by Ian Dawson
“Hey, look, Kyle,” Daniel said with a laugh. He pulled the 7-Up bottle out from under a dirty beach towel. “Wanna try again?”
“I think I’ll pass,” Kyle said as he covered his crotch.
It took longer than Daniel thought it would to clean out the hole. He and Kyle would have to replace almost everything and get a new piece of plywood for the top, but they had their chairs and were ready for a long summer of exploring and being lazy out at their base.
“What time ya got?” Kyle asked as he cleared away a vacant spider web between two trees.
Daniel checked his watch. His Batman one had broken last summer after another spill from his bike. This one was just a plain old digital watch with nothing cool or fun about it. “3:30,” he replied.
“Great! Lots of time. Let’s head up the trail here and see where we can get to before it gets dark.”
“Why stop when it’s dark?” Daniel asked. He pulled his large Maglite flashlight out of his bag. “Unless you’re too chicken to keep exploring at night.”
“Me? Chicken? Ha!” Kyle pulled his yellow flashlight from his backpack. “We’ll see who chickens out first! But I don’t want to miss dinner.”
“Yeah,” Daniel considered. “Don’t want to do that.”
“Wanna stay over tonight? That way we can get started early in the morning and have all day to explore.”
“Hell yeah!” Daniel exclaimed, his voice squeaking. Kyle gave him a funny look. “What?”
“When’s your voice gonna change, dude?” Kyle hopped on his bike and pointed the front tire up the trail. “’Cause ya still sound like your sister!” With that, Kyle sped away leaving Daniel scrambling after him.
“Hey!” Daniel jumped on his bike and pedaled off down the trail toward Kyle, determined to catch him. Not because he was mad at his friend for speaking the truth – he did sound like April when he got excited – but because he didn’t get the chance to get him back.
It didn’t take long for Daniel to catch up to his best friend. Daniel was leaner and had longer legs, which made it easier for him to pedal faster than Kyle. It wasn’t that Kyle was short, but he also hadn’t fully completed his “growth spurt” as Daniel’s mom called it.
Kyle hit the hand brakes on his bike and skidded to a stop on an undiscovered hillside. Daniel charged up the hill after him, finally arriving just moments after. Both were breathing heavy.
“I wanted...to tell you...something...” Daniel said as he was catching his breath. “But I forgot what it was while I was chasing you.”
“I’ve got one, then,” Kyle said with a devious grin.
“Give me your best shot, 2-liter bottle boy!”
“Well done. I like it,” Kyle laughed. “What’s the difference between Daniel Robinson and New Year’s Eve?”
Daniel paused for a moment, considered what the punchline could be, and still naively asked, “What?”
“At the end of the year, a ball will drop in Times Square, but neither of yours probably will!” Kyle started to laugh, and laugh, and laugh until he lost his balance and nearly fell off his bike.
Daniel let it roll off his back. He knew Kyle meant nothing by it. Kyle loved to say things to get some sort of rise out of him. But it was always in good fun. Besides, how could he argue with the truth, they hadn’t dropped yet, his voice hadn’t changed, and there was nothing he could do about it. He did hope that Kyle was wrong and that both events would take place by year’s end.
“Okay, Kyle. You win.”
“I’m sorry, man. I just had to say it. You’re not mad are you?”
“Mad? No. But just remember, I will get you back. You just won’t know when.” With a maniacal laugh, Daniel coasted down the other side of the hill knowing that he had planted a seed of paranoia in Kyle’s mind.
Daniel stopped short as he neared the bottom of the hill, his eyes wide with amazement at the sight before him.
“What are you gonna do?” He heard Kyle’s voice from a distance. Was there a hint of fear in his voice?
“Nothing,” Daniel said, the volley of insults now in the past. “Just get down here. I found something.”
CHAPTER NINE
“Stupid cat!” Austin stormed back inside the garage, claw marks all over his hands. He threw the remaining firecrackers across the garage. “Why didn’t you help me?”
“I tried,” James said as he shrugged his shoulders. “I couldn’t get to it fast enough.”
