Waiting for Patrick Read Online Free Page A

and….”
    Elliot shook his head. “Come back to bed. You’re still half-asleep.”
    Daniel headed back out toward the hall carrying his shirt. “Come on. Take me home or something.” He looked back at Elliot, but Elliot had already turned over and started back to sleep.
    With what appeared to be his last reserves of consciousness, Elliot mumbled, “If you want to leave now, call a cab. Otherwise, I’ll take you home in the morning. Come to bed.”
    “I’m not staying here. The damned place is haunted.” Daniel looked at the bathroom door suspiciously. Were the items able to leave the bathroom and fly out into the hall? Or was the bathroom the only place that was haunted? Daniel didn’t know. He only wanted out of the house.
    Elliot droned, “You’re drunk and half-asleep and imagining things.” And then he pulled the cover back over his shoulders and closed his eyes.
    “I’m leaving.” Daniel turned to run toward the stairs by the time Elliot said, “Night,” and pulled the covers over his head.

Chapter 2
     
     
    THE NEXT morning, Elliot woke to a cell phone ringing. He stuck his arm out of his blanket cocoon and smacked around blindly, trying to find the damned thing on the bedside dresser. When he finally located it, he pulled it under the covers with him.
    “What, Cher?” he snarled. He hadn’t been sleeping well for several months and didn’t appreciate being awakened so early on the one morning he was actually getting some rest.
    “How was twink-boy?” an overly cheerful voice said.
    Elliot reluctantly peeked out around the blanket to glance at the other side of the bed. Daniel wasn’t there, and it took Elliot’s sleep-addled mind a few moments to remember why. When he finally did remember, he figured it was safe to talk about him. “He was in his twenties. Not a twink.”
    “Close enough. Half your age.”
    “You’re the one who was pushing him at me,” Elliot growled incredulously, trying to decide whether to get up or hide under the covers.
    “Not once the whole night did I ever physically push him at you,” Sheri teased.
    “You know what I mean.” Elliot flung the blankets back and sat up. Now that he was awake, his bladder was insisting he actually get up and take care of its needs.
    “Details, Elliot,” she said in her stern voice as he padded toward the bathroom, phone in hand.
    “It was good,” he admitted, “but he’s nuts.” In the bathroom he tried to figure out the etiquette concerning relieving oneself while talking on the phone. He decided he didn’t care after all, so he continued talking. “He left in the middle of the night because he said the house was haunted.”
    “Is it?” Sheri asked in a singsong voice.
    “Yes, Sheri,” Elliot snarked. “Of course it’s haunted. That’s the easiest explanation here.” His voice made clear his disgust as he pinched the phone between his ear and shoulder and turned on the water to wash his hands. “No, of course it’s not haunted. He said that everything on the sink threw itself at him. I’m at the sink right now and everything is right where I put it. Now I’m not sure about you, but if stuff started to fly through the air at me completely unbidden, I wouldn’t stop to pick the damned things up and put them back. Would you? So the fact that they weren’t moved tells me he was either seeing things or making shit up. Or maybe he really was using drugs. There was a time last night that I thought he might be high as well as drunk. I kind of decided later that he wasn’t, but… I mean, ghosts?”
    “You never know, Ellie.” Sheri still had that mocking tone. “As far as all those bathroom items? Maybe the ghost put them back.”
    “Right,” Elliot deadpanned, “because ghosts are noted neat freaks and wouldn’t want to leave a mess after throwing things at people to make them leave the house.” He dried his hands awkwardly, almost dropping the phone in the process, then started back toward his