Read Online Phantasos by Robert Barnard - Free Book Online Page B

Todd said, and he said her name quietly in case Danny might hear, because God knows how Danny would react if he heard him.
    “I love you too, baby. Now when are you planning on visiting me? You gotta get out of that dusty arcade of yours someday.”
    “Not tonight,” Todd said. “I’m a mess. I’m sorry if that’s not the answer you wanted, but how about tomorrow afternoon? Where are you?”
    “I’m at the Sunway Hotel, on the north end of Grand Ridge. You know the one?”
    “I do,” Todd said.
    “Great. Then I’ll see you tomorrow?”
    “You will.”
    “Don’t keep me waiting too long,” she said, “and I’ll try not to eat too much of your fudge,” and she hung up the phone.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
     
    Twelve
     
    BENJI OPENED HIS EYES TO THE soft morning light filtering its way through the blinds in the Emerson’s living room. He awoke in the recliner, and he had a cramp in his leg. Lauren was flipped on her stomach on the couch, her magazine crumpled on the floor beside her. Alley was asleep on the rug, curled up like a cat, a Nintendo controller still firmly in his clutch even though the console and the television had been shut off.
    The house was quiet, empty, and still, save for Benji, Lauren, and Alley. Benji figured that the Emerson’s must have left for work already; how they managed to tiptoe around the trio without waking them, Benji had no clue. Then again, teenagers can sleep through anything.
    He stood up and stretched his legs, trying to will away the cramp. After a good stretch the cramp lessened and he yawned, louder than he meant to. Lauren started to stir.
    “Wakey wakey,” Benji said, playfully.
    Lauren grunted, tossed a throw pillow at Benji, then rolled over and buried her face into a couch cushion.
    Benji grinned, nodded, and wandered off towards the kitchen on his own. He stretched his arms over his head and examined the kitchen; just like his parents, the Emerson’s left for work early in the morning. So, the kitchen was untended to, and still a mess from the night before. No one bothered to put Alley’s cake in the refrigerator, so the frosting had spread thin and oozed out over the remaining slices of cake. The lettering on the cake that once said “Happy Birthday, Alec!” now read as: “H  y   b    y,  A   !”
    With a sigh, Benji picked up some paper plates, stray napkins, empty plastic cups—whatever he could get his hands on—and started tossing them indiscriminately into the trash. The kitchen was halfway back to normal when Lauren walked in.
    She opened the fridge door, grabbed a jug of Sunny Delight, and started sipping it from the bottle. When she had enough, she returned it to the fridge and asked Benji, “What are you doing?”
    “Just cleaning up a little.”
    “All right. That’s a little weird, but all right.”
    “Why weird?”
    Lauren meandered to the pantry, took out a loaf of bread, and sunk a couple of slices into the kitchen toaster. She set the dial to a high setting and plunged the lever on the side of the appliance. “It’s just kind of weird to clean up someone else’s house, don’t you think?”
    Benji shrugged, tossed some plastic utensils into the trashcan, and continued to clean. “Maids clean other people’s houses.”
    “Yeah, but. You’re not our maid.”
    “Then I’m just being a decent friend, Lore. What’s gotten into you?”
    “Just forget it,” Lauren said. “It’s really nice that you’re helping clean up. Forget what I said, how I’m acting. Just forget it.”
    Benji stopped what he was doing to look at Lauren for the first time since she woke up, to really look at her. She looked like hell. Dark circles under her eyes, strands of hair flying in every other direction. Like she had tossed and turned all night.
    “What is it?” Benji asked
    The smell of burning Wonder Bread wafted through the kitchen.
    “I don’t want to