Page 10 of Broken Ice
He really hoped that was it because this felt much, much worse.
“Oh, no,” Beau groaned as some evil entity forced him to get up. “No, no, no. I need to lie down. It hurts.”
“We’re going to the car,” the evil entity said.
“For what?” Beau demanded. He needed a bed, not a car.
“To take you to the hotel.”
A sob clawed up his throat. He hated hotel rooms. They smelt wrong, and he didn’t have his nesting blankets, and he was soalone. “No. No, please, I wanna go home. Please, please—”
“Okay. Fuck, okay, I’m taking you home.”
The panic subsided. “Yeah? You promise?”
There was a long pause, during which Beau started whimpering again. “I promise,” the evil entity said, which was very nice of it.
“You’re actually a kind entity,” Beau told it.
The entity didn’t reply. It probably had low self-esteem, what with being called evil for so long.
“No, youare. You—what the hell is this?”
“It’s a car. Get in.”
Oh, right. He was going home. “I need my blue blanket.”
“Where is it?”
“It’s under my bed. I’ll show you when we get there.” His blue blanket would make everything all right.
There was sunlight, which was disgusting and bad, and movement—Beau was not a fan—and some strange smells, although the entity smelt good enough to cover those.
“Here we go. I’ve got the key. Just—lean against the wall for a sec.”
Beau leaned against the wall for a sec.
“Okay, here we go.”
They walked a few steps. A light turned on.
He wasn’t home. He was in a hotel room.
Beau turned to the entity, which wasn’t kindat alland was in fact a traitor and a thief. “You promised,” Beau sobbed.
“I’m sorry. Fuck, please—”
Beau didn’t have time for that. “I’m gonna throw up. Bathroom, bathroom—”
He got there just in time. Chunks of food and bile and also half his spleen and a bit of his lung came out and into the toilet.
“This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to anybody,” Beau cried between retches.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“You tricked me. It smellsbad.” He shouted the last word and retched again, so violently his ribs hurt.
There was absolutely nothing left in his body—no organs or veins or bones—by the time he was finished. The entity stripped him of his jersey, washed his face, and convinced him to swish some mouthwash, which actually did make the situation better, and then half-carried him to the stinky, awful hotel bed.
