Page 6 of Boys Who Taint

“Nah, not really. I’ve tried, but nothing works.”

“Maybe you should try a Ouija board.”

Her eyes widen. “Oh … wow, can’t believe I never thought of that. Okay, let’s do it. We’ll get one tomorrow.” She holds out her hand. “Together.”

“Wait, you want me to talk to them too?” I’m getting the creeps. “Do they live in our house? How many are there?”

“Maybe three. I don’t really keep track. There are too many in this city.”

“Wow…”

“Are your flabbers ghasted?” She smirks.

I put my thumb and index finger together. “Just a little.”

She leans in. “So … want me to introduce you?”

I make a face. “Absolutely not.”

“Scaredy-cat.” She chucks a pillow my way and laughs, so I throw it right back, and we end up in a pillow fight.

She giggles. “C’mon, then! I’m not scared of nothing!”

Not scared of nothing.

Not even death itself.

Apollo

Present

I crawlup on the rock, water crashing into me as I waste no time clutching the body and checking for a pulse.

Nothing.

“God-fucking-dammit,” I grunt.

I cross my hands above her chest and begin applying pressure to her heart, trying to pump the life back into her.

She’s bleeding from the ear, and her leg is splayed in a very wrong position, but we can fucking fix that. Right?

I open her lips and give her CPR, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference as her body lies limp on the rocks.

The screaming coming from far above doesn’t help either.

“Goddammit, Mavis!” I yell at her, pushing down even harder into her ribs to make that goddamn heart of hers pump again.

But no matter how many times I push and push and push, her skin slowly begins to turn ashy gray as the blood seeps out into the sea.

“Fuck!” I yell, and I grab her arms and fling them around my neck. “I need help over here!” I yell to the people above.

But all they do is stare at me in complete and utter shock.

So I scream back, “ELLIOT! TALON! COME HERE! NOW!”

After a while, Elliot comes running up to the edge, his face white as a ghost, before he tears off his shirt and jumps down into the water with me.

Fucking finally, someone with a set of functioning balls.

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