Chapter Two:
What the hell is going on?!
THURSDAY MORNING: 4am
I heard my phone going off as I lifted my head from under my covers and looked around blurrily. I reached over and grabbed it off my night stand, growling into the mouth piece.
“Do you know what time it is?!” I growled.
“Turn on the news, man.” I growled louder at Tommy
“Tommy, it’s 4 in the damn morning. I’m tired as hell.” This had better be an important call.
“The moms are dead, dude.” I blinked in confusion
“Ahh… What?” I stuttered
“Buck’s and his goon’s moms are dead, dude! They’re saying suicide” I sat up and fumbled for the remote, after finding it I turned in on the morning news.
“… And in other news—it seems like another tragedy strikes as the boys who died yesterday, their mothers had died early this morning. The bodies were found when a neighbor had gone to their apartment to complain about loud music being played. She called the local police as they rushed to the scene. The causes of deaths are not yet released, but their neighbors are ruling it out as a suicide. We’ll have more for you when we return.” I sat there in silence for a few minutes.
“You don’t think it was a suicide, do you?” I asked Tommy. He made a noise in agreement.
“Think about it. Their sons all died at the same time, the same way. Maybe the fathers came back and killed the women for letting the goons die.” I remained quiet, pondering on what Tommy said. I heard the news come back on, same with Tommy.
“And we’re back. We have reason to believe that these were not suicides. We’re live with Kelly, who’s on the scene. Kelly?” Kelly came on the air.
“Evidence points to that the murders were made to look like a suicide. Finger prints and DNA was left on the victims as it was reviled to be the fathers of the victim’s sons. I’m here now with Chief Calaway.” Then, my grandfather’s face came on the TV.
“All I can say is that the murder of these women all happened at various times in the morning. We’re doing everything we can.” With that, he left as Kelly became main focus.
“Could there be more victims you ask? Possibly. We’ll have more later. Back to you Andy.” With that, it was back into the studio.
“Thank you, Kelly. We’ll have more on the developing story later. Now…” I turned the volume down.
“Maybe the killer is killing people that bully and are no good to society?” He asked as I shook my head.
“No. Think about it, Tommy. Butch and his goons died yesterday and now their mothers? Some things going on and I don’t like it. Not one damn bit” I added.
“Man, what the hell? What was the killer’s motive?” He asked as I shrugged.
“I don’t know. But I’m going to try and get some sleep” with that, I hung up. I kept the TV on low as I looked up at the ceiling. The killer has plenty of motive… Doesn’t he? I asked myself as I started to drift off into sleep once again.
I felt somebody shaking my shoulder as I buried my body deeper within my cocoon of warm, cozy blankets. The shaking became more forceful as I lowered the blankets that covered my eyes as I faced Ember.
“What do you want?” I snarled as she looked at me.
“Let me in” She said, her voice was quiet as I looked at her like she was crazy.
“I need to talk to you.” She explained as I lifted my arm and blankets. She slid in as my arm wrapped around her waist as I noticed she was freezing.
“Now talk, Em” I demanded, my voice husky from sleep.
“I watched the news… About those murders…” She became quiet as I sighed softly.
“Emmy…” I started, using her nick-name.
“I won’t let the killer come get you. Neither will anybody else.”
“You Promise?”
“I swear, sis.”
We both dozed off once again as I heard my alarm go off. Em reached over and turned it off as I yawned. We stayed like this for a few more minutes until my alarm went off again. We both got up as Ember left as I shut off my alarm and went to shower. I walked out of the bathroom in my towel and wandered into my closet. I put on some pants with holes in the knees and the bottoms (where they drag on the ground) were ratty and torn. I walked out of the closet as I toweled off my short hair. I slipped on my old Rob Zombie shirt and grabbed my biker boots. I sat at my desk as put on my socks, eyes watching the TV. I glanced at my clock as it read 5:38am. I heard my dad get up as I grabbed my boots, phone, and backpack as I walked out, but I turned off my TV.
“Dad…?” I asked him as he paused and looked back at me. I caught up with him as we walked down the stairs.
“The killer strikes again” I said as he looked at me.
“What do you mean?” He asked as we arrived in the kitchen. I set my backpack and boots down as I grabbed a bowl, spoon, milk, and fruit loops.
“I mean: Buck and his goon’s mothers were all murdered” I confirmed as I poured fruit loops into the bowl and poured milk. I put the milk and FL away, munching on my breakfast. He started the coffee, leaning against the counter as he watched me.
“Huh.” Was his reply
“Yeah, I know. Ember came into my room because she was worried that the killer was going to go after her. I told her the killer wouldn’t even get close.” I told him as he nodded.
“Good.”
Breakfast went by fast as I slipped my socked feet into my boots and slipped on my sweater. I grabbed my backpack and I left the house. I walked down the drive to the bus stop, standing in silence. I had my ear buds in as the bus came around and stopped. The doors whooshed open as I climbed in and made my way to my friends. I sat next to Vince as I slipped one from my ear.
