Lorenzo's Stay at Sandy Nuts Idaho

Arrival

Lorenzo begrudgingly steps out of the car. His eyes scan the environment. "Where's Brutus?" he breaks the day long silence.

"He went missing, but he'll be back," his mother informs.

Brutus was the dog they owned for about fifteen years yet he still has the vigor of a primordial beast. He looks over the beautiful yet desolate property. In the distance a vista of vast caging mountains enclose their large property and to even get to nature's natural roadblocks one must trek through the compact, shaded sin filled forest. The smell of pine and distant dread climb back into Lorenzo's nostrils. The noises of birds and other prey play as if on a loop in the background. The mild but consistent wind bends and moves the pine trees to its will.

His mother looks over the property with one hand on her hip and the other on her head shielding her eyes from the sun. Lorenzo just remembered he left his phone at his house, over five hundred miles away. His stomach turns.

Then his mother adds to the dread, "Your lucky we aren't making you do any work yet."

His head goes down and then back at the car. In the back of the car is his bag with deodorant, clothes, his 3DS with Super Mario Bros and Resident Evil Mercenaries. It's missing. Lorenzo's eyes dart frantically.

"Where's my bag?" Lorenzo timidly asks.

"Your dad brought it inside already, you'll have to ask him where it is."

"Can you just ask him please?" He desperately begs. His mother looks at him a little dead inside. She continues to bring in items from the barn outside. Lorenzo shudders in place and trudges to the front porch almost tripping over his feet.

The nerves spread through his nervous system as he sees his father setting up a wind chime. Before Lorenzo goes up to him he hears his father mumble something about the sand hills or the shadow land. Then Lorenzo walks up sheepishly and begins to start a sentence but his jaw is viced shut by fright. The pants he's wearing stick to his skin with scentful sweat. He smells Lorenzo's fear. Lorenzo slumps his shoulders forward and his head drifts downwards. The sun begins to fall further into the abyss of the horizon as the sky darkens.

Lorenzo makes his way inside the decent ranch house. Hopefully he won't have to spend the night outside. Outside meaning the horrid hut hundreds of meters away from the main house, near the back of the property. Last time he was here when he was seven, the horrid hut was used as a means to...punish. It works, but not without lasting psychological damage. His throat goes unused making it dry and cracked like the Mojave desert. Lorenzo shuffles towards the kitchen, towards the one person who may understand him even if it's just a little bit more than his father, his mother.

A throat filled with angst cries, "Can I have some water?"

"It's getting dark, I'll show you to your room now," she tells him, completely ignoring the question.

Lorenzo solemnly follows his mother to his purgatory. Walking through the house and down the derelict hallway, it's the last room on the left.

The room is cramped, yet empty except for a water heater in the corner that takes up a quarter of the room. The isolation factor is increased since there are no windows and no natural light. One blinding white light that stings the eyes is installed on the ceiling. Its light switch is located next to the solid snake wood door. Lorenzo's bed is the maple wood floor with a single wool blanket. His entertainment is the sanity-sucking white wall that wraps the room. There is nothing in it except the blanket, the water heater and most cruelly Lorenzo's own stagnant thoughts.

He sheepishly pleads once more, "Can I please have a cup of water?"

She looks at him with the same blank face as earlier. Then she smiles. He smiles back.

"You may have one cup and that is all for tonight," his mother states. She walks out of his room and down the dark hall. His smile disappears and he just stares at the wall. Thoughts run around his head in circles. The whole summer, no call of duty convention, the lady without a face, wasted time, missing out, death. 

His stomach seizes, tears begin forming but he quickly wipes them away as he hears his mother's footsteps walking back. She comes over to him and hands him a shabby glass half filled with water. He spills the water all down his throat. The dry cracks in his throat and on his lips are regenerated with moisture. He yearns for more but before he could spout a sentence his mother walks out and shuts the door.

The whole house begins to shake like a magnitude eight earth quake is occurring. Lorenzo tumbles to the floor covering his head, neck and ears. On the other side of the door an eight-hundred pound dresser is pushed into its place. He should have really expected them to pull something like this again. Even though Lorenzo had done nothing wrong, they'd rather not have anyone out of their rooms when the sun sets. It's usually for their own safety.

Lorenzo is left in a room with no way out. The hard wood floor, the water heater and a blanket greet him individually. His testicles retract halfway as he realized he still doesn't have his 3DS. Both testicles are still swollen from lack of ejaculation. No nocturnal emissions occur since all of the dreams hes had since the road trip have been nightmares. Lying down on the floor his bones already feel the pressure of this new stress. There is no way in hell he can sleep with the light on so he turns it off.

The room becomes enveloped with blackness. The absolute blackness and what may lie in it send a chill down Lorenzo's spine. To counter this he jumps to the floor to cocoon himself with the wool blanket. Even though it's near one hundred degrees with no air flow. His vision is obscured and he feels a bit more at ease. Just a couple of minutes, his sweat immediately soaks the blanket and a puddle forms around him. The stale stagnant air makes breathing physically taxing. Footsteps are heard in the hall.