by Ryan P. Ruiz
“Dude, I go where you go,” his friend confidently said.
“We need another plan, and I’ve got one. How far of a bike ride do you think it is?” asked Cody.
Zach went to the front of the phone book with a map of Crestwood and a few surrounding cities. He looked at the scale that showed how much a mile was.
“Oh man, maybe forty-five minutes,” Zach responded. “It’s at least six miles based off this map.”
“We are going to ride to Crestwood. We will park our bikes at the top of the street and hide them somewhere. We will then walk to the house and try to get a look-in,” explained Cody.
“Okay, when are we going to do this?” asked Zach.
“This weekend but there’s one catch—we are going near dusk,” said Cody with a little pitch to his tone.
“Oh man, how are we going to get out and stay that late?” asked Zach, very unsure.
“We are going to try and pull something off on our parents, and we need to be completely on the same page if we are going to do it,” said Cody, trying to sound convincing.
Cody’s brain was firing on all cylinders.
Zach didn’t have a clue what Cody meant by that.
“We are going to each ask our parents if we can spend the night over each other’s houses. It will work, I promise,” Cody explained.
“It’s risky, but I think you’re right. I know I will be able to pull that off on my mom,” said Zach.
The plan had to work. After all, the boys did have quite a few sleepovers at both houses. Both of them believed in the plan.
“Once we get to the house, what are we going to do?” asked Zach, moving on with other agendas.
“We are going to get in,” Cody quickly responded. “Especially if the black Cadillac is not in the driveway.”
“Dude, I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t scared, but I’m sure as hell not letting you do this alone,” replied Zach.
“I’m scared too, but this is something I have to do. I wouldn’t be mad at you if you wanted out of this whole thing now,” Cody said to his best friend.
“I’m not opting out, I’m just scared,” said Zach.
“I want to leave Saturday around four o’clock,” Cody said but was then interrupted by Zach.
“Wait a minute, though, why don’t we go on Sunday when there’s a good chance he’ll be parked across the street from the church?” suggested Zach.
Cody didn’t think it was a bad idea but decided against it.
“That’s the daytime. People could see us. We need the darkness,” responded Cody.
“Good point but what if the guy is home? I can’t make up another fake lost dog,” said Zach.
“If he is home, we just need to be extra careful,” said Cody. “We have four more days to figure out any other details.”
The plan was in motion, and the boys fully intended to go through with it. It was dangerous and stupid, but Cody believed there was light at the end of the tunnel, and his friend supported him.
The next three days were a blur, and suddenly, it was Friday night. The boys had already told their mothers what they had talked about earlier in the week. As far as Zach’s mother was concerned, Zach was staying over Cody’s house just like normal. As far as Cody’s mother was concerned, Cody was staying at Zach’s house like they would do often. The boys would roam free in just one day.
Cody was sitting in his room, and then the phone rang,
“Hello?” answered Cody.
“Hey, it’s Zach. I wanted to run something by you. Suppose we do find something out of the ordinary, then can we call the police?” said Zach.
“Absolutely! It’s like we have said all along, Zach. This could be nothing, or this could be something,” Cody shot back to his friend.
“I know. I just wanted to make sure we were not going to try to be superheroes and take the man down with our bare hands,” said Zach.
“No, not at all. Our best defense is our legs, Zach. If something seems wrong or we get into trouble, we need to get out of there,” explained Cody, and there was seriousness in his tone.
“I agree, let’s just not leave each other hanging. I have your back, buddy,” Zach said genuinely.
“I know you do, and I have yours. Let’s get some rest, we have a long day tomorrow. Also, pack a book bag of things we will need. Flashlights and tear the map of Crestwood out of the phone book and bring it, in case we get lost in the dark on the way home,” said Cody.
“Okay, good idea. Good night, dude,” Zach responded.
“Good night, buddy,” said Cody.
That night, Cody had one long dream with no talking in it.
Cody’s Papa was standing outside with him, waiting to cross the street of a busy intersection. When the stoplight turned red, the two of them started walking toward the street on the other side. It was Braxton Street. His Papa stopped when they got to the street while Cody continued on.
As the boy turned around, he saw the same worried look on his face from previous dreams, and the index finger of the old man was pointing down. As Cody walked farther down the street, his grandfather faded in the distance. Cody was alone. The black Cadillac sat in the driveway of 1291 Braxton.
The boy walked by the Cadillac and into the backyard. Though it was pitch-dark, Cody could see all kinds of debris in the backyard. Right as he was getting to the back door of the house, there was a loud scream. Everything went black, and the dream ended. The dream occurred multiple times in the night.
Cody woke up at two in the morning drenched in sweat. The boy sat up in bed and looked above his head on the bottom part of the top bunk. There, stuffed in between the support bars, was a pewter guardian angel that his mother had given to him when his Papa died. The angel had been on the visor of his grandfather’s car before he died. When his mother gave it to him, she told her son that his Papa would always be watching over him. Cody reached up, touched the angel, and then fell back asleep shortly after.
