Free Forever Freaky by Tom Upton Page A

notebook from his gym bag.
He flipped through the pages until he settled on something. Before
he started to read, I came up from behind him and pushed him into
position directly in front of the stall.
    “There, perfect,” I said. “Now when you read
whatever it is you’re going to read, don’t even look over at me. I
don’t want there to be the chance of an accident. I have enough
problems already, and I really don’t need green skin and
warts.”
    Jack recited something that sounded like a
combination of Latin and gibberish. When he was finished, I leaned
in to get a good look into the stall. The large mouth hovered there
completely unchanged.
    “Maybe try it again,” I suggested. “This time
try to sound a bit more in charge.”
    I gave him a good luck slap on the shoulder,
and stepped aside.
    Jack started to repeat the spell. He lowered
his voice, and did managed to sound commanding.
    I noticed that pink light was flaring around
the mouth. The flares looked tiny bursts of aural light, and as
Jack read, the color slowly changed from pink to a deep bloody
red.
    “Uh… Jack,” I said. “I think you should
stop.”
    But he was on a roll. He waved me off with
his free hand.
    “Seriously, I don’t think it likes whatever
you’re saying.”
    But he wasn’t listening.
    The mouth began to twist and contort wildly,
and then seemed to suck inward.
    “Jack, stop! I’m not kidding. Something’s
wrong.”
    Just then the mouth expelled a large greenish
glob of matter that struck Jack in the chest. It looked exactly as
though he’d been hit by a huge slimy booger. Green goo covered the
front of his shirt and dangled off his chin. He held his arms out
to the side, like a scarecrow, and uttered a yelp of disgust.
    “Why don’t you ever listen to me?” I asked,
but he didn’t hear me. He raced over to the paper towel dispenser
on the wall, and started cleaning off the gross gunk. All I could
do was shake my head.
    I went up to the stall and faced the mouth.
It seemed calm again. By now I was sure that this was much more
than just a portal to another place. It had to be a living thing;
only living things give off an aura or aural lights. I wasn’t sure,
though, whether it was dangerous. I didn’t think so. I figured if
it was truly dangerous, it would have done more than just hock a
loogie at Jack.
    I tried to read it, but I got nothing. I
stepped into the stall, and didn’t feel at all unsafe. So I reached
out to touch it.
    It felt soft, doughy, and not quite as cold
as the air around it. It didn’t seem agitated by my touch, and so I
let my hand linger there. I allowed my mind to drift, to reach out
and make contact with whatever was in there or behind there or
through there.
    “What are you doing?” Jack screeched behind
me.
    I shushed him. I let my mind drift further
than I had ever before allowed it to drift. I had always been
afraid that it if I let go too much, I might never be able to reel
my senses in and get them back under control. But now it seemed
necessary to reach out far with my senses. This wasn’t like reading
a human being, who occupies a small space in the here and now. This
thing was spread out over a vast distance, over space and time and
dimension. Little by little, I felt I was contacting it,
encompassing the enormity of it, with my freak senses. When I
realized what it was, I couldn’t help grinning. It was so
delightful and pure and logical.
    I withdrew my hand, and turned round to face
Jack.
    “I understand now,” I said.
    “What?”
    “It’s a little kid.”
    No sooner were the words out of my mouth than
the room seemed to swirl around.
    The next thing I knew I was laying on the
cold floor. Jack was kneeling over me, holding a bloody wad of
paper towel.
    “You okay?” he asked anxiously.
    My head was clear now, but I felt completely
drained. I pushed myself up into sitting position, and it felt as
though I weighed a thousand pounds.
    “What happened?” I asked.
    “You