Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

CHAPTER
20
The next day was hard.
Wallace brooded, pacing back and forth like a caged animal. The others
gave him a wide berth as he muttered, “Two days. Two more days.”
He shuddered. He shook. He quaked.
And there was nothing he could do to stop it.
He looked out the front window.
There, parked in front of the tea shop as it always was, sat Hugo’s
scooter. Pea green with whitewall tires. A side mirror with a little trinket
hanging from it, a cartoon ghost with a little word bubble that read BOO! The
seat was small, but there were metal handlebars on the back.
He remembered the way the sun had felt on him as he’d stood on the back
deck. Again. Again. He needed to feel it again. Such a small thing, but the
more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t shake it. The sun. He wanted to
feel the sun. It was calling to him, the hook in his chest vibrating, the cable
brighter now than it’d been before. Whispers caressed his ears, but it wasn’t
like the voices from the door. Those were soothing and calm. This felt urgent.
He went to Mei in the kitchen. She eyed him warily as if she expected him
to bite her head off. He felt guilty. “Can you watch the shop this afternoon?”
She nodded slowly. “I guess. Why?”
“I need to get out of here.”
She looked alarmed. “What? Wallace, you know what’ll happen if you try
to—”
“I know. But I won’t go far. I know how long I lasted the first time. I can
handle it.”
She wasn’t convinced. “You can’t take that risk. Not when you’re so close
to…” She didn’t need to finish. They both knew what she meant.