A Good and Useful Hurt by Aric Davis Read Free Book Online Page A

are two different things.”
    “Disagree.”
    “You can’t disagree with an emotion!”
    She laughed and bounded ahead of him. She turned, smiled, and stuck out her tongue to catch a snowflake. “If you stayed to watch it, you liked it. It’s a fact.”
    “That’s bullshit.”
    “Nope.”
    “A movie that makes you feel that awful isn’t good.”
    “But that’s what makes it good.”
    “How do you figure?”
    He caught up to her and tucked an arm around her. She hugged herself close to him as they walked in the snow.
    “It makes you feel something. As long as a movie doesn’t make you want to leave the theater, it’s doing a pretty good job. What makes Happiness so good are the same things that make it so hard to watch. Like the scene where Bill is trying to drug Johnny with the tuna fish sandwich. You don’t want to watch it, but you have to. A part of you, maybe a really rotten, slimy part, even wants Bill to do it. He’s pretty much made it his life’s work at that point.”
    “I didn’t want him to rape that kid.”
    “There was still tension when you’re waiting for that kid to eat the sandwich.”
    “Well of course there is—the poor kid’s about to get molested by some pervert!”
    “You liked the movie.”
    “I suppose by your definition I did. That doesn’t mean I’d want to watch it again.”
    “Hell, I didn’t really want to watch it again.”
    “Why did you bring me then? Are you just trying to fuck with me?”
    “I brought you because it’s an amazing movie that makes you feel bad for bad people.”
    “That’s not very satisfying.”
    “Life never is, so why should entertainment be so different?”
    “You’re crazy.”
    “Never debated that.”
    “It’s not a bad crazy, though.”
    “You did like the movie. It’s coming to you now and you feel bad, so you’re being nice.”
    “I guess I did, I just couldn’t tell you why.”
    “Probably the worst date movie ever.”
    “Was this a date?”
    “If I take a boy out to a movie, and pay, the least he can do is admit that it was a date.”
    “Fine, it was a date.”
    “Is a date.”
    “Is. Fine.”
    “That’s better.”
    “So if it’s still a date, why don’t we get inside somewhere?”
    “How about there?”
    “We can’t go in there.”
    “Sure we can.”
    “It’s an abandoned building.”
    “So let’s explore.”
    Deb walked over to the building and leaned down to pull at a board next to the door. It came loose easily, and she threw it aside.
    “What if somebody sees us?”
    She finished clearing the doorway and squeezed inside. Mike heard her call, “Come on!” from inside, and so he did.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    It was musty and black, save for the beam of light coming from the flashlight in Deb’s hand.
    “Where did you get that?”
    “My purse.”
    “You keep a flashlight in your purse?”
    “You never know.”
    Mike thought about that for a second. It was certainly true, but at the same time, without the unnecessary exploration in the first place…
    “So what now?”
    “Aren’t you the least bit curious?”
    Mike, who had always felt himself to be curious about any number of subjects, would never have included urban spelunking among them. “Curious about what?”
    She sighed, and he could almost hear the scowl that accompanied it. “Look, we need to get you some practice, and this is as good a way as any. This place doesn’t look like it’s been closed too long; we should try and find some souvenirs.”
    “You lead.”
    She did, and they left the entryway to emerge into an enormous room. The floors were warped, and Mike’s feet betrayed him on small patches of ice that collected in the creases. As best he could tell, though, Deb was having no issue maneuvering whatsoever. She seemed to glide ahead of him, as the flashlight’s beam skittered about her feet. He felt clumsy in her wake, but he could think of no way to remedy the problem. They maneuvered around a pile of splintered old desks,