Page 22 of Haunted Heart
“Lust tried to pull you in.”
He moves his head like a glitching animatronic, and something bright flashes behind his eyes. “Oh… I remember now.”
I look away from the boner that has just tented his pants. “Maybe try not to.”
I test letting him go again. He starts to turn.
He holds up his other hand like he’s pledging an oath. “I promise I’mnottrying to do that.”
“I know.” Which means we still need that chain. “Let’s go get something to tie you to me so that we don’t have to hold hands the whole time.”
He nods. I have to tug him along, but he doesn’t fight me anymore, so it’s a little like hauling around a six-foot-five toddler.
The corn stalks are an ugly purple brown, the corn inside their husks look both popped and rotten. I doubt the fuzz growing on them is anything as nice as huitlacoche. That would be a welcome sight.
This… I shiver.
Ick.
Jonas steps on one of the fallen ears, and it oozes, turning into goo beneath his shoe.
He groans, trying to scrape it off. “Fucking gross.”
“Luckily, it won’t go back to the living world with you,” Julia says, and Jonas looks up at her again.
His earlier confusion has been replaced by something a little more like awe. And I think he might be following her more than he is me.
The scarecrow at the center of the maze hangs lopsided. It almost looks like a living man. I can’t take the time to worry about that.
“Okay… when did your grandmothers start hanging up dead men for scarecrows?” Jonas looks up at it with wide eyes.
“They didn’t. It’s just one of Hell’s tricks,” I say, unhooking the chain with one hand.
The scarecrow falls into the cornstalks, and I leave him there.
“Are you sure?” Jonas asks. “Because that looked just like the guy in my 10a.m. poli-sci class.”
I look at Julia, and she shrugs. “If he died in the maze and hasn’t gotten to his Hell yet, he might be a ‘real boy.’”
Jonas flinches. “Sure, but Pinocchio didn’t have his chest ripped open.”
I get Jonas wrapped up in the chains, threading them through his belt loops and using a bolt to secure them.
But I don’t wrap him around myself. If I need to drop him or tie him up to something else, I want to be able to do it quickly.
When I look up again, Jonas has turned back toward the ravine, his neck twisted at too far of an angle.
“Hey!” I snap my fingers next to his ear. “Don’t give into that. You can find a willing partner in the living world. One that will actually sleep with you instead of torturing you for eternity.”
He stares vacuously toward the Hell that wants to claim him.
“He’ll probably slip in and out like that,” Julia remarks.
But when she moves in between him and the ravine, his unfocused gaze turns to her and he turns, like she’s got him by the ear.
“If we lead, he’ll follow.” She looks toward the path into the maze. “For now.”
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