The Boy with Words for Skin

Chapter 26: Gone

"Hurt your brother?" The Voice sounded shocked. "Is that what you think I do? Hurt you children?"

"He's just scared. He's a good kid," I said. I sat up and back into a wall, my head and shoulder throbbing. "He didn't mean to break the House Rules."

"He purposefully broke a House Rule," The Voice said. "And he will be disciplined accordingly."

"He's just a kid—"

"Which is all the more reason that he be disciplined properly! But do not be mistaken. I do not 'hurt' any of you," The Voice said. "When you say 'hurt' you imply that what was done was motivated out of spite. A punishment, however, is the rational consequence for willful disobedience."

"But the punishments are too much!"

The Voice laughed. "Silly child. It would not be much of a punishment if it were easy to bear!"

I felt sick. "What did you do with him?" Part of me didn't want to know.

"I do not see how that is any of your concern."

"I'm supposed to keep him safe!"

"And what has led you to believe that he is not safe?" The Voice asked.

"Please," I said, "just punish me instead of him. You can punish me and I'll do anything you want me to do after."

The Voice laughed. "You have no idea for what you are volunteering."

"I don't care! Just, please, don't punish Boy."

"As touching as this is," The Voice sounded bored, "I must ask you to stop graveling. You are only embarrassing yourself."

There was nothing I could do. It hit me like a bowling ball in the ribs. I felt weak, useless. Why had Boy done that? He knew the House Rules. He'd been punished before. What could he have been thinking?

"Stop worrying yourself about him," The Voice said. "You will see your brother again."

"When?"

"As soon as his punishment is over."

I couldn't just sit around and wait for him to come back. I would go crazy worrying about him.

"You cannot possibly be aware of this, but you are the first occupant of 407 West Marshall Street to have ever voluntarily come to speak with me." The Voice sounded impressed.

The way he said that made me pause. He made it sound like there had been tons of other occupants before me. Did he mean that we weren't the only ones? There had been others?

"Go now. Stop bothering me or you will make me angry."

The door swung open.

"Words!" Kit rushed forward, but she didn't step into the closet. "What happened? Where's Boy?"

I closed my eyes and leaned against the back wall.

"Come on out of there," she said. "Tell me what happened."

The world started fading away. I was exhausted. I needed to sleep, if only to get rid of the stabbing pain in my head.

"Come out of there, Words!"

I would just go to sleep. I would just shut it all out and go to sleep forever.

"Words!"

Her voice was slipping further and further away.

And then a jet of warm water sprayed me in the face. I gagged and coughed and I thrashed to get away. Hands grabbed onto me and I was dragged from the entryway closet. I heard the door close.

When I looked up, D-rip and Kit stood over me.

"Snap out of it," D-rip said.

The world spun around me. My head ached. I didn't care. Let the pain and spinning finish me off. It'd be better than losing another sibling. The Voice said he'd be back, but how much could you trust what The Voice said?

Another jet of water—this one with even more force—hit me in the face. I scooted away, but the jet followed me. I jumped to my feet and swung my fists through the water. One fist connected with something.

"Ow!" The spray stopped.

I shook the water out of my eyes and saw D-rip holding the side of his face. Good, I thought. He deserved it.

"I'm sorry about Boy and all, but you guys have to calm down and listen to me," D-rip said. "Something crazy's just happened?"

My heart skipped a beat. "What? Is it about Boy?"

He shook his head with a sorry look on his face. "It's not Boy. It's Face and Tang. They came up."

"What?" Kit said. She looked terrified.

D-rip nodded.

Fury met panic. The two twisted and raged inside of me like a tornado.

This had to be a joke. A badly-timed joke. But then we heard footsteps and when we turned towards the kitchen. Face and Tang were there. My skin crawled and the aches from my last encounter with them shivered in my body like ghosts.

"This is the last thing I ever wanted," Face said, "but we need your help."