“Bubblegum?”
Luis was my new best friend. After mom and dad divorced, he’s been the only person to hang out with me at my dad’s new apartment. He worked at nights and slept during the day, and I never wanted to stay in the too-cramped apartment. I was supposed to spend the summer with him, since he lived too far away now to see me usually. Plus, since I caught covid when summer started, I couldn’t go to camp like I was supposed to. I still haven’t even gotten my taste back.
“Bubblegum?”
It was the first thing Luis said to me, and basically the only thing. He doesn’t talk much, even now, but on the first day my mom dropped us off, he was swinging his legs on a patio looking down at me. He held up this little bag, and even with my glasses off I could see different colors of some sort of pink candy.
We’ve hung out every day since. He doesn’t talk much, usually he nods or shakes his head, or shrugs. On more complicated things, he points. That’s fine. I talk a lot filling the air and it doesn’t seem like he minds.
“Bubblegum?”
I had politely declined the day we first met, but every day since we spend the most time talking or exploring, playing a game in my house or walking, and chewing bubblegum. It was his favorite. It took a while, but I figured it was homemade early on. He carried it in a ziplock, it came in different shapes and sometimes even different shades of pink. He only lives with his mom, she’s often gone so we spend time in his home playing with his things.
My dad didn’t want me venturing too far, a lot of animals and people seemed to go missing here, and he was always worried about the two of us getting into trouble out there.
Today was no different, slumped against his couch as we played some video games. Chewing bubblegum. In all honesty, I didn’t like it at first. It was tough and chewy in a way that I couldn’t bite all the way through. But I could chew it for a while. Sometimes his mom made it fresh, and it was wet and slimy, other times she dried it with heat a bit too much and I could crunch through it. I actually liked it burnt. Sometimes, Luis would go through all his cabinets and we would mix things with the gum, like marinating. That was the best when it was dried.
I held out my hand expectantly towards Luis, swallowing my piece. I used to throw out the pieces or swallow immediately to get rid of the sometimes funky taste, but it’s been weeks and i’ve come around to it.
I glanced to Luis as he held up his hands and shrugged, an empty bag beside him. I guess there isn’t anymore.
“Oh…”
Luis stood up, motioning for me to follow as he tapped the bag. We’re getting more. I didn’t know he kept another stash.
I followed him past the kitchen, down the hallway, and then into his mom’s room surprisingly. It was a weird place to keep food. There, he walked into her closet and pulled down the attic stairs. I didn’t even know we had any. Climbing up, there was this god awful stench I couldn’t get used to, and it was cold. Really cold. Climbing up, my first thought was this seemed to be the third floor, but it looked completely different.
But that wasn’t the most important thing I saw.
Bodies. So many bodies. Dogs.Cats. People. Scattered about, hung up on the wall or positioned on different tables. Not all body parts though. Some legs, torsos, but it was mostly just one thing.
Heads.
“What is this?” I asked in horror.
Luis walked over to the nearest head, looking at me doubtfully as he reached in with his hand. The scalp slid off like a lid to Tupperware, he reached towards a cleaver, using his hands and cutting just a piece from inside before handing it out for me to take.
“Bubblegum”