The Night House Read Online Free PDF

just really messed up. I felt the drugs she was on.”
    “So you were high for a second?” she asks, trying to be funny and not laughing.
    “I guess.”
    “Well, there goes Shell’s party, huh?” She tries to get me to stand. “Come on, let’s go home.”
    “Hold on.” My voice quivers. “It’s not quite gone.”
    I can’t tell her how much pain I’m still in. I can’t tell her that I’ve never felt this kind of mark, almost like I’ve been bitten by a wild animal. I really can’t tell her that there is some part of me that likes this pain, even needs it.
    I have to remind myself that this isn’t actually how I feel. That this is the girl’s feeling. She is the one with the scars and the problems and the pain. She feels completely trapped and lost at the same time. Not me. Not me.
    Ally sits down next to me and lays her head on my shoulder. Even though it hurts, I’m glad she’s here. I try to focus on Ally, to feel her instead of that stranger, to ease this pain. It doesn’t work.
    “Just tell me when you’re ready,” Ally says.
    I’m reminded why I told Ally what I am in the first place. She will drop everything for me, as I would for her. She may not be my biological sister, but I love her just the same. I know she would fight for me if she had to. Ally makes me feel alive. And she, more than anyone, pushes me to be a regular kid. Sometimes she pushes too hard. But I’ll always forgive her.
    “Do you want to talk?” she asks quietly.
    “Sure.” I agree mostly to make her feel better.
    “Do you think you’ll see Shell again?”
    I make a noise in my throat. “I don’t think so…”
    “Too bad,” Ally sighs. “It’s okay, though. She’s spending the summer in Florida anyway.”
    “Shame.” Though I’m pretty okay with that. I’d be too embarrassed to see Shell again. A few states between us feels safe.
    “Hey, James,” Ally says.
    “Yeah?”
    She pulls her feet closer, scraping her boots across the sidewalk. “Do you still think about your bio parents?”
    This question catches me off guard and for a minute all the pain disappears, replaced with my own confusion. I feel wholly like myself as I think about them.
    “Of course.”
    “You think they were like you?” she asks.
    “I don’t know.” After years of thinking about that question, that’s the only answer I have. “Sometimes, I think so. Sometimes, I think I just have some kind of genetic mutation.”
    “Maybe you’re some kind of mythical creature. Like…a vampire.” She says the word with a bit of reverence. Ally’s always been obsessed with vampires. Dracula was her favorite book in middle school.
    I kick away an old cigarette butt. “Or I’m just nuts.”
    “Hush, big brother. Let me dream.”
    I close my eyes, but all I can see are the girl’s bright green ones staring back at me.

Bianca
     
    Micah lives in a ramshackle building a few blocks away. It’s the most he can afford, pretending to be a human living on disability. Vampires have a lot of scams like that to get money out of the human government. He is disabled after all. Just not in a way that humans would recognize.
    He opens the door for me, and I try not to stumble into him. I hide my wrist behind my back, pulling my sleeves back up. The usual wave of joy and terror overcomes me when I see him. He’s like a best friend, a brother, and a patient all rolled up into one.
    “Hey,” I say. My nerves are still tingling, but it’s getting better. I can’t shake that boy’s face from my mind. Part of me thinks I left him to die.
    “Bumble Bee.” Micah reaches a flimsy hand over to me, and I meet him halfway. His skin is sickly white, like cement. He looks so used. And he’s always so thin. Like me. “You made it.” He has a slight lisp. He’s missing two of his teeth: his fangs.
    “Sorry I’m late.”
    He smiles and pulls me inside. The apartment consists of one tiny dining room/living room/kitchen, a bathroom, and Micah’s room. We