Reddit: r/nosleep

PART XI: I'm Having a Picnic

“Are you real?” i ask him.

“Yes, I’m real,” he says.

“Okay then.”

He goes down the hall and comes back with a sopping wet blanket which he makes Meredith and I wrap around us. Less than a minute later, we’re breathing fresh air out on the front lawn, being given oxygen through some cool-looking rubber mask while each wearing a less wet blanket. The firemen manage to put out the fire without too much more of the house getting damaged, but there’s still the matter of the dead body inside.

Meredith and I get to ride in a ambulance to the hospital so they can take care of whatever’s going on that’s hurting so much in my side after the car crash. I wish it was a helicopter but there’s no room for one to land.

“Meredith,” I say to her while the ambulance bumps along, “I don’t think you’re ugly and you don’t scare me.” She looks at me doubtfully. “You’re one of my best friends.”

“One of them?” she asks.

“Like, third best.”

“Out of how many?”

“Look, the point is, you don’t scare me. And I don’t think you’re ugly.”

She blinks away some more tears. I hate having to talk about her appearance because I know how self conscious she is of her burns. I’ve got to just stop beating around the bush and get to the point.

“I think the weasel burned your parents.”

The EMT sitting in the back with us raises his eyebrow. I shake my head at him because it’s too much to explain.

“I think the weasel can get into people’s brains. He almost made me believe the things I was saying about you, but he made one mistake. He told me my big fear was that my parents don’t love me, and I know they do. I know they do. My parents love me. My dad just gave me a harmonica and is going to teach me how to play the drums.”

“Lily?” Meredith whispers.

“Yeah?”

She leans in close so the EMT can’t hear her. “It didn’t make me happy when my parents died. I know I said I liked it, but I didn’t. That wasn’t me. I wish they were still alive.”

“Even though they locked you in the basement?”

“They never did!” She covers her mouth to stifle a sob. “I don’t know why I said that! They didn’t do that to me, they loved me.”

“Maybe those are the weasel’s secrets,” I suggest, “maybe when he’s around us, he can make other people believe his secrets are theirs.”

“That would mean he did it, right? Do you think Felix killed my parents?”

“Yeah, I do. You know what else that means...”

“What?”

“The weasel is scared of clowns.”

At the hospital, I’m taken to get an X-ray while Meredith’s foster dad meets her and gets her checked out. Apparently her foster mom, Mrs. Lake, is alright and just suffered a minor concussion from Felix banging her head against a wall, the jerk. I’m glad she’s okay. Before we part, Meredith gives me a strong hug. I hug her back and whisper, “Watch out for weasels.” After all, Felix is still out there. I hope he ran away to hide in a weasel den and leave Meredith and me alone for good, but someone like that, they’re obsessed. I’m afraid he’ll be back, and we’ll have to deal with him again.