Read Online Milk-Blood by Mark Matthews - Free Book Online
Authors: Mark Matthews
Tags: Horror
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smelled the metallic smoke coming from the living room and the sound of men in the hallway. Nothing scared me now.
When the morning came, I wasn’t sure if I had slept all night or just dreamed, but the good feelings had left me. Burning bile started to eat away at my warm spot, my stomach ached with need for food, and my spine hurt the worst.
I was going to need more medicine.
Chapter Seven : Lilly Back at School
It was recess. My belly had a bowl of cheerios and a Pop-Tart in it so far. It was a frosted Pop-Tart. Plus I had half a banana, but not the whole thing since it had brown spots and those parts made me sick.
Yesterday, I had lunch with the counselor lady who asked me all sorts of questions. She said the world wasn’t a fair place but that I probably knew that, but when it tips far enough out of balance that someone should come and help. She had a license that made her contact people who would visit my house—from the state. They watched over things. I listened, but knew not to say too much. I didn’t speak on things like what’s in the fridge and the roaches under the fridge and my dad’s friends who come over sometimes. I definitely wasn’t going to tell them about the medicine that Uncle Nelson gave me.
And I kno w it’s not medicine. It’s heroin. Or H. Or dope. Or smack. But I like to say medicine.
Lunch with the counselor for one day was all it was, not all week like she promised, so at recess I went back to my place sitting with my back to the wall. Sitting there twice was enough to claim it as mine.
The same three boys came to me again. One still had his shirt untucked, like he had to fix it each day to make it that way. The others were tucked in like the school policy said it had to be, but I saw on their faces something different, something schools don’t reach or get to control, like that space behind your fridge. They saw it in me too.
“Are you going to show us your heart or not?”
“It’s fixed. ”
“ How did it get fixed?”
“ They injected me right here, and now it’s fixed.”
I showed them the tiny little mark like a chicken pock on my underarm. I knew my heart wasn’t really fixed, but it just felt like that. If I could feel like a normal person for just a bit, then maybe I belonged. I wasn’t so strange, wasn’t so different from the boys next to me. The boy traced the big blue vein of mine up and down my underarm with his finger. It felt good.
“ But they still have to cut me open again.”
They left me alone, and didn’t want to see my heart anymore. The day dragged on just the same.
Later on, two girls got into a fight, and lots of boys laughed and screamed to root them on. The teacher had to leave us alone, and our classroom was empty when the bell rang. We didn’t get our homework assigned before the day ended, and I smiled right away thinking about home and the day before. Maybe I’d get some medicine again.
I felt older all of sudden, but also like I was just born.
The school bus bounced over holes in the street and shook my insides. When they got to my stop and the door opened, cool air got sucked into the bus and brushed against my skin. Colder days were coming.
I walked with Ciara and Ciana and their mom, but didn’t want to be invited to their house. My legs moved fast down the sidewalk, brushing past the cracks but never stepping on them. Nothing could stop me. Home was different now. And Joey needed me.
I could feel Ciara’s mom watching me down the sidewalk, like she does sometimes to make sure I’m safe.
I walked by the abandoned house and looked to see if it was any different after everything that had happened. It stood there rotting just the same. The man was inside, moving fast again, and pacing back and forth, more like a robot than a person. I saw him through the front doorway, and he’d walk and disappear, walk and disappear.
But then he saw me and stopped and both of us looked at each other.
I felt a small w hoosh,
When the morning came, I wasn’t sure if I had slept all night or just dreamed, but the good feelings had left me. Burning bile started to eat away at my warm spot, my stomach ached with need for food, and my spine hurt the worst.
I was going to need more medicine.
Chapter Seven : Lilly Back at School
It was recess. My belly had a bowl of cheerios and a Pop-Tart in it so far. It was a frosted Pop-Tart. Plus I had half a banana, but not the whole thing since it had brown spots and those parts made me sick.
Yesterday, I had lunch with the counselor lady who asked me all sorts of questions. She said the world wasn’t a fair place but that I probably knew that, but when it tips far enough out of balance that someone should come and help. She had a license that made her contact people who would visit my house—from the state. They watched over things. I listened, but knew not to say too much. I didn’t speak on things like what’s in the fridge and the roaches under the fridge and my dad’s friends who come over sometimes. I definitely wasn’t going to tell them about the medicine that Uncle Nelson gave me.
And I kno w it’s not medicine. It’s heroin. Or H. Or dope. Or smack. But I like to say medicine.
Lunch with the counselor for one day was all it was, not all week like she promised, so at recess I went back to my place sitting with my back to the wall. Sitting there twice was enough to claim it as mine.
The same three boys came to me again. One still had his shirt untucked, like he had to fix it each day to make it that way. The others were tucked in like the school policy said it had to be, but I saw on their faces something different, something schools don’t reach or get to control, like that space behind your fridge. They saw it in me too.
“Are you going to show us your heart or not?”
“It’s fixed. ”
“ How did it get fixed?”
“ They injected me right here, and now it’s fixed.”
I showed them the tiny little mark like a chicken pock on my underarm. I knew my heart wasn’t really fixed, but it just felt like that. If I could feel like a normal person for just a bit, then maybe I belonged. I wasn’t so strange, wasn’t so different from the boys next to me. The boy traced the big blue vein of mine up and down my underarm with his finger. It felt good.
“ But they still have to cut me open again.”
They left me alone, and didn’t want to see my heart anymore. The day dragged on just the same.
Later on, two girls got into a fight, and lots of boys laughed and screamed to root them on. The teacher had to leave us alone, and our classroom was empty when the bell rang. We didn’t get our homework assigned before the day ended, and I smiled right away thinking about home and the day before. Maybe I’d get some medicine again.
I felt older all of sudden, but also like I was just born.
The school bus bounced over holes in the street and shook my insides. When they got to my stop and the door opened, cool air got sucked into the bus and brushed against my skin. Colder days were coming.
I walked with Ciara and Ciana and their mom, but didn’t want to be invited to their house. My legs moved fast down the sidewalk, brushing past the cracks but never stepping on them. Nothing could stop me. Home was different now. And Joey needed me.
I could feel Ciara’s mom watching me down the sidewalk, like she does sometimes to make sure I’m safe.
I walked by the abandoned house and looked to see if it was any different after everything that had happened. It stood there rotting just the same. The man was inside, moving fast again, and pacing back and forth, more like a robot than a person. I saw him through the front doorway, and he’d walk and disappear, walk and disappear.
But then he saw me and stopped and both of us looked at each other.
I felt a small w hoosh,
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