“I was just telling the guys what happened” Tommy told me as I nodded.
“Ember was worried” I muttered as we all kept talking about the murders that have happened.
“It’s like some horror movie” Jason stated as we all looked at him. He shrugged slightly and went started to flirt with some cheerleader.
“I don’t know, man. I wonder who he’s going to strike next?” Hoyt asked as we all shrugged once again.
The bus pulled up into the school and stopped. We all got off as we walked into the building. I saw Ember with her friends talking as we all went to our lockers and grabbed our first period books. We then went back into the cafeteria and took our seats. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach and I couldn’t shake it. The bell rang as everybody went off to first period as Ember grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. I nodded to Vince as he went inside.
“I found this in my locker.” Ember said, a hint of worry in her voice as she handed me the note.
You little bitch.
I’m going to kill you.
Run if you want, but I’ll find you.
It was signed anonymous as I looked at her. She was scared, I could tell. She hugged me tightly as I wrapped my arm around her, chin resting on top of her head.
“Did you get any more of these notes?” I asked her as she nodded.
“When?”
“One yesterday and one this morning” She admitted as the bell rang.
“Do you want to go home? I’ll get all your homework” I asked her as she nodded.
“Okay. Let me call mom” I took out my cell phone as I called mom.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” She asked
“Mom, somebodies writing threatening notes to Ember and she’s scared shitless. She wants to come home.” I told her as I heard her growl.
“I’m on my way. Walk her to the office and stay with her.” She ordered as we hung up. I looked over to find Mr. Black looking at me. I gave him a look that said ‘I’ll-be-right-back’ as he nodded. I walked Ember down to the office as we stepped in.
“My sister is going home early... Could you excuse her?” I asked the secretary. She looked at us, eyebrow raised. She was about to open her mouth when Mr. Garcia walked up.
“What seems to be the problem?” He asked. Ember glanced at me, hugging me tighter.
“Somebodies writing threatening notes to her. She wants to go home. She’ll feel safer with our parents around.” I answered as he looked at her; Ember nodded her head in response as our mom came in. Ember hugged her tightly.
“C’mon Emmy. Let’s get you home.” She soothed her as she looked at me.
“I’ll get her homework.” She nodded as we walked out of the office and towards the door.
“I’ll keep looking for clues and whatnot. I’m going to find this son of a bitch and kill him” I growled to her quietly. She squeezed my arm and left. I then turned around and walked back to English. I arrived fifteen minutes late as I took my seat. I handed Vince back his notebook as he caught me up on what’s going on.
“Okay. Everybody turn in your homework” Everybody took theirs out as they passed it forward. Mr. Black collected them and passed around a packet and some worksheets.
“I think the worksheets are self-explanatory, but the packet isn’t. You have to read it and then answer the question. The twist is that you have to pick two stories off the list and read them in your text book, answer THOSE questions and then write an essay on the three stories you read.” Mr. Black must like handing out homework because he’s on a roll.
“We’re having a quiz tomorrow on all what we went over this week. So study” He commented. We then went over the novel we’re reading and he told us we should be on chapter 17 by tonight. There are 23 chapters in this book and I’m on chapter 18. He told us that we have the rest of the class to work as a clap of thunder sounded. I rested my chin on my palm and looked out the window. That’s the nice thing about having a back seat—the window. I watched it rain and lightning as I saw a figure standing. I straightened up as he then vanished. I decided to do my work as the bell rang. I sighed and packed my stuff. I walked out with Vince as we went to our lockers.
“What was with you this morning?” He asked me as we switched out our books.
“The killer is writing Ember threatening notes. She went home. I’m going to find him and I’m going to kill him.” I stated as we parted ways. I made my way upstairs as I went to the Spanish room. I walked in and took out the work. I handed it to the teacher. She looked at with surprise.
“I assumed it was due today, so I did it all.” I said as she took it.
“That was fast.” She commented as I took my seat. The teacher stood in front of the room.
“Buenos días, clase!” (Good Morning, Class!) the teacher announced.
“Buenos Dias, señora Hotchner” (Good Morning, Mrs. Hotchner) the class responded.
THURSDAY NIGHT: 8pm
Classes went by relatively fast today. I got a lot of homework, per usual. I also grabbed Ember’s homework and took the bus home. When I got into the house, I saw her sitting next to dad in the living room. She got up as I handed her the homework she missed. I then walked upstairs and shut my door. I leaned back on the legs of my chair, pencil twirling in my hand as the TV was going on in the background. I’m going to find out who scent Ember those notes. I got a good look at the shadow at school. I thought as I wandered over to my window. I opened it and jumped out. I landed gracefully as I glanced around before jetting into the woods. I paused by the river and inhaled the air. That mother—He’s been here. I looked around and saw the figure as he ran. I ran after him fast and hard. My adrenaline was pumping as I tackled him. We fought as he bucked me off. I growled as he ran towards the house. I sent out a