Read Online It Begins by Richie Tankersley Cusick - Free Book Online Page A

Lucy pulled a fresh paper towel from the dispenser. “What do you mean, mysterious? Why is he mysterious?”
    “Well, who knows
anything
about him, really? He keeps pretty much to himself.”
    “Maybe he’s shy.”
    “He doesn’t talk much. But with a face and body like that … why would he need to?”
    “I see.” Lucy played along. “The quiet, secretive type.
That’s
what makes him mysterious.”
    “Not just that. His family, too.”
    “So his
family’s
mysterious.”
    “They’re poor.” Tilting her head sideways, Angela studied her profile in the glass. “And extremely weird. I mean, the word is that Byron must be adopted or something—he’s the only normal one in the whole bunch. He lives with his grandmother—well, takes
care
of his grandmother; she’s an invalid. His mother’s been locked up for years.”
    Lucy looked startled. “Locked up?”
    “As in
loony bin?
As in
institution?”
Angela pointed to the side of her head and made wide circles with her finger. “As in
psychopathic maniac?”
    “Yes, Angela, I get it. What’s wrong with her?”
    “She murdered her kids.”
    “Come on … you’re not serious.”
    “Burned down the house with them in it. Oh, for God’s sake, it happened years ago. I’m not sure anyone around here even remembers the woman
personally
—it’s just something everyone knows about.” Angela paused, thought for a second, then once again faced the mirror. “You know. Like a campfire story. Or one of those urban legends.”
    “But what about Byron?” Lucy asked.
    “Well,
obviously
he got out, didn’t he? Him and his crazy sister. Are you finished in here?”
    Lucy nodded. She ran some water over the towel, squeezed it out, then pressed it against her cheeks, stalling for a little more time.
    “So … is the mom in prison?” she asked.
    Angela rolled her eyes. “No, just in a straightjacket for the rest of her life. Poor Byron. I mean, can you even imagine? Everyone knowing your mother’s a cold-blooded killer? And, like
that’s
not bad enough, that sister of his was turning out just as bad—it was only a matter of time before
she
got carted off to the funny farm. Lucky for everybody, she ended upleaving town before anything really horrible happened.”
    “I guess that
was
lucky,” Lucy agreed quietly. “So tell me about the sister.”
    “She
saw
things.” Another dramatic sigh. “Well … at least that’s what she wanted people to believe. She
saw
things.”
    “You mean … like hallucinations?”
    “Call them whatever you want—
she
called them
visions.”
    Lucy’s heart caught in her chest. She was feeling colder by the second. “What kinds of visions?”
    “How would
I
know?
I
never saw her have one.” Angela sounded impatient. “Telling-the-future-and-talking-to-the-dead kinds of visions, I guess. I mean, the girl was
way
creepy.”
    “So she never had a vision in school?” Lucy’s voice was scarcely a whisper.
    “She didn’t go to school. She didn’t go anywhere, really. I mean, nobody ever saw her.”
    “Then if nobody ever saw her … how do you know she even existed?”
    Angela gave a sniff of disdain. “Well … nobody
normal
ever saw her. Nobody
I
knowever saw her. But there were stories, you know?” Leaning closer to her reflection, she rubbed at a tiny smudge of lipstick on her tooth. “Sometimes people would drive past the Wetherly place at night, and they’d see her watching from an upstairs window with bars on it. And sometimes, people just going down that road at night would hear screams coming from inside the house. That’s why they never let her out. She was totally dangerous.”
    Despite her uneasiness, Lucy frowned. “Sounds like old wives’ tales to me.”
    “Whatever. But she ran away last year, so that was a big relief to everybody.
Especially
to Byron, I imagine. I mean, God, how humiliating—so
not
cool for his social life. Now there’s only him and his grandmother.” She paused, her brow