Delivered (The Monster Trilogy Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

of water and placed it at the back of the dresser, well out of view. He tore up a sheet of paper into shreds, hoping the little creature could make a bed out of it.
    When Monster’s next meal arrived, he dropped some of the potato down the sleeve of his shirt, and later deposited it for the mouse to make a meal of.
    Days passed, and he grew used to having the little creature around. He’d never had a pet before—the concept of one had never even occurred to him—but now he found he enjoyed the company. Though the mouse never came too near, Monster found if he was patient, and lay on the floor with his arm out, with whatever scraps of food he’d saved from the day’s meal held between his fingertips, the mouse gradually began to venture closer. Its whiskers quivered, nose twitching as it edged nearer and nearer. When finally the mouse darted forward and snatched the food from his fingers, Monster had to stop himself jumping up and down with joy.
    A couple of days later, his father sat with him in his bedroom, running through a history lesson with him. His father appeared in a warmer mood than normal, even offering Monster a hint of a smile, and ruffling the boy’s hair when he got a question right.
    But then halfway through a sentence which his father was reading from a textbook, he suddenly stopped and frowned.
    Monster froze, knowing exactly what he’d heard.
    His father’s eyes narrowed. “Did you hear that?”
    “Hear what, Father?” he bluffed.
    The older man didn’t respond, but sat with his head tilted to one side, like an animal himself, listening.
    Please stay quiet, Monster willed the mouse. Just a little longer.
    But the squeak came again.
    His father got to his feet, stalking to the other side of the room. “What the hell are these?” He bent and picked something tiny off the floor. “Ugh. Rodent droppings. How the hell did these get in here?”
    He got to his hands and knees and checked beneath the dresser. Monster’s eyes filled with tears, knowing his pet was about to be discovered. He reached beneath, but instead of coming out with the mouse, he held up some bits of bread, and the thimble with water. “What’s this, Monster? Have you been feeding something under here?”
    There was no point in lying. “Yes, Father. There was a little mouse. I thought it might be hungry.”
    He strode across the room and delivered a stinging blow to Monster’s ears, leaving one side ringing. “You not only keep the presence of rodents a secret, but you actually fed it with food I’ve given you? Just how much do you want to upset me, Monster? If you have one mouse, you’ll soon have hundreds. And I don’t expect to work hard to put food in your belly, only for you to give that food to a god-damned rodent!”
    “I’m sorry, Father,” he said, cowering. He was worried about the repercussions of what he had done, but he was also worried about the mouse. Where was he now? He must be somewhere in the room. Monster’s brain whirred, trying to figure out a way he could get the little creature outside, to relative safety. But it was impossible. He couldn’t get himself to safety, never mind a mouse.
    “Wait here,” his father snapped, as though Monster had any other choice, and stalked from the room.
    Quickly, his heart pounding, he ran around the room, stopping to lie on the floor and peer beneath the furniture, trying to spot his little friend. Where are you? Where are you?
    The bedroom door opened and his father returned with something in his hand. He held it out and Monster’s heart sank.
    A trap.
    “No, Father. Please, it will hurt him.”
    “Hurt him? It’s a god-damned pest, not a him !” He shoved the trap against Monster’s chest. “Here, set it up using the food you’ve been giving the damn thing. It’s about time you learned what should happen to filthy little creatures like that.”
    Holding back tears, knowing they’d only make his father angrier, Monster used a piece of the saved