Snapdragon Book I: My Enemy

by Brandon Berntson

  His stomach barked painfully as he climbed the stairs. He was used to sneaking around the house for something to eat. Sometimes, he could go for hours. The pancakes and bacon must’ve stretched out his stomach, because he was hungrier than usual. He’d heard how food could do that.

  Gavin held onto the railing and slowly climbed the stairs. Maybe it would be better if he just ran up the stairs, grabbed something, then bolted down again, locking his door behind him.

  Just don’t see Mom, he thought. Please don’t see Mom. Don’t let Mom be there.

  When he asked if he could spend the night at Eddie’s, she’d turned vengeful…and he’d waited in anticipation for the blows, tensing every muscle.

  “You must be crazy, right? The way you talked to me today? The way you stormed outta here to go see your friends without even asking me! You think you can waltz in and out of here anytime you feel like it? You think you got the run of this place? You go to your room and stay there. And don’t even think about coming out until I tell you, mister!”

  She’d stepped closer, nicotine-stained breath, clammy skin oozing sweat and alcohol. Gavin took a step back. Cigarette smoke curled around her head. The demon, the thing made of bones, now inhabited his mother’s flesh. For a second, a colony of insects spilled from her mouth, clumps of blood-packed dirt. Maggots writhed in the cavities of her flesh. He turned away, feeling sick.

  Heedless of her warnings, he’d bolted from the house.

  Palatial skies, landscapes of colored flowers, tall and beautiful. Every color.

  Gavin thought of Seth and Ben and knew how real it all was: the palace, the dreams, the phantom figure. He prayed the quest would begin soon…

  The thought of Seth’s tiger and the palace brought tears to his eyes. He didn’t know why. He didn’t have much hope, but Ben represented another opportunity. Despite the atrocities in town, hope was still alive.

  Gavin wanted nothing more in that moment than to find something to eat, retreat to his room, where he could safely dream about Ben and the palace, the girls from the drive-in.

  He made it to the top of the stairs, peeking around the corner, and into the kitchen. He couldn’t see her, but her smell was in the air.

  Gavin stepped into the kitchen, glancing quickly into the living room.

  His stomach growled, a painful jab to his gut. He should’ve asked Eddie’s mom if he could’ve taken a sandwich with him. She would’ve been happy to oblige.

  Cockroaches scurried over dirty dishes in the sink. They ran in and out of an open bag of bread. Gavin turned away, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible. He opened the refrigerator door.

  The contents looked unappealing. He grabbed a moldy block of cheese. He could cut around the green parts. A package of tortillas was on the bottom shelf along with a piece of pepperoni. He grabbed these as well. He shut the refrigerator, then grabbed a knife from the kitchen drawer.

  Okay, that’s good enough for now, he thought.

  As he turned to go downstairs, he ran right into her, falling backwards on the floor. He hit his head on the cupboard doors under the sink. The knife, cheese, pepperoni, and tortillas fell to the ground. Gavin winced, grabbing the back of his head. His mother stood staring down at him when he opened his eyes. Smoke curled from a cigarette. A long blue T-shirt didn’t cover enough of her cottage cheese thighs. Her eyes were lifeless, black pits. She took a drag of the cigarette and blew smoke above her head. Deirdre Lolly smiled.

  “Well well,” she said. “Look whose finally come home.”

  Was her body writhing with maggots, or was that just his imagination?

  “Thought you’d make yourself a little treat?” she said. “Well, isn’t that nice. You walk around here thinking you can talk to me any way you feel like it, then raid whatever’s left in the refrigerator. Is that it?” She smiled, dark yellow teeth behind dry lips. Her voice was frighteningly calm.

  This was the monster they’d been talking about. Only this beast could gobble and devour children whole. Only this monster could make him bleed. Gavin was staring into the face of evil.

  He was in an awkward position, the stairs several feet to his right. He could try for the stairs, get up and bolt, but she’d get him before he was able to move.

  “Stand up,” she said.

  He started to cry. The last thing he wanted was for her to get the best of him. Tears gave her an upper hand. But he couldn’t help it. He knew what was coming.

  She was not the demon walking these streets. She was worse.

