Member-only story
FICTION
Fake-Mike Enters the Pit
Rotten House — Chapter 18
Welcome back! In the last chapter, a clockwork zombie was in the middle of giving me valuable information about Rotten House when the thing pretending to be my brother tore her apart.
When I got back downstairs, Mom wasn’t in the kitchen. She’d gone outside to talk to Reginald. I saw her through the window, asking him about plants, from what I could tell. He kept grunting and gesturing toward the dead vines at his feet. Mom nodded politely.
I didn’t know why she bothered to talk to him. He was voiceless and dead. Of course, if she’d been here last night, she would’ve known exactly how dead he was.
“Mom!” I shouted as I ran to her.
The vines snapped under me. They struck at my ankles.
“Hey, son. You feeling better?”
She probably thought that was the reason why I ran away at breakfast. And honestly, I did feel a little sick. Terror could make you break into hives and sweat like a cactus, and while I wasn’t in hive territory, I was definitely feeling sweaty and queasy.
“Never felt better,” I told her. Before Mom could scold me for my sarcasm, I continued. “Mike isn’t Mike. He’s an imposter. You gotta believe me.”
