Bait House

“Come on in,” the small fat boy tells Chuck. “I’ll get you some tea. It’s pretty warm out.”

Chuck McNay is sweating, but not because of the warm weather. He fights to control himself as he stares at the stocky boy’s behind. “Tea will be great,” he says, “as long as you get yourself some also.” Then he can slip the roofies he’s brought into the glass, make this go more easily.

“OK. Be back.” The boy disappears through the swinging door to the kitchen. Chuck stands by the dining room table, looking around at the decorations on the wall. They look Native American to him, which considering the boy’s skin and features made sense to Chuck. I’m gonna go all Custer on him, Chuck thinks, chuckling.

“How are you doing?”

Startled, Chuck turns toward the kitchen door. Standing before it is a man, also Native American. The boy’s father? What is this?

“Take a seat, please.”

Chuck looks around for cameras. Not seeing any, he says, “I gotta go,” and moves toward the front door. He tries to pull it open, but it won’t budge. Locked.

“Please,” the man says. “Sit.”

“Hey, I don’t want any trouble,” Chuck says, raising his hands, though he sees no gun in the other man’s hands. “I didn’t know he was a little boy. We just chat on the Internet. He didn’t send me no pictures of himself.”

“Would it have stopped you from coming here if he did?”

“Yes! Yes!” Chuck panics, looking around the room. “I didn’t know!”

“I doubt that.”

It’s a small single story home. Chuck can try leaving through a window, but this man will be on him before he reaches one.

“Just let me go! I swear I’ll never do something like this again! I – I don’t know what I was thinking!”

“You were thinking you were going to have sex with another boy, then beat him into a coma, like you did Hosa’s son. Remember? Oklahoma, two years ago?”

Chuck remembers that boy. He thought he had killed him. He never leaves them alive. Who is this guy?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Just let me go!”

“But Wattan still wants to play with you.” The man holds up what looks to be a small pulsing heart. “That’s what you came here for, isn’t it?”

The kitchen door swings open as the small fat boy runs toward Chuck. He leaps and tackles Chuck, knocking the wind out of him. Teeth sink into the flesh above Chuck’s ribcage. With a growl, the boy rips off a chunk and shoves it into his mouth.

Chuck screams, but only for a second before Wattan tears his windpipe out. Small powerful hands pull at the hole by the ribcage, pull off pieces which are noisily consumed. Chuck coughs up blood, watches the light dim as he hears the man say, before he sinks into nothingness, “Quickly, Wattan. It’s almost time for the next one. Your brother needs to eat next.”

THE END

© 2014 Dionisio “Don” Traverso Jr

Bio:  Dionisio “Don” Traverso Jr stories have been published with the byline of Don Traverso in Rod Serling's Twilight Zone Magazine, Aberations, Midnight Zoo, Aphelion Webzine, and Armageddon Buffet. He currently has a themed short story collection out, Tales From Walken County, which includes "Nature's Way" which was first published on Aphelion Webzine Issue 100. He also makes rhythmic noise as Mekano 46

E-mail: Dionisio “Don” Traverso Jr

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