  She’s a dragon, he thought.

  She breathed in the same fashion. That’s what the cigarette was for. He’d never wanted her to die so badly in his life. His friends had been talking about her, Gavin’s mother. He’d seen it, lived with it, brutalized by it, but he’d never realized…

  “I said, ‘Stand up!’” she shrieked.

  Rot from the grave clouded over him. Her eyes angled down in maddened fury.

  Sobs wracked his tiny frame. Blubbering, he slowly got to his feet. Gavin bowed his head, bracing himself, and waited for the hand of violence. He clenched every muscle in his body. He’d been through it all before. He shut his eyes.

  Her fist collided into the side of his like a cannonball. Lightning cracked in his brain, followed by a booming peal of thunder. Gavin spun in a complete circle, hit his head on the counter, and fell to the floor. Pain lanced through his skull. Sirens wailed in his ears. Another blinding flash of white blossomed through his brain.

  But he wasn’t gone yet. She was still up there, ready to pounce. She was just getting warmed up.

  She’s gonna do real damage this time, cause school’s out. She’s gonna take advantage because she won’t have to call. She can do whatever she wants. She’s gonna make sure she does a real good job, too. She might even kill me this time. Yes, she will probably kill me now…

  Through the din, his mother continued to scream.

  She jumped on top of him. Blow after blow rained down upon his arms and face. Unclean, poisonous skin, alcohol oozed thickly out of her body, settling over him like a black cloud.

  Pain rocked his brain. Her arms pin-wheeled into his chest and back. Titanic blows rained onto his face, splitting his lips open, his eyebrow gushing blood. She punched his arms. Her knee galvanized his stomach. “YOU DO WHAT I TELL YOU, YOU LITTLE SONOFABITCH! YOU GOT THAT? YOU DON’T EVER RUN OUT OF THIS HOUSE AGAIN! YOU THINK I’VE HURT YOU BEFORE! THIS IS NOTHING! YOU JUST WAIT!”

  Gavin curled into a ball, trying to hug himself against her fury, and continued to sob. He didn’t know how he could cry, but he was. Suddenly, it was hard to breathe. He tried to catch his breath, but her fists made it impossible. Bright lights and permeable darkness winked on and off in his brain.

  She was simply too big. Not too big, he thought, but bigger than he was, and that was plenty. If he curled into a ball, tried to wink out of existence, he would live, he told himself. He’d be spared.

  Flashes of fire rocketed in front of his eyes.

  “THIS WILL TEACH YOU?” she wailed. “THIS WILL KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO YOU! THIS WILL TEACH YOU TO SHOW SOME RESPECT FOR YOUR MOTHER!”

  It was an endless barrage of punches, kicks, and screams, and it went on for quite some time. He held his arms over his head to protect himself.

  After a while, she grew tired. She stood up and backed away, breathing heavily, and wiped her lips. She’d been enjoying herself so much she was drooling. Her knuckles were red.

  Gavin tasted blood. It bubbled between his lips. His eyes swelled shut. He felt as if he’d been stung by a horde of wasps. Every square inch of his body was one ceaseless, welting throb of pulsating pain. A lightening jab shot through his bones when he tried to move. His ribs hurt. He reached out, trying to pull himself across the rug, but it was useless.

  Better try not to breathe, he thought. To not move.

  He would slip permanently into the darkness now. And that wasn’t so bad, was it? It would be an end at least.


  She yelled something else, but the pain was too loud and intense. The pain had a voice of its own. Gavin’s stomach churned, and he threw up on the floor. He coughed, a painful rip tearing up through his throat. It wasn’t vomit…it was blood.

  He was like a dull, numbing current waiting to go out.

  When he did, it was like midnight washing over him.

  vi

  Seth thought about calling Gavin, but didn’t want to make life worse for the boy in case his mother was home. He might still be at Eddie’s anyway.

  Seth picked up the phone, then put it down again.

  He couldn’t call Malcolm, either, because the boy didn’t have a phone. He could call Eddie, he supposed, and was about to when he had a better idea.

  He’d call Kinsey. She picked up after two rings.

  “Hi,” he said.

