Page 14 of The Corruption of Hollis Brown

Stephanie threw the blanket and sleeping bag down on the back seat to protect it from bloodstains and then got in to help Hollis and Annie pull Jorge inside.

“God, I hope he doesn’t wake up before we get there. He is not going to be happy to learn that we were the ones who helped him,” Annie said.

But that didn’t matter.

Hollis peeled out of the lot and left Rose Town behind.

Hush

It was 3:00 a.m. when Hollis got home.

He immediately got into the shower to wash Jorge’s blood off his skin, used his toothbrush to get the red from beneath his fingernails.

Then he lay in bed awake until morning, hearing the echo of everyone’s screams.

Dawn

On Saturday, Hollis’s father was home.

Usually, Hollis had to take care not to wake him up on Saturday mornings. After a hard work week Mr. Brown liked to sleep in as late as he could.

But that day Hollis woke up last.

He rolled over and looked at his phone. Two texts, one from Annie and one from Yulia.

Yulia: You didn’t have to drop the car off that early, damn!

Annie: Heard through the grapevine Jorge’s parents are pissed as fuck.

Hollis grinned. He texted Yulia first.

Hollis: At your service princess, lmk if it needs more cleaning.

To Annie, he sent:

Hollis: U traumatized? I’m traumatized.

Annie responded right away.

Annie: I’ve never seen so much blood. That was extremely fucked up.

Hollis: U wanna come over? Hash out the circumstances?

Annie: I woke up both my parents coming inside. I’m grounded for the whole weekend. :/

Hollis: :/

Annie started typing, then stopped. Then started again.

Annie: Are you going to make me talk about the pond thing?

Hollis frowned. He never made Annie do anything.

Hollis: We don’t have to.

Annie: :/

Hollis: Like ever.