Nowhere Blvd: A Horror Novel Read Online Free

floating in the dark like the Cheshire Cat’s. 
    “And then you’d miss out on all the wonderful FUN we’re going to have tomorrow,” he said, lightening up in tone.  “Well goodnight children, goodnight!”
    With that he slipped out the door, locking it from the outside (the only door with a lock Spencer had seen in Nowhere Blvd).  Spencer wasted no time undressing and getting into bed.  He thought for a moment of what Jack had meant by “Rejected.”  He couldn’t really guess, but the connotation of a sort of monster was pretty clear.  He thought he would be awake for a while thinking about it in this strange place, but instead fell asleep soon after and dreamt dreams he soon forgot.
     
    *   *   *
     
    Spencer’s parents had done a pretty good job of putting a bedroom together for him in the few days he’d been locked up in the hospital.  His old bed, his old dresser, even a lot of his old toys.  New clothes, which he supposed represented his mom’s best guess at his size.  Same old closet, which he wasn’t happy about.  But he had some ideas on that.  He’d thought back to his second trip between the worlds through Jack’s Grand Closet.  However it worked, it needed darkness.  He knew it somehow, could just sense it on the trip back.  Somehow the darkness was how it worked.  And unlike in Nowhere Blvd, here artificial light was plentiful.
    Things with his parents were awkward.  He remembered the house, and remembered them.  Yet still it felt for all the world like he was with strangers in a strange house.  Despite Spencer’s not having said a word, his mom talked non-stop, as if to avoid any unpleasant silences.  His father barely spoke at all, clearly at a loss for what to say.  Baby Suzie would spin around and play pointlessly for awhile, then demand something of her parents and scream when she didn’t get it.  Spencer found himself getting annoyed by her fast. 
    In addition he felt crowded, and on edge.  Worse yet, he couldn’t stop sneezing.  His eyes burning and watering. 
    “Allergies,” his mom said.  “We’ll have to get you some medicine.”
    Spencer didn’t remember having allergies, but on the other hand he hadn’t been around so much as a flower in at least two years, so he figured he just wasn’t used to the air.  For lunch they had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sitting around awkwardly at the kitchen table.  He remembered the snack as being one of his favorites, but now it only tasted strange.  When the food in the hospital had tasted strange, he’d assumed it was just because it was hospital food.  But he realized now it was him.  The sandwich gave him stomach cramps, as if his body didn’t know what to do with it.
    He’d dreamt about this house and fresh air and bright skies and real food for years, and now all of them seemed to be assaulting him in different ways.  It all made him on edge, made him angry.  He felt he’d been cheated somehow, been given a dream come true only to find out nothing was the way it was supposed to be.  He wanted to be somewhere else, but didn’t know where.
    That night Spencer skipped dinner (breakfast and lunch was already more than he was used to eating in a day).  He went to bed at nightfall, like you got used to doing living in the woods.  In truth he could barely keep his eyes open, the day had exhausted him.  He didn’t know how sitting around a house could be more exhausting than hiding from a forest full of monsters, but didn’t question it.  Before bed his parents made him brush his teeth, a process which was painful and produced not a small amount of blood from his malnutritioned gums. 
    In his room he left the light on, closet door open where the light could reach every corner of it.  His parents had left him with a nightlight, which he plugged in under the bed so the light would reach the shadows there as well.  After he’d pushed the bed in front of the door, of course.  He didn’t