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Levi
The abandoned house smelled like mold and urine. The back of Levi’s hand went to his mouth. He was glad it was dark so that his friends wouldn’t see this and call him a wuss.
“Shine your light over here,” Shane said.
Levi dropped his hand.
Kendall pointed his phone at Shane’s backpack, which he’d set on the floor. Shane unzipped the bag and pulled out a camping lantern.
When he lit it, the soft light felt brilliant compared to the darkness they’d been in. It brought Levi significant comfort. This will all be over soon, he told himself.
“Good idea.” Kendall turned off his flashlight app. “Want to save my battery in case we can’t find our way back to the car.” He laughed as if this were hysterical.
Levi didn’t find it the least bit funny. He surveyed his surroundings. They were in what had probably once been a kitchen. The inner walls were also covered in graffiti, most of it red and black. Previous partiers hadn’t been big on color variety. Part of the ceiling had fallen in, and chunks of insulation lay on the floor. Based on the smell, Levi wondered if cats had lived there at some point. Or maybe they still did. This thought made him miss his cat, miss his trailer. He complained about that trailer often, was even embarrassed by it, but it was home. Maybe he should’ve stayed there tonight. Tucked in safe, warm, and bored. His mom would’ve been thrilled. He looked at Shane and was relieved to see that he didn’t appear to be having much fun either.
“Come on.” Kendall stomped through the room as if he’d been there a million times. With what friends, Levi had no idea. Kendall didn’t have many.
Shane followed Kendall, and gingerly, Levi followed Shane.
The next room contained a few couches that, while old and filthy, didn’t look as far gone as the rest of the house. Without reservation, Kendall plopped down on one of them. Shane soon followed. Levi didn’t want to sit. He didn’t want to catch something. And the air felt damp. He wasn’t confident the couches were even dry.
“Hand me the plate,” Kendall ordered.
Shane put his backpack on the floor, unzipped it again, and pulled out a plate and a straw.
Kendall pulled a plastic baggie out of his pocket. It was full of light brown powder. Levi didn’t know what it was, but he didn’t think it was good. He stepped closer for a better look. “Why’d you already crush up the pills?”
“I didn’t. This isn’t Percocet.” He sprinkled a line out onto the tray and then used his ATM card to straighten it out.
“What is it?”
“It’s dirt.” Kendall finally looked up at Levi. “I told you we were going to have a good time.”
Heroin? Levi was stunned. He was not about to do heroin. That stuff got you hooked after one try, and he didn’t want to get hooked on heroin. Nor did he want to pass out in this creepy house.
Kendall picked up a straw and snorted the line. Then he let out a long breath and closed his eyes.
Levi’s mouth watered. He wanted to feel some of what Kendall was feeling.
Shane greedily snatched the tray and baggie out of Kendall’s lap. Smiling, Kendall didn’t object. Shane did the same thing Kendall had done, though he seemed less comfortable with the process. Had Shane ever done heroin? Where had Kendall even gotten heroin? This was Carver Harbor, for crying out loud.
Shane snorted the line, dropped the straw, and stared straight ahead.
It seemed they had forgotten about Levi entirely.
This might be a good thing, Levi thought.
He sat on the other couch and then reached out and stealthily dragged Shane’s backpack across the floor. The floor had been so wet for so long that it was almost slimy, and the pack slid more easily than Levi had thought it would. He rooted around in it until he found a bowl and some weed. Then he grew impatient when he couldn’t find a lighter. He didn’t want to ask them, though, because that would call attention to how he wasn’t doing the dirt.
Finally, he found the lighter, and he packed the bowl. Then he flicked a flame into being and took a huge hit. He held it in his lungs for as long as he could, which was a fairly long time thanks to all his practice, and then exhaled. Then he looked around the room. The wallpaper was peeling and in some sections had been ripped entirely off. Some of it lay in chunks on the floor. There were actual holes in the wall, and Levi couldn’t imagine why someone had wanted to put them there. He looked down at the bowl. He knew it would be more fun to take his time with it, but he wanted to catch up to his friends, so he took another hit.
It hit him, and his mouth spread into a lazy grin. There. That was more like it.
He took another hit and waited to feel it.
And boy, did he.
Maybe too much. His mind started darting to bad places. As he tried to calm his thoughts, his eyes landed on the holes in the walls. Maybe those hadn’t been put there by someone on the outside. Maybe something inside the walls had broken out. Wait. That was insane. He shook his head as if trying to physically shake such thoughts out of his skull. He didn’t need to be thinking crazy things like that. Why was he thinking crazy things like that? Was it something about this house? Or had there been something else in that weed? He looked into the bowl, but of course, the resin didn’t tell him much. He pictured black creatures crawling out of the walls. This pot had been laced with something, he knew it. He looked at Shane. “Hey, what’s in the weed?”
Kendall laughed. “What?” He opened his eyes. “Why you stealing Shane’s weed?”
Shane gave no indication that he had heard them.
Kendall elbowed him in the ribs. “Hey, wake up, buddy. You got anything extra in that weed?”
Shane shook his head without opening his eyes. “I’m not sleeping, man. Obviously.”
It wasn’t obvious. Shane was drooling. The lantern cast an eerie light on Shane’s face, making him look grotesque. Suddenly, Levi knew that Shane knew about the things in the wall. Levi stood up. “I’m outta here, man.”
“What?” Kendall’s head tipped forward. “Why, what’sa matta?” he mumbled.
Levi started toward the kitchen. He heard rustling behind him. Someone was following him. He picked up speed, and his right big toe caught on something hard. He staggered forward, slamming his left foot into the floor as he tried not to fall. There was a loud crack, and before Levi could wonder what that noise meant, it was replaced by a squishy popping sound that reminded him of someone walking through deep mud.
And then the floor gave way.
He was falling. His feet went first, but then his foot caught on something. At first he thought this was a good thing, but as the rest of him pitched downward, an unbelievable pain tore through his ankle and up his leg, and he knew nothing was good. For just a second, he stopped falling and hung suspended by his foot, but then whatever he’d gotten caught up in let go and he was falling again. He shoved his hands over his head to break his fall, but it was too late. His head hit the hard basement bottom, and everything went black.
