Body of Immorality Read Online Free PDF

that!”
    “Fairy.”
    “Sam!” Michael pleaded.
    “‘ Sam!’” Hector mocked in his best, girlish voice. “‘ Sam!’”
    “Shut-up!” Michael had yet to perfect the art of back-talking.
    “Leave him alone, Hector,” Samantha warned.
    Hector glared at Samantha, chewing on something poisonous to say, but backed down. Everybody would tattle on him if things got out of control.
    “Come on now,” Hector said. “Let’s all be good boys and girls. Get cozy. Gather ’round.”
    They sat on the living room floor, giving in to the mendacity of Hector’s scheme. Cathleen turned off the lights, the shadows from the candle flames flickering along the walls and ceiling. Samantha pulled Dottie onto her lap. Everyone got comfortable, curling up with blankets, sipping Coke around the coffee table.
    Thunder cracked and boomed, and the house trembled.
    Michael widened his eyes, watching the shadows. Orange light danced and jerked.
    Maybe if Samantha humored Hector, she could keep the rest of them in line. She’d have to comfort Dottie, put her hands over her ears. Michael had to grow up eventually; she couldn’t hold his hand forever. Cathleen was every inch her own girl. She could take care of herself.
    Samantha raised her eyebrows as if to say, ‘Come on, Hector. Let’s get this charade over with, so we can put everyone to bed.’
    Oblivious, Dottie fiddled with the bows on her yellow shirt. Cathleen wore an anxious expression, enjoying the antics. She and Hector seemed the only ones enjoying themselves.
    Hector took a sip of soda, waving his fingers over the candle flame on the coffee table. The room shifted. Huge, worm-like shadows morphed across the ceiling.
    “I heard once,” Hector whispered, “that when you light a candle, you open a doorway to the spirit world.”
    Samantha rolled her eyes, already fed-up.
    “ Ohhh,” Cathleen said, feigning fright. “That’s sooo scary.”
    Hector delivered her a deadly look. Cathleen closed her mouth and looked away.
    Here we go, Samantha thought.
    “You know, a long time ago,” Hector continued, “in towns just like this, police found entire families—butchered, chopped into little bits and pieces, and no one ever found the killer.”
    My God, Samantha thought, widening her eyes. Hector’s choice of words had shocked her. What kind of movies did he watch at night?
    “That’s not true,” Michael said, lip quivering. He buried himself in the safety of his blankets.
    “You bet your ass it is,” Hector told him, his face a ghoulish clown’s in the light of the candles. Samantha thought him more frightening than the story he told.
    “There’s still reports to this day…” he went on. “No one was ever caught. People thought it was a lunatic outwitting authorities. Some say the bogeyman. Some say they witnessed a shadowy ghost, a huge figure carrying an axe. No one knows.”
    “For crying out loud!” Samantha said, appalled.
    “Nuh- uh!” Michael said.
    Hector peered close, leaning toward Michael.
    “Don’t think it ain’t true,” Hector said, pointing at his younger brother. “He’s coming after you, next!”
    Dottie, visibly upset, protested with a whimper. Maybe she understood just enough. Axes and murder were dead giveaways.
    “Shh,” Samantha said, trying to comfort her sister.
    “I’ve heard that, too!” Cathleen said, playing along. She stood up and ran dramatically to the living room window.
    “Oh my God,” she said, staring into the yard. “Hector’s right! The murderer’s out there! He’s coming for us! He’s coming up the steps! It’s…it’s… Frosty the Snowman!”
    Cathleen ran back to the blankets, screaming, and disappeared under the covers.
    Startled, Dottie began to cry.
    “Very funny,” Michael said, trying to sound brave.
    “It’s true,” Hector said.
    “Can’t we change the subject?” Samantha said. “You’re scaring Dot.” It didn’t seem funny to her, all this joking around, making a mockery of