Petey (Part 2)

Part 1: [agnostic.com]

The next time I saw Petey, it was the Friday, a week before Halloween. I was walking over to Larry's and had just gotten to where the Johnson's house was when Petey suddenly appeared at my side. In that lifeless voice of his, he said, "Hey Tommy. Wanna come over and play? We have a fresh chocolate cake in the kitchen?"

I about jumped out of my skin. I managed to croak out a "Hi" back at him. Then, I said, "Can't. I'm going to see Larry. I'm supposed to ask him to come over for dinner and then to spend the night. How you doing?"

"Oh," Petey looked as sad as he sounded.

Feeling awkward, I added, "Mom said I could ask one friend over for tonight. Maybe, next week, I'll see if I can have a couple of friends over Halloween night, if you would like to come over."

"Don't think so," Petey replied. " I would like to and all, but Alice and I are supposed to be somewhere else then."

"Oh!" Secretly, I was relieved. I didn’t like Petey. He scared me for some reason I couldn’t figure out. "Who is Alice? Is she your sister?" I asked.

I didn't hear his answer. Larry, sitting on his front porch, had hollered at me. "I can't come over for dinner tonight. I have to watch Bobby again." Bobby, sitting in the dirt, was playing with some of his toy trucks.

The three of us stood, watching Bobby for a few minutes. Larry and I were talking about school. I asked Petey who his teacher was.

"I don't have a teacher," he replied.

Larry looked at him, mouth wide open and said "You don't have a teacher? How’d that happen?"

" I don't go to school," Petey replied. “And, neither does Alice.”

"You don’t go to school? Why? Don’t you live in Knoxville?"

"Nope. Just don’t. I live in that house over there." Petey was pointing at the Johnson house.

"You live in THAT creepy old house?" I stared at him in disbelief. "How do you get in? Its all boarded up."

"No it isn't. Look!"

Larry and I both looked. The house didn’t look any different. It was still old and gray and there were ivy vines all over it. We could see the windows and doors on the first floor. Then, my eyes got real big. It was not boarded up. "I thought that all the windows and doors were boarded up," I said. I just stood there and gaped. “When did that happened?” I asked.

I heard Larry say “Yeah? When did that happen?” I felt like I was in a dream. All of us started walking toward the Johnson house. Even Bobby.

Petey didn't answer the questions. For the first time, his voice sounded happy. "Why don't you come over. I am sure that Alice would like to meet you. We can play hide and seek and get some cake."

"I can't," I said. I felt cold.

"Neither can I. Too close to dinner. Mother would kill me," Larry said.

"Well, another time then. Gotta go." Petey left.

I turned to Larry. "Just like in my dreams" I shivered.

"I know. And, it scares me too. I would have sworn that house was all boarded up a few minutes ago."

We both turned back to look at the house. We saw the house. We saw Petey. Then, it sunk in. Bobby was walking toward the Johnson house with Petey holding his hand. Larry and I were both stunned. Then, Larry took off.

“Bobby” he hollered. “Come back here!” Then, he wailed. "Mom's gonna kill me."

I took off after him to help round up Bobby. We had reached the front steps of the Johnson house just as ....

"Toooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmy. Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnner!" My Mom was hollering for me to come home for dinner.

I yelled back, "Commmming Moooooom!" I yelled at Larry, "Gotta go. See you tomorrow." As I turned to run home, I saw Larry running up the steps, across the porch and in the front door of the Johnson house – just a couple of steps behind Bobby.

We had just finished dinner when someone knocked at our front door. I raced to the door to see who it was. When I opened the door, Larry's dad was standing there.

"Hi, Mr. Harris. Dad's just finishing up dinner if you would like to come in."

"Thanks Tommy. But, it's you I wanted to see." He knelt down to my eye level. "Have you seen Larry today? Or Bobby?" He looked really worried.

"Yes sir," I replied. I went over to your house to ask him to come over for dinner. Didn't he tell you?"

"No, Tommy. He didn't. In fact, I haven't seen him since I got home from work."

"Hello, Charlie. What brings you over this way? Want some coffee?" Dad had just walked up.

"Thanks but no thanks Hubert. Larry and Bobby are missing and I am trying to find them. In fact, that is why I’m here. The boys are such close friends, I thought that Tommy might know where Larry and Bobby were." Mr. Harris turned back to me and said, "How long ago did you see Larry, Tommy?"

"Gee, Mr. Harris. I don't know."

"It was about a half hour, forty five minutes ago, Charlie. That's when Marion called Tommy for dinner."

Looking back to me, Mr. Harris said, "Where were Larry and Bobby when you last saw them? In my yard?"

"Uh, no sir."

"Tommy!" Dad said. "This is important. Where did you see them last."

"Well, Petey had come over and we were all talking and he had asked us over to play and for some cake. But, we couldn’t. We both said Mom would kill us if we did because it was so close to dinner and all."

"Yes, and?"

"Well, Petey went home and Larry and I were talking. We looked back, and we saw Bobby walking across the street with Petey. They were going to Petey's house."

Dad grabbed me by the arms. Kind of hard. It didn't really hurt. But, he looked as worried as Mr. Harris. "Who is Petey son? Where does he live?"

"I don't know his last name, Dad."

"Where's this Petey live Tom!" he said sharply.

"Across the street."

"Over there?" Dad and Mr. Harris both pointed to the McCord house, across the street from my house.

"Nooooo." I was getting scared now. "Across the street from Larry's house. You know." I started to cry. "The Johnson house. He was going to show us the house and play and we were going to meet his sister, Alice and have some cake."

"The Johnson house!" they both exclaimed before I had finished talking.

I nodded, scared and crying.

Both my Dad and Mr. Harris rushed out of the house. I don't know what happened after that except some policemen came to the house and talked to me. They wanted to know what happened when I was over at Larry's and who Petey was and what he looked like and where he went. Mom hugged me the whole time they talked to me.

Later, after Dad got back home, he asked me to tell him Petey's name again. Which I did. And his sister's name. I told him. He didn’t say anything else. Just gave me this big hug. Later that night, after he and Mom went to bed, I could hear them talking.

"I don't understand it Marion. How could Tommy know those names. He hasn't heard them from us. Or anyone else that I know of.”

"I don't know Hubert. I haven't thought of them in years, until you talked about it a few weeks ago.” She added, “God! I feel so sorry for the Harris'. I hope they find those boys soon. And, they are all right.”

I drifted off to sleep soon after that. I didn't sleep well. I dreamed all night. I didn’t dream about Petey though. I dreamed about Larry and Bobby. Larry was trying to get to come play at the Johnson house now.

I never saw Larry or Bobby again.

Not like I can see you at least. A week later, on Halloween night, I went trick or treating with a couple of friends from school and my Dad.

We were walking down Forest. We were across the street from the Johnson house, when I looked up. I could see Bobby looking down from the second floor window on the end. And Larry, as pale as Petey had been, was standing on the porch by the open door, waving to me. He hollered, "Tommy, come on up. There's all sorts of wonderful things inside. You'll love it."

I turned to Dad. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" he said.

I pointed at the Johnson house. There was nothing there except that same old, boarded up house covered in ivy vines and a lot full of weeds. I told dad that I wanted to go home, that I was cold. He didn't argue.

I had another dream about the house that night. Bobby’s face was in the window and vines were coming out of his face. He was very pale. The vines were glowing red. And, Larry was on the porch. He kept saying, “Come on. Let’s play hide and seek. It’ll be lots of fun.”

Later that week, coming home from school, I saw green ivy leaves on the vines at the Johnson house. I never walked by that house again.