Eat'em by Chase Webster Read Free Book Online Page A

an option. I knew nothing of criminology, or how easily they could separate DNA from the soapy tiles. As horrible as it was, I had to pop the bag.
    The horrid scent worsened as foul liquid followed me into the hallway and quickly flowed into the open theater, pouring down the stairs.
    I put my shoes back on in the lobby and waited until I felt certain all traces of my presence were hidden in filth. The sour aroma filled the room. Hidden in the horrid pool of body fluids was my DNA, but I could do nothing about it.
    My throat tightened. I needed to move before I began to feel nauseous again.
    “Let’s go,” I headed out, Eat’em lagging behind.
    “What are you going to tell Val about your new outfit?” Eat’em met my eyes in the door’s reflection.
    “School spirit,” I answered as we stepped into the sun.

 
    Chapter 8
     
    Val had a copy of the paper the morning after the incident. I ripped it from his hand, dreading the inevitable. No front-page headline declaring a murder on campus. I flipped to page two. Page three. Nothing. Then on the fourth page, a blurb so insignificant I almost missed it. The police blotter: “Vandal strikes Planetarium”.
    My eyes deceived me. It couldn’t be. They had to have found the bodies. The search party had to have started. The school should be on lockdown. Where was the article I expected?
    My heart wrenched as I thought about it, a cold chill travelled down my spine. I expected Val to ask why I looked so guilty, but he let me read.
    “Yesterday afternoon the custodians arrived to find the projection system in the planetarium in pieces. Vandals broke in and destroyed the 20,000-dollar projection equipment, leaving nothing but shrapnel in its place. In addition, a nearby bathroom was found to have suffered a similar fate as running sinks and urine flooded the floor, and several stalls were found dismantled. Police expect the same vandal is responsible. The planetarium underwent a huge remodeling and was set to reopen next month.”
    As I reached the end of the blurb I almost burst, “What about the girl?” But I caught myself at “Wha…” Nowhere was she mentioned. No bodies or missing persons mentioned in the entire paper. Why? No way did I imagine what happened.
    I began to plan my trip back to the planetarium.
     
    “Earth to Jacob!”
    My kneejerk reaction was to think it was the mystery woman from the bathroom. Inexplicable sorcery helped her escape death and she knew what I’d done.
    “JACOB!” a hand struck the table in front of me. “Wake up!”
    The sweet smell of ocean breeze snapped me out of my daze. “Uh… Dixie?” my voice cracked sheepishly. “Hi.”
    “Hi!” She smiled broadly, her face pulling back in a fake display of shyness. She wore her purple-streaked hair in a bun. Her makeup seemed less harsh than it had been the day before. Still, she’d gone bold with eyeliner, giving herself the appearance of an Egyptian princess. “Are you OK? You weren’t in class.”
    “Yeah,” my gaze dropped from her face to her tiny hand, which still planted on the table in front of me. “I’m sorry. Yeah, I forgot what time it was. I haven’t been getting much sleep.”
    “Oh whatever!” Eat’em yanked at my hair. His toes gripped my collarbone as he stood on my shoulders, leaning over the top of my head. “All you do is sleep, yes. I suggest we procure a Jolt Cola. You wake up long enough to say no, yes. I request the acquisitioning of a Standing Rock. You wake, say no, sleep, yes. I beseech, Jacob! The caroling warble of an ice cream truck! Wake, no, yes! ‘Haven’t been getting much sleep.’ For crying out loud…”
    “Well,” Dixie pushed me aside with her hip and sat on the edge of the chair. Eat’em clambered over to my opposite shoulder. Dixie’s hipbone pressed against mine. “What class do you have next?”
    She almost sat in my lap. I felt her breathing on my cheek and the hairs on my arm tingled as her skin brushed against mine.