  “Hi!” Kinsey said, excited to hear his voice.

  “I don’t suppose you can do anything today?” Seth asked.

  “I think I can,” she told him, with some excitement. “Mom’s feeling sorry for me, keeping me locked up all the time. She thinks she’s taking my life away.”

  “Do you wanna meet somewhere?”

  “Yeah. It’s so hot. I hate being in the house.”

  They agreed to meet at the Full Gospel Fellowship across the street from the high school. It was halfway between their houses. How about half an hour, Seth asked? Kinsey said that was fine.

  He was compelled to tell her he loved her, but resisted. What was happening to him lately?

  He went to his bedroom and put his shoes and socks on. His mother said it was okay he went out as long as he was with friends. He told a white lie about meeting Malcolm and the others, not knowing what she’d think about him spending the afternoon with a girl. Seth walked down the hallway to say goodbye to Masie. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, painting her toenails.

  “Where are you off to?” she asked.

  Seth put a finger to his lips. “Shhh.”

  “What’s the secret?”

  “I’m going to meet Kinsey.”

  “Don’t you want Mom to know?” Masie asked.

  He shook his head.

  “Shoot. She doesn’t care,” she told him. “As long as you don’t take her shirt off.”

  Seth laughed. “Bye, Mase.”

  “See ya, squirt. Have a good time. I want all the details when you get back.”

  Seth shut the door. He stepped out of the house, feeling a blast of mid-September heat. The sky was blindingly bright and clear, except for a few scattered clouds. Summer was still hanging on.

  He walked down Montgomery Avenue, looking absent-mindedly at the houses and yards. The church was only ten minutes away. Once he got there, he didn’t have to wait long. A few minutes later, Kinsey walked up the sidewalk with her hair in a ponytail, wearing a white summer blouse and blue denim shorts. Seth smiled, held his hand in the air, and Kinsey smiled and waved.

  “Hi,” he said.

  “Hello,” Kinsey said.

  An awkward silence passed. Kinsey kicked at the ground with one shoe, slipping the tips of her fingers into the pockets of her shorts.

  “So, what do we do now?” Seth asked.

  “We could go swimming,” she said.

  “Huh?”

  “Swimming,” she said. “I’ve been wanting to go swimming all summer and haven’t had a chance yet. It’s warm enough.”

  “There’s Samuel’s Creek,” he said. “It has a pretty deep end. Maybe we can’t go swimming, but we can jump off the tree branch.”

  “Sounds perfect,” Kinsey said, beaming.

  They walked south through the neighborhood streets, back the way Seth had come.

  “It’s kind of a little ways,” he said. “You want to stop and get a soda or something?”

  Kinsey nodded, and they continued down Main Street. They went to Lucy’s Quick Stop, a convenient store on Main Street, and got two 16 oz. root beers. Seth’s mother couldn’t afford much of an allowance, but she was generous when she could afford to be. Seth managed to save five dollars over the last two weeks.

  During their stroll, sipping root beer, the sun shining high and warm, Seth resisted the urge to tell Kinsey everything: Ben, the palace, Sadie’s killer. Funny how neither of them mentioned the mysterious stranger since Howard had died. Seth wondered if Kinsey had a bigger role to play than he realized as well. What would she say about his dreams, and Ben? Maybe she had dreamed about them, too. Seth was afraid to ask.

  “I’m…” he tried to say, but nothing came out. He took a drink of root beer.

  Kinsey looked at him, raising her eyebrows.

  “I’ve wanted to tell you something,” he said. “That’s why I called.”

  “About what we saw?” Kinsey said. “About Howard?”

  Seth paused and nodded. “I wanted to see you, but yes…I wanted to talk about Howard.”

  A shadow moved across her face. She had been thinking about it a lot, too. But suddenly, Kinsey smiled, the darkness vanishing. Seth couldn’t believe how transfixed he was. Kinsey’s eyes were pools of dark, stunning magic. He knew he loved her as much as he could. Even at his tender age, he could imagine spending the rest of his life with her. Was he getting too anxious? Was it possible to make a lifetime commitment even now? Seth didn’t care. He knew how he felt. Victory depended solely on Kinsey MacKay. She emanated love through a soft, flawless and auburn hair.

