Читать книгу Spindle Lane - Mark Reefe - Страница 12

Chapter 6

For the next couple of days, I held dominion over the realms of monsters and men as dungeon master extraordinaire while Kevin hunted down the cunning but cowardly drow as he ventured deep into the bowels of the Earth. When we weren’t neck-deep in dark elves and gnomes, we were at the pool secretly hoping in vain for a sighting of Melissa Casey and crew. Having a friend as cool as Kevin to hang out with was great, but the sun was never far from my mind or, more specifically, its closeness to the horizon. Another late night encounter with my mysterious pen pal wasn’t at the top of my summer bucket list.

Kevin came over Wednesday and crashed at my house. After stuffing ourselves on pizza from Happy Italian, we took a break from gaming and mellowed out in front of the tube watching Planet of the Apes on the sofa bed. The next thing I knew, Kevin nudged me awake. I snorted to semi-consciousness while a lone eagle soared across the television screen to a chorus of the national anthem.

“You’re not already asleep, are you?”

I yawned out a, “Nooo.”

“Good.” Kevin rolled off the sofa bed and grabbed his duffel bag. A goofy grin split on his face as he plopped it in front of me and unzipped it. He reached in and then paused for dramatic effect, whispering, “My ass would be grass if my dad knew I smuggled this from the house.” He pulled out what looked like a gun.

“Holy crap! Is that a forty-five?”

Kevin squinted and cocked his head to the side. “Yeah, sure. My parents let me have a gun. I got a bazooka under my bed I’ll bring over next time.” He tossed it to me. “It’s a BB gun, Sherlock.”

Pointing to a switch on the side of it, he spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. “The BBs go in there—it holds up to twenty. All you do is pull the receiver back to load one. Then just aim and squeeze the trigger.”

My interest in all things Bruce Lee led to a rather impressive collection of throwing stars, nunchakus, sai swords, and such, but I didn’t own a BB gun. I had to admit it was very cool. The cold steel felt good in my hands and made me feel like Dirty Harry.

“Want to try her out?” Kevin asked.

He knew I did. Only a blind man could have missed my ear-to-ear grin. But where the heck did he think we could shoot? Both the garage and backyard were way too risky. All it would take was a broken window or dinged car door and I’d be grounded until college. “Where?”

“I know the perfect spot. Put your sneakers on.”

I felt my stomach drop. Sooner or later I knew I’d have to venture back out into the dark, but I was hoping it would have been later rather than sooner. It was still too early in our friendship for me to tell Kevin about my late night stalker. I didn’t want to spook him. For now, he thought I was actually a normal fifteen-year-old, and I wanted to keep it that way as long as possible. At least it was the two of us this time, and we were armed.

The humid night air turned the streetlights into huge will-o’-the-wisps. With great speed and ninja-like stealth, we crossed Spindle and entered the Colberts’ side yard wading through the very bushes my pen pal had been hiding in just three days past. I didn’t think it was possible, but I’m pretty sure my stomach dropped even lower.

The side yard led us to a wide open field. On the far end stood the Belair Baptist Church. Kevin pointed to it. “That’s our objective. There shouldn’t be much traffic on Belair this time of night, but if you hear a car coming or see light, drop flat on the ground and wait. We’re far enough away from the street that nobody should be able to make us out, but you never know.”

He was off, running at full sprint. I took a deep breath and followed close behind. We made it to the rear of the church without encountering any late night traffic and hunched down in the shadow of a fenced-off dumpster to catch our breath.

I couldn’t take the mystery anymore. “Dude, where the hell are we going?”

Kevin smiled as his eyes crawled up the side of the church, stopping only when they reached its flat rooftop.

I followed his gaze until it dawned on me. “Uh, no. First, my parents would kill me if I got caught on the roof of the church. Second, how the heck would we get up there anyway?”

Kevin ignored my protests. “Follow me, young Jedi, and be not afraid.”

He stood and opened the gate housing the dumpster. Then, with the skill of a level ten thief, he shimmied up the side of the trash receptacle using the neighboring chain link fencing to help support him. Once on top of the dumpster, he waved me up whispering, “You’re not afraid of heights, are you?”

With slightly less grace than my spider monkey friend, I managed to work my way up without totally embarrassing myself.

From where the two of us now stood, the roof was little more than chest height. Kevin was first again, jumping up and wrapping his arms around the brick ledge. His legs dangled in midair for a few seconds as he heaved himself over and disappeared from sight. I heard a soft thump followed by Kevin’s voice. “It’s a little dirty here, so watch your landing.”

I didn’t get as much vertical action on the launch, but with a little grunting and great deal of swearing, I breached the church’s defenses and rolled off the ledge and into a pile of dried leaves and pebbles. “Crap!”

A hand grabbed my arm and pulled me up. “Told you to watch the landing.”

I brushed myself clean and looked around. The church rested atop a large hill. From our vantage point, we could see the rooftops of the houses lining both Spindle and Sexton. In the opposite direction lay Belair and, in the distance, the tree tunnel.

I sucked in the wet air and uttered the only word I thought fitting for the occasion. “Cool.”

“You can see everything around,” Kevin responded. “I’ve been up here a couple times before. It’s a good spot to just mellow out and think if you’re into that kind of thing, but it’s a great place for a little target practice.”

“What are we gonna shoot at?”

Kevin started shuffling around, kicking his foot through the piles of leaves that blanketed the church’s asphalt roof. “The good news is we’re not the only ones that have snuck up here. Bingo!” He reached down and picked up a couple of empty beer cans. “Perfectamundo!”

He set the targets a few inches apart on top of an air conditioning unit on the far side of the roof about ten paces from where I stood. As he came back toward me, he said, “Okay, you get five shots to knock them off. I have the first five. Just watch what I do.”

Kevin raised the gun. A hollow plunk echoed in the still night air as one of the cans fell. “One down, one to go.” He repeated his actions and the second can jumped off the air conditioner.

I was duly impressed. Not only was Kevin the only kid I knew with a BB gun, but he also had the skills to use it. “Nice shooting, quick draw.”

“Eh, these cans are no fun. Thought I saw some bottles up here somewhere. Take a look in the corner over there, and let me know if you find any. I’ll check over here.”

I worked my way to the far edge of the roof, shuffling through the dried leaves and trash from past visitors. That’s when the cold prickles first hatched, starting on my forearms and crawling upward until they tickled the nape of my neck. I looked below.

It was standing beneath a streetlight again. This time it was looking up at me. I wanted to shout to Kevin, but I knew if I did, the thing would disappear into the shadows. I was also sure that if I turned and motioned for him to join me, by the time I looked back it would have vanished as well. Instead, I stood motionless, returning its icy gaze.

It was out in the open for all to see, but no one was watching except for me. The shadows cast from the light above managed to mask its features. All I could make out was its immense frame and pointed head. How long had it been there? Did it follow us from my house? Was I now under constant surveillance?

It knelt and scooped up a large clump of dirt with wicked, clawed fingers that acted like a steam shovel. With its other immense hand, it dropped something in the remaining crater. The creature let the earth fall back over the hole as it stood back up. It raised a hand to its face. Though its silhouette was all I could see, I knew in my gut what it was doing. In my mind I saw a single hooked finger pressed against foul lips. What was buried in the ground was meant to be kept secret. Our secret.