It seemed like as soon as Cody closed his eyes, it was time to get up on Saturday morning. There was a knock on his door.
“Cody, are you up? I need you to watch your sister for a couple of hours while I run to the grocery store,” his mother’s voice came through the door.
“I’m up, Mom,” said Cody, his voice a little hoarse from waking up. “Let me change and brush my teeth, then I’ll be right down.”
“Okay, but please hurry. I need to be at the bus stop in twenty minutes,” Cody’s mother said, walking away from the door.
Georgiana didn’t own a car. She took the bus everywhere, even to work in the morning. The grocery store was about three miles down Bunting, and the bus stopped right in front of it.
“All right, Mom, I’ll be right down,” Cody politely yelled so she could hear him.
He hopped out of bed and went straight to his desk, opening the bottom drawer with the secret compartment. Cody pulled out all the items in the drawer and stuffed them into a drawstring sack. Then he opened his top drawer, took out a small black flashlight, and dropped it in the bag also.
Cody hung the bag on the back of his desk chair and walked downstairs.
“Morning, Ol!” he said to his sister, who was in front of the television, watching cartoons. Their mom walked into the living room.
“Okay, guys, I’ll be gone for a couple of hours. Behave and try not to get on each other’s nerves,” their mom told them.
“We won’t, Mom,” Olive softly replied.
“Oh, Mom, I just wanted to remind you that I was sleeping over Zach’s house tonight,” Cody said.
“That’s fine, after this one, cool it on the sleepovers. Spend some more weekends with your sister and I, please,” his mom said.
“Okay, Mama,” said Cody, feeling a little guilty.
The door slammed shut.
“Ol, don’t worry about it. Soon, we will hang out more and have fun. I just have to finish this project with Zach,” explained Cody.
“I understand, brother. Want to watch cartoons with me?” she asked, pointing at the other end of the sofa.
“Sure, sis,” he replied and sat down on the couch.
He stared at his sister as her eyes gazed at the flashing lights on the television. Part of him thought this could be the last time he spent quality time with her if things didn’t go well tonight. Cody came to the realization that the major part of why he was doing this was because of Olive. As her big brother, he was her protector and swore to his Papa he would take care of his family.
The thought of being a hero by catching the creep didn’t ever occur to him. The helpless kids in the world that were taken, abducted, or kidnapped did.
“Hey, Ol?” asked Cody.
“Yeah, Code?” she responded.
“There is going to come a time when I’m not around, you know. As we get older, both of our lives are going to change. Though it hurts me to say this, but, Ol, I’m not always going to be there when you need me. You have to learn to protect yourself and learn what’s right and what’s wrong,” said Cody.
His sister stopped and looked over at him with a puzzled look on her face.
“I don’t understand what you mean, Cody. You’re my brother, and I’m your sister,” she replied, so confused.
What Cody was trying to say to his eight-year-old sister was too much to comprehend.
“Never mind, Ol. You will understand when you’re a little older.”
The two siblings watched cartoons until their mom came home.
When their mom arrived home, she had bags of groceries in each hand. Cody ran to the door to take some of the bags.
“Thank you,” his mom said. “Hi, Ol!”
Cody took the bags to the kitchen and set them on the counter. Olive waved to her mom and focused her attention back on the television.
“I’ll throw in a frozen pizza for you guys for lunch,” said their mother, removing the box from one of the grocery bags.
“Yay! Pizza! Wahoo!” yelled Olive excitedly from the living room.
“I’m going to head over to Zach’s in a little bit to play basketball, and I will have dinner over there tonight,” said Cody. “But I will have some pizza for lunch!”
His mother just smiled and continued putting groceries away. Cody pulled out a round pizza pan from inside the oven and preset the bake time.
After lunch, Cody went to his room to get everything he needed for tonight. He took his drawstring off the back of his chair and added a change of clothes to it. He opened his desk drawer, finding a black pocketknife his former stepfather had given him for Christmas one year. Cody then went into his closet and pulled a hooded black sweatshirt off a hanger. After thinking of everything he needed, he headed out.
“Bye, Mom! Bye, Ol!” said Cody.
“Be careful and have fun at Zach’s! Tell Zach’s mom I said hello and I am going to call her for a lunch date,” his mother said.
“Bye, Code, see you tomorrow,” Olive said.
Cody headed out the back door for the garage. Opening the faded white-and-black-paint garage door, Cody saw an air pump in the corner. He grabbed the pump and made sure his tires had the correct amount of air. He saw a chain lock on the shelf near the front; he grabbed it and wrapped it around under the seat of his bike.
Cody wheeled his bike toward the gate. A familiar voice came from over the fence.
“Hey, son, where you going?” the voice said.
“Oh, hey, Mr. Durkbridge. Going to my friend’s house,” said Cody, opening the gate.
“Well, you have a good time,” said Mr. Durkbridge with a cheesy laugh.
“Okay, thanks, I guess. Bye, Mr. Durkbridge,” Cody said to his neighbor as he rode down the driveway.
