Nowhere Blvd: A Horror Novel Read Online Free Page B

seeing the same thing from their side.  But from behind you could see how it really was, that is was all just pretend. 
    Far from being excited to be let in on this secret, Spencer was terribly disappointed.  In one day he had both gained and lost all wonder in the world.  These events by no means convinced him that there was no such thing as real magic, only forever after that he always looked behind things.  Didn’t ever take things at face value. 
    Which is why he couldn’t just let it go when Jack said never to go out at night.  He figured seeing the nighttime of Nowhere Blvd would be like the back of the theatre.  If that’s what kids weren’t supposed to see, then that is where you could see how the tricks were done.  He had no intention of proving it was all fake, he'd be happier to prove it wasn't.  It was more like stealing a little magic for himself, to take home with him. 
    He planned in advance for that night, stuffing tissue into the hole in the door jamb, so the door wouldn’t close all the way when Smiling Jack left that night.  He figured if anyone noticed it he would just play dumb, it wasn’t like they could fingerprint tissue. 
    That night it was the twins that decided to go home.  Spencer felt a pang of sadness at that, he’d grown close to them and liked to look after them.  They were his favorites of the few kids who were left.  All that remained were a handful of the younger boys and girls and the oldest boy of the original group. 
    The twins came and hugged him goodbye, little Bobby and Benny whom he had just learned to finally tell apart.  As Jack walked them out of the door, Spencer felt a lump in his throat and wondered if he would ever see them again back in the real world.  As the door shut behind them, Spencer watched it very carefully for the workings of his harmless sabotage. 
    He waited a little while and then, feeling confident everyone was asleep, he slipped on his clothes and made his way to the door.  It didn’t open on the first pull, but when he slid the thin edge of a ruler he’d taken from one of the stores into the gap it was loose enough to get open the rest of the way. 
    He slipped out quiet as a mouse, leaving the door just the tiniest fraction of an inch ajar so he could get back in later.  Outside is was dark, much darker than the city he grew up in.  And not just because there were no street lights.  There was a moon, a fairly huge one actually, as if it were much closer than normal.  Like the sun, it would fade and glow in place rather than rising and setting.  But despite this moons large size, it didn’t cast much light, and where the stars should be was only inky blackness. 
    Spencer was afraid of the dark, a little anyway.  Much less than most kids, but still a little.  Yet even in the dark, finding the way to Smiling Jack’s mansion would be easy.  It was a straight shot north upon the road.  It would be harder to miss it than to find it.  Even if he lost the road, the hill it stood on dominated the whole north end of Nowhere Blvd and he would only have to walk up. 
    As he walked he was amazed at the silence of Nowhere Blvd at night.  No cars, no buzzing streetlamps, no insects, not even wind.  Just his own footsteps and breathing to keep him company in the whole universe.  It was almost maddening.  He only had to tolerate it for a few minutes though before he felt the ground rising beneath his feet as he climbed the walkway to the front of the mansion. 
    The large black doors stood there waiting, no lights on that he could see through the windows.  He had no idea if they were unlocked or not, but figured that the front door was no way to sneak in to a house when the people inside were home.  A house this big had to have lots of other doors.  He snuck around the side, wondering if all the dark windows meant everyone inside was asleep. 
    Until he finally did find one window with just a little bit of light coming out.  A