biggest difference was on my chest. There were three chunks of text in straight, short lines. The writing was bigger and sat in a cushion of blank skin. There was no way you could miss it.
HOUSE RULE
Occupants of 407 West Marshall Street
may leave the residence
but must return before 10:00 pm each night.
HOUSE RULE
Occupants of 407 West Marshall Street
will not speak of anything that happens inside the residence
to any non-occupant.
HOUSE RULE
Occupants of 407 West Marshall Street
YOU ARE READING
The Boy with Words for Skin
HorrorSamuel Brandt woke up with his thoughts written all over his body. His brother woke up with his head missing. His sister woke up to find that her skin would crack open unless she stayed in water. All of the other children in the secluded Iowa town o...