Mr. Durkbridge watched the boy through the slits of the fence. Cody’s neighbor was always catching him off guard. Cody couldn’t worry about Mr. Durkbridge; he was just a creepy man that happened to live next door to him. Cody’s mind quickly focused on another task.
When he got to Zach’s house, his friend was outside shooting hoops.
“Hey, buddy, you almost ready?” asked Cody.
“Yeah, I’ve told my mom about the sleepover. She’s out somewhere now, so we are okay to talk,” said Zach.
“Okay, I want to leave in about an hour for Crestwood. We need to get there when it’s still daylight to find somewhere to stash our bikes,” explained Cody.
“Good idea plus we have a long bike ride. I have mapped out how we will get there,” said Zach, handing his friend a hand-drawn map.
“Very good. When we get there, let’s find a pay phone and call our moms to check in. We need to make sure they know we are at each other’s houses,” said Cody. “We can’t have anything go wrong and need to cover all our tracks.”
“We will be fine on that end, it’s the other thing I’m worried about,” replied Zach.
Cody picked the basketball off the ground and started dribbling it. Cody needed to clear his head before they left on their journey.
“How about a couple of games of horse before we leave?” suggested Cody.
“Sure, dude,” answered Zach.
The boys played basketball, and for the moment, they were just normal kids having fun. Though they wouldn’t admit it to themselves, what they were about to do was dangerous and stupid. The clock ticked closer to four.
When they finished playing, Zach ran into his house and grabbed his drawstring bag with all the supplies he packed in it.
The two friends hopped on their bikes and headed west toward the city of Crestwood. They were in for a long bike ride.
While riding their bikes, the boys traded back and forth leading the way. The ride seemed like it took forever. They finally arrived at the street Braxton was off, named Williams Street. It took a little more than an hour to get there. The time was 5:15 p.m. The boys still had roughly an hour before the sun was going down. They found a gas station store about one to two blocks away from Braxton. The boys parked their bikes outside and found a rack they could lock them to.
“You nervous at all?” Cody asked his friend.
Zach shook his head.
“No, I’m going to call my mom and tell her I’m at your house now,” said Zach, avoiding Cody’s question.
His friend walked over to the pay phone, popped in a quarter, and called his mother.
The phone rang a few times before his mom answered.
“Hello?” she said.
“Hi, Mom, just wanted to let you know that I am at Cody’s house and we are going to order some pizzas,” Zach said, lying to his mother.
“Okay, honey, have fun. Oh, is Georgiana around? I need to ask her a question,” his mother said.
“Um, I think she’s outside, Mom…” he said.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, I’ll ask her tomorrow or next time I see her,” she told her son.
“Okay, well, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Zach chirped back.
“Sounds good, honey, love you, bye,” she said.
“Love you too, bye,” Zach said and then hung up the phone.
Zach turned to see their bikes already locked, and Cody was in the store. He joined his friend.
“Do you want something to drink?” asked Cody.
“Yeah, I am a little sweaty from the ride here,” replied Zach.
Cody grabbed two Yoo-hoos. He paid for them, and the boys went back outside.
“If we get into trouble, we run, Zach,” said Cody, repeating
what he had said the other day to his friend.
“I know. We will run right back here to this store,” said Zach.
The sun was a beautiful amber color as it slowly went down. The boys finished their drinks and threw the bottles in the trash. The two friends walked across to the other side of the street. They were just a hundred yards away from where Scotty had pulled over a week ago.
“Let’s walk down Braxton on the opposite side and scope it out first,” Cody suggested.
“Okay, let’s see if we can see the black car first,” said Zach.
The sun was completely down, and it was getting darker by the minute. The boys walked toward their destination. A brisk breeze was in the air as they turned right onto Braxton. Right away, they noticed the car was not in the driveway. It was a golden opportunity to get a look.
The boys walked down and back up on the other side until there were just a couple of houses away. The few streetlights there were flickered on. Zach reached into his bag.
“Here. I put some new batteries in these, so we should have a full charge,” said Zach, handing his friend a walkie-talkie. “Keep the volume low.”
“Thanks,” Cody said, and he took the device from Zach. “I’m going to go in the back, you stay near the front and keep watch. Radio me if you see or hear anything.”
“Okay, I will go hide behind one of these parked cars,” Zach said, pointing at the street but hesitating.
“Hey, wait a minute, Code, I have an idea before you go back there,” said Zach.
“What is it?” asked Cody.
“One of us should go ring the doorbell first and make sure no one is home,” explained Zach.
Cody looked at his friend and nodded.
“Fine, I’ll go, Code,” continued Zach.
Zach set down his bag and walked into the front yard. He stepped inside the front gate and slowly walked to the walkway leading to the porch. Zach then climbed the stairs and marched up to the door. He looked down and saw a mat that read “go away” on it. He pressed his finger to the doorbell. Zach looked at his friend across the street and rang the doorbell again. A couple of minutes went by, and no one answered the door. It was completely dark inside. Zach turned around and walked back toward Cody on the other side of the street.