  “It’s weird, isn’t it?” Kinsey said, staring at the sidewalk as they walked. “What’s been happening? I remember when it was summer, and all I was worried about was when school was gonna start.”

  Seth widened his eyes. He’d felt exactly the same. Love? Yes. He saw himself loving her for a long time.

  “Yeah,” Seth said.

  “It scares me,” Kinsey said. “Mom’s talking about moving away because of everything that’s happening.”

  Seth looked at her, surprised.

  Kinsey nodded. “It’s true. She made sure I was gonna come back before dark today. She made me promise five times.”

  “My mom’s practically the same,” Seth told her.

  They were quiet before Seth said, “I hope you don’t move away. I just barely got to know you.”

  “I know,” she said.

  They were silent again, walking down Main Street. They turned a corner onto Rapid River Drive, heading west.

  “Are you gonna ask me to marry you?”

  Seth choked on his root beer. Tears welled in his eyes. Kinsey started to laugh.

  “No,” he said. “I mean, uh…not unless you want me to.”

  He was outgrowing the passion of playing with toys and pretending all the time, but Kinsey’s statement brought him back to the land of the fifth grade.

  “I was just kidding,” she said, putting a hand on his back.

  The touch sent a shiver down his spine, and his mind went blank.

  “Still there?” she asked.

  Seth looked her way, smiled, and took a drink. “This is weird,” he said.

  “Weird?”

  “Yeah. I…want to tell you some things, but you’ll think I’m crazy. I’m not sure how you’ll react. You might never want to see me again.”

  “That’s impossible,” she said, smiling. “I don’t care how crazy it sounds. I’ll like you anyway. I promise.”

  “Really?” he asked.

  “Well,” she said, playfully. “May-be.” Kinsey nudged him in the ribs.

  Yes, he thought Love.

  Seth took a deep breath and began:

  “I’m going away. I don’t know when exactly. Pretty soon, I guess. Maybe in a couple of days.”

  “Where are you going?” Kinsey asked.

  “I don’t know…I mean…of course, I know. But…I might be gone a long time.”

  A new thought occurred to him:

  “I guess I might not be coming back.”

  Kinsey stopped, lowered the root beer, and looked at him. Her f
orehead was beaded with sweat.

  “What do you mean you might not be coming back?” she said, almost angrily.

  “Come on,” he said. “I’ll tell you on the way.”

  They started walking again. Seth was surprised how easily it came out. He told her everything from the day he’d first met Ben. He told her about Sadie McCall, the meeting he’d had with his friends the day before; he told her about their dreams of the palace, even Ben coming to him earlier that day. Kinsey did not question the things he said. She listened, nodding, holding her root beer.

  When Seth finished, he looked at her. Finally, Kinsey asked:

  “Ben?”

  “Yes.”

  Kinsey pondered this.

  “Crazy, huh?” Seth said.

  She did not reply for a long time. “So,” Kinsey said. “All this other stuff, besides the monster on the horse—the palace, Ben—you believe it?”

  “It’s kind of hard not to,” Seth said.

  They continued down the sidewalk.

  “I want to come with you,” she said.

  Seth turned, unable to control himself:

  “Are you crazy?” he said.

  Kinsey’s eyes narrowed. “No. I’m not crazy. I want to go with you. We’ve got so much campin’ stuff at the house it ain’t even funny. We got sleeping bags, tents…my parents are camping fanatics.”

  Seth shook his head. He hadn’t been prepared for this. Weren’t their lives at risk enough without involving Kinsey?

  “That’s crazy,” he said. “I can’t. The rest of them don’t even know I told you. I don’t know what they would do if they did know. They’d probably go without me.”

  Kinsey looked at him, serious. “It better not be because I’m a girl, Seth Auburn, or there’s gonna be trouble. Cause if it is…”

  “It’s not because you’re a girl. Of course it isn’t.”

  “It’s because I don’t have something.”

  Seth frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Something like the rest of you. You’ve all had dreams about the palace, but I don’t have anything. Just the day Howard Colorcup died. I guess that’s not enough.”