Nowhere Blvd: A Horror Novel Read Online Free Page A

plan on allowing himself to be cornered in here.  He tried to lay on the bed, but it was too soft and hurt his back.  Instead he took a blanket and pillow and slept on the floor, a substantial step up in comfort from what he was used to.  He rested with his fingertips touching the cool steel of a knife under his pillow, which he had snuck from a drawer in the kitchen. 
    He thought that the light would make it hard for him to sleep.  Instead, surrounded by light he slept better than he had in a long time, waking only once per hour to check and make sure the room was still secure. 
     
    *   *   *
     
    The second day in Nowhere Blvd, and several after that passed much the same.  Rides at the amusement park, swimming and fishing at Jack’s Lake (no one ever caught any fish).  Playing in the park and eating at Nanny Gurdy’s and the snack shops.  Most days he got to see Perfect Girl Julie.  Sometimes he would ask her to tell him more about Nowhere Blvd.  Once he asked her what Jack had meant when he said he had “made” the Perfects from ordinary boys and girls.  Instead of answering, she just got a faraway look in her eyes and told him it was a secret.  He didn’t like secrets, but something told him not to press the point.  Most of the time there was a lot more play than talk, the Perfects were great at all kinds of games. 
    Every night at least one of the children would decide to go home, Jack always seeing them off.  It was a whirlwind of fun and magic and making new friends.  It was hands down the best time he’d ever had.
    Spencer knew his parents must miss him, like Wendy’s parents had missed her in Peter Pan.  And like in that book he knew he would eventually return to them and everything would be all right.  But he meant to be the last to do so, to not leave until all the other children had.  Somehow in his mind he thought this would convince Smiling Jack of his loyalty and courage.  That this would maybe allow him to be granted a passport back to Nowhere Blvd, not to be sent away forever like the others.  Maybe he could even become one of the Perfects.  He didn’t know how he could live the rest of his life knowing that there was a magic place he was never allowed to go back to, just the boring old real world.
    Of course, that was assuming it really was magic.
    Once, when Spencer had been in second grade, there had been a magician at his school.  All the classes got together in the auditorium to watch the magic tricks, two grade levels at a time.  Spencer had loved the show, even more than the other kids.  He loved the idea that there was magic in the world, and not just the boring everyday of class and chores.  So after he saw it with his grade level, instead of going to lunch with everyone else he snuck back to see it again.  He knew that he’d be caught if he tried to blend in with the older kids, who were cruel and best avoided.  So instead he snuck around the way he knew to the back of the auditorium.  He remembered it from the Christmas pageants they’d been in, singing carols to their parents in the audience.  He hated the pageants, but remembered the secret backstage areas.  His mom sometimes said he was real good with directions.
    Watching the show from behind was thrilling despite the fear of getting caught.  He looked out from a gap in the curtain not just at the magician, but at the whole audience.  He loved that he could see them without them seeing him, same as when he hid behind the couch to listen to adult TV shows after he was supposed to be in bed, only better.
    Except the tricks didn’t work from behind.  The various levitations and magic boxes, from behind they weren’t magic at all.  You could see the bars, the hidden panels.  At first he thought the magician did a different show for the older kids, one without the magic, though he couldn’t understand why he would.  But eventually he realized that the audience was just as amazed, they were