Infinity House by Shane McKenzie Read Free Book Online Page B

the same one from before, sticking out sideways from its bedroom door, white as a ghost.
    The child waved him over, checked up and down the hall, then waved him over again.
    Mike had to force himself to stand. There was a strong sensation of wiggling inside of him, spreading like fire throughout his body. His brain slammed against the inside of his skull, his body begged him to lie back down, to give up, give in to the house.
    “H-have you s-seen my brother?” He meant to shout it, but it came out a choked mutter.
    The child, now standing in the hall, nodded. The pale-faced kid appeared to be a girl, and as Mike stumbled toward her, he could tell she wore some kind of porcelain mask. She jumped up and down, clapped, then ran into her room.
    Mike followed, nearly collapsing a few times on the way. His breaths rattled in his throat; his skin burned with electric agony as the maggots burrowed deeper.
    He fell into the room, heard the door creak and click shut behind him. The smell of this room was different…semi-pleasant. The ess-ence of rot was still there, but above that was a sweet perfume.
    The floor was soft with thick carpet, and Mike allowed his spent body to sink into it for a moment.
    A music box played from the corner of the room, and as Mike listened, nearly falling asleep, he realized he didn’t hear the flies. The incessant buzzing was absent here.
    A tap on the shoulder. Mike bared his teeth as he lifted his head. The doll-faced girl rocked back and forth from heel to toe, cocked her head to the side, waved.
    “Y-you said you know where my brother is,” Mike said. He sat up, groaned and whimpered; he could feel his body being slowly hollowed out. “Please…p-lease show me where…”
    Then he saw him. Lying on the floor across the room, under the ivory music box.
    “James!” Mike found new strength, hopped to his feet and dashed toward his brother’s motionless body. He turned him over, ran his hands over the boy’s face. “James, wake up. Wake up, fool.” He lightly slapped James’s cheeks, shook him by the shoulders, but the boy wouldn’t wake. Then Mike saw the tiny bulges all over him, moving under his skin, saw the small holes that decorated his flesh, each one deep and crying a thin drop of blood.
    Another tap on the shoulder. Dollface waved, kept rocking on her feet.
    “What did you do to him?”
    She shook her head, shrugged.
    Mike almost attacked, but he just couldn’t find the strength. He scooped up James’s body, cradled it, held it close to his chest. “Please…can you help us? I-I gotta get him home, I gotta keep him safe.”
    She nodded. Jumped up and down and clapped. Her plaid dress ruffled as she ran to her bed, climbed on top of it.
    Mike grunted as he rose to his feet, clutching his brother in his shaking arms. His knees buckled and he nearly crashed back to the floor, but he stayed up, took slow careful steps toward the bed.
    He waited for Dollface, expected her to show him some kind of secret exit, a tunnel that would take him back outside. “Now what? Tell me where to go.”
    She jumped up and down on her bed, waved at him, clapped and spun in the air.
    “You gonna help us?” His voice cracked and his knees shook.
    She nodded, threw her feet in the air and landed on her rear. She bounced excitedly on her backside, put her hand to the white mask’s mouth as if laughing, but no sound came.
    The music box started playing faster, the notes became out of tune, metallic pings. She hopped back to her feet, kept jumping on the bed, faster and faster.
    “You little bitch. I’ll fuckin’… ahhh!” He dropped James to the floor with a heavy thud. Mike felt the maggots deep within him now, crawling into his innards, gnawing on his core. It felt like his insides were liquefied, and his body felt like one big open wound. He dropped to his knees and clawed at his chest, stomach, face. His legs from the knees down were numb, and when Mike pulled up his pant leg, he saw they