Listen to the Words

Chapter 9

The living room was dark, but a triangle of light shone through the archway. Murphy lay on his back, with his phone in both hands, gaming with the sound off. His brother slept beneath the window, and his stepdad's snores carried across the room.

A shadow crossed the floor, and his mom appeared. She went to the stairs, and pulled a heavy blanket off the rail. He looked away from his screen to see her bare feet half-an-inch from his face. She shook out the blanket, and a flurry of dust cascaded into his eyes.

He sat up and coughed, and scooted back to the wall. "Stop stepping on me."

"...been up since three o'clock this morning," she said, spreading the blanket next to Cameron.

Murphy turned over his pillow and fluffed it into a ball. "Why?"

"Why what?" she asked. 

"Why have you been up since three o'clock?"

"Well... there's just so much to do."

He lay back down, and looked at his screen. "The house next door is for sale."

"I know," she said. "I saw the sign."

"Do you think we could buy it?"

"Buy it? Why?"

"Because then we could move everything next door and just have a clean house."

She laughed. "You mean you'd be willing to move next door just to have a clean house?"

"Yeah, I would."

"But we'd have to sell this house. Someone else would move in here."

"So?"

"So... they might not take care of my daffodils...."

She lay with the lower half of her body on the blanket. The other half, including her face, made  contact with the naked floor. "Don't you want a pillow?" 

"No," she said. "I don't need one."

"Don't you want another blanket?"

"No...."

Her eyes closed, and she was asleep. Murphy went back to his game.

He got killed a few times, and set down his phone. Sticking one arm under his head, he looked above. Even the ceiling was dirty, stained with patches of filth, and he wondered how in the world that could be. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine a clean house... with furniture....

He opened his eyes, and thought. He stood and let his blanket fall to the floor. He went to the kitchen, put on his shoes, and went outside.

It was dark, and the air was cool. He stood on the porch and held onto its rail. The moon shone onto the garage, illuminating its wood-paneled walls. It almost looked like a little house, and it had been a while since he'd been inside. He stepped to the ground, crossed the grass, went to the side door and turned the knob. 

There was no light, and it was hard to see. But the garage seemed to be piled with wooden boxes and mismatched pieces of lumber. A couple of sawhorses held old scraps of carpet. He looked at the floor, and pushed a gas can and the lawn mower out of the way. He left the garage and crossed the grass to the house. 

He went to the living room, and silently walked around his sleeping family. He gathered his blankets and pillow, and carried them outside. He crossed the grass and dropped everything to the garage floor. He went back in for his phone, went back out and across the yard. 

He stepped into the garage and closed the door behind him. He lay down on his blankets, and stuffed his pillow under his face. Maybe he could clean the whole place out, like on the weekend... and just have it to himself... and Jack could even come to visit.... 

He closed his eyes. 

************

He shivered and woke up. He pushed himself onto his elbows, and didn't know where he was. He could smell gasoline, and cut grass. He sat up and saw a very faint light coming from the windows.... Oh yeah, he was in the garage. 

He got to his feet and found his phone, pulled his blankets from the floor and got his pillow. He opened the door and stepped into the yard. As he crossed the grass, he felt eight creepy legs crawl up his neck. Dropping everything, he panicked, and brushed his fingers over his skin. In the moonlight, the spider flicked off into the grass. Murphy got his phone and his blankets and pillow off the ground, and went up the porch to the kitchen. 

As he walked through the house, he looked at the clock. It was almost four, and he'd never been up so late... or early. He went to the living room and set his phone on a step. He unfurled his blankets, dropped his pillow, and lay down on the floor.