“Just shut the hell up,” Austin said. “Damn, this hurts.” Austin entered the house. James followed. James watched as Austin turned on the faucet in the kitchen. He ran his hands under the cold water and squirted dish soap on his wounds.
James was an outcast at school. He never got in trouble on campus; never had any friends besides Austin. He knew from experience that if he ever did try and hang out with someone else, Austin would get upset. No, not just upset. Angry, jealous, and violent. And James didn’t want that to happen. Not again, anyway.
As Austin dried his hands, he looked at James with a look that James couldn’t figure out. “What’s wrong?” James finally asked.
“I want to show you something. But I swear to God that if you tell anyone or try and do anything that I don’t say you can do, I will gut you and your mom. Got it?”
James didn’t like the sound of any of that. Not one bit. Austin had roped him into some pretty bad stuff over the years, but Austin had never threatened to hurt James’s mom before. James swallowed hard.
“Okay.”
Austin tossed the kitchen towel on the counter and motioned for James to follow him into the garage. Reluctantly, James followed.
Austin walked to the back of the garage where a trapdoor was embedded into the floor; a combination lock secured the trapdoor’s latch. Austin spun through the combination, tossed the lock aside and opened the wooden hatch to reveal a dark hole with a ladder leading down into the darkness.
James had been down inside before, mainly to see Austin’s handiwork with skinning cats and dogs and displaying their hides as trophies in one of the two rooms Austin had hollowed out below his uncle’s yard. Now the smell of rotting flesh and dried blood wafted into his nostrils as he watched Austin start down the ladder. James felt his stomach lurch upward, but he fought with all his might the urge to throw up. He knew throwing up on Austin would not go over well.
“Coming?” Austin said when he got to the bottom. James could still see Austin’s head; his eyes sparkled eerily as they poked out of the darkness below like some playful demon.
“Yeah. I’m coming.” Did he really want to see what was down there? Knowing Austin, whatever it was probably wouldn’t be pleasant, and it definitely wouldn’t be down there willingly.
“James!” Austin’s booming voice brought him out of his thoughts. James could feel his hands trembling.
“On my way,” James looked down into the hole. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and exhaled. He maneuvered his feet onto the top rung of the ladder and made his descent into Austin’s secret lair.
The tunnel stretched like a long, dirt-covered hallway with wooden planks on the sides and roof for support. It wasn’t tall enough for either Austin or James to stand upright, so they both had to hunch down as they made their way through the tunnel and into the closest room off to the left.
There were two rooms that Austin had created that branched off the main tunnel: The Torture Room and the Trophy Room. James had been in both, and each time he had he always felt sick to his stomach. There was something about the look in Austin’s eyes when he was torturing and killing innocent animals that made James wish he had never encountered his “friend.” And yet, here he was, once again entering The Torture Room for one of Austin’s surprises.
It was dark; pitch black in fact. As they entered the cavernous area, the ground sloped downward making it easier to stan
d upright. James heard something click, followed by a faint buzz, and a small fluorescent light flickered to life. James’s eyes adjusted to the light and saw a grinning Austin in the light blue glow.
The room lived up to its namesake. All sorts of tools like pliers, screwdrivers, hammers, box cutters, and saws were scattered about. All rusted from years of use and abuse. Most of them caked with blood and fur. There was a small butane blowtorch sitting on a rotting shelf against the back wall, and a makeshift workbench that was covered in dried blood. The stench was unbearable and the coolness of being underground did nothing to stop the humidity from seeping in.
“Ready?”
“I guess so,” James replied. He figured Austin had a raccoon or some other poor animal down here. Maybe even a bear cub.
Austin moved behind the workbench. He hefted a cinderblock onto the workbench. James cocked his head and moved closer, his eyes adjusting to the light. Were those small human hands he was seeing zip-tied to the top of the cinderblock?
“Meet our new pal, Colby Emerson!” Austin said as he lifted the kid up by his neck.
James felt his stomach drop, its contents fighting to escape upward. His hands clenched into tight fists making his arms shake. What had Austin done? The little boy couldn’t be more than six or seven, the same age as his brother. The kid was shirtless and dirty, his mouth covered in duct tape. Rivulets of clear skin were visible trailing from his eyes and down his face. James had no doubt in his mind those were from tears. The boy’s hands were bound with black zip-ties that were threaded through an eyebolt on top of the cinderblock; the rest of the young boy blocked by Austin and the workbench.
“What the hell did you do, Austin?” James felt his stomach drop again, then jump into his throat.
“Are you questioning me?” Austin stepped up to James’s face, meeting him eye-to-eye in the musty, small space. James glanced down and saw the boy’s eyes widen as Austin appeared to grab the kid’s neck tighter.
“Look at me!” Austin said. He gripped James’s jaw hard in his free hand and slammed him up against the cold dirt wall.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have...”
“That’s better.” Austin said, releasing his grip on James’s face. “I’ve been having my own fun with Colby for the past couple days, right Colby?” Colby looked at James with a look of desperation. James knew there was nothing he could do. Both he and the little kid were trapped in Austin’s twisted web.
“Right!?” Austin slammed a hammer down next to the cinderblock, missing Colby’s arm by only a couple inches. James and boy both jumped. The sound from the impact echoed in the room and out into the tunnel.
James saw the boy nod and Austin smiled.
Austin lifted the boy onto the workbench, pushing the cinderblock over to the opposite edge. Colby was shoeless and wore only a pair of dirty cargo shorts. The little boy was shaking. James could see the terror in his eyes. He looked at the boy’s legs; it looked like he had dime-sized blisters running from his bare feet to his knees.
“Are those bug bites?” James asked.
Austin laughed. “No,” He pulled out and lit a cigarette with his Zippo lighter. “Definitely not bug bites.”
James’s eyes widened. Oh, my God.
“Colby and I like to play a little game when we’re down here. It’s called ‘If You Scream, I Burn You Again.’ As you can see, he isn’t very good at it.”
James felt his body tense. His hands still clenched into fists.
Austin took a drag on his cigarette, the tip turning a bright orange. “Don’t do anything stupid, James. You don’t want to end up like my buddy, Colby. Do you?” Austin tenderly ran his hand over Colby’s head before grabbing his hair and pulling his head back. “Ready to play?”
James and Colby made eye contact once more. James saw the tip of the cigarette glow orange again as Austin removed it from his mouth.
James turned away seconds before he heard the sounds of muffled screaming come from the duct-taped mouth of Austin’s prisoner.
CHAPTER TEN
Daniel had coasted down a long stretch of hill and come across a massive pond. The glassy surface was covered in a film of algae, the shore around it cracked and brittle earth. He hopped off his bike and walked toward the water’s edge. Daniel knelt down beside the shore and ran his fingers across the surface of the murky water.
He heard Kyle skid to a stop and hop off his bike a few feet behind him. “Holy crap,” Kyle said. “You think there’s gators in there?”
“Gators in Redding?” Daniel said. “I don’t think so. Besides, it’s a pond, not a swamp.” He got a good handhold on a rock near the shore. It made a sucking sound like a wet kiss as he pulled it up and it separated from the ground. Daniel rolled it to the side and he and Kyle crouched down and looked at their new discovery: dozens of tiny frogs.
The frogs were covered in reddish-brown water, but Daniel could tell that they were tree frogs. Kyle reached down and grabbed a handful of them. Some hopped out of his hand while others sat idly by, their throats vibrating.
“I sure hope there isn’t any toxic waste in there,” Daniel said.
“If you’re trying to freak me out, good luck,” scoffed Kyle.
“How deep do you think it is?” asked Daniel. He turned back and saw Kyle wiping his muddy hands with a Kleenex.
“Probably not very deep,” Kyle said. “Wanna find out?”
“How?”
“Swim in it.”
“Swim? In there? Are you crazy? What if there are leeches and snakes and stuff?”
“Dare me,” Kyle kicked off his shoes.
“I’m not gonna dare you to swim out there.”
“Why not?”
Daniel kicked off his shoes. “Because I’m going in first!” Daniel pulled off his socks and was the first to step into the water. The ground was soft and sucked in his feet. As he pulled them out to walk they made the same wet kiss sound the rock had made. When he lifted his feet, they were covered in dripping red mud.
“Um, aren’t you forgetting something?” Kyle asked.
“What?” Daniel turned toward him. Kyle pointed at Daniel’s clothes. Daniel walked back onto the shore. “So, are we gonna go in in our boxers or naked?”
“I’ve got no problem being naked,” Kyle said with pride as he dropped his shorts and boxers to the ground. Daniel quickly looked away. “Don’t be shy, come on.” Kyle pulled off his shirt and piled his clothes on top of his backpack. He lifted his blonde head to the sky, his hands on his hips. “Like my tan? Started working on it last month.”
“What if people can see us? We don’t know if there are houses near here. There could be sex offenders or something.”
“Would you relax? You sound like my mom. You can always sit and watch our stuff if you want.” Kyle made his way toward the water’s edge. He stepped in, sinking slightly. “Kind of cold.”
“Just wait until you get waist deep. You’ll be praying for your balls to drop again!”
“Very funny. Hurry up. It’s just me.”
Daniel slowly removed his shirt. “Don’t look, okay?” As Kyle rolled his eyes and turned toward the water, Daniel unbuckled his belt and unzipped his shorts.
“Sometime today would be nice,” Kyle called back.
Daniel pulled his shorts and boxers off in one motion and tossed them on his backpack.
Daniel walked out to the water’s edge. He stood a few feet away from Kyle. Compared with Kyle’s skin, Daniel was white as a ghost. Kyle looked over at him. “Hey,” he said.
“What?”
“Let’s go.” Kyle took the first step forward, followed by Daniel. As they moved in toward the center of the pond, the water level remained low around their ankles.
Daniel looked back at the shore. They were a good twenty feet away from their clothes. Daniel had never felt so e
xposed. This was the first time he had ever been naked outside of the bathroom or his bedroom.
Kyle, of course, didn’t seem to care that he was naked. As Daniel took his next step, he was hit in the chest by an exploding wad of mud. “Kyle!”
Kyle laughed as he crouched down for another mud ball. While he was distracted, Daniel splashed him with a large torrent of water that got all over Kyle’s shaggy blonde hair. Kyle grabbed his hair, took a step back, and slipped and fell on his butt in the water.
Daniel hurried over to him. “Kyle, are you okay?” As he neared Kyle, Kyle grabbed Daniel’s arm and pulled him down into the muddy water next to him. “It’s cold!” Daniel exclaimed in his high-pitched voice. Kyle splatted the mud ball he had made onto Daniel’s head and rubbed it in his spiked hair.
Daniel and Kyle started to splash each other. Mud, algae, and dirty water soiling them all over. They both wanted to laugh, but neither wanted to get the water in their mouths. Of course, that didn’t stop them from getting it everywhere else.
After a few more seconds, they stopped and sat in the muddy pond next to each other, both filthy and stinking of stagnate water. They both wiped the dirty water from their faces.
Daniel was the first to get to his feet.
“Where ya goin’?” Kyle asked.
“I want to see if it gets any deeper.” Daniel moved off toward the center of the pond, his body dripping reddish-brown water and mud.
“Daniel. It looks like you crapped yourself,” Kyle said with a laugh as he stood.
Daniel looked back at him, then stared toward his best friend’s crotch. “Is that a frog in there?”
Kyle looked down and screamed like a little girl. Stuck in his pubic hair was one of the tiny frogs. He brushed it away and kept checking to make sure no more had decided to make their home there.
“Now we’re even!” Daniel laughed. As he turned back toward the center of the pond, Kyle looked over at him, cocked his head.
“What’s up with your penis?”
Daniel stopped laughing. “I’m not falling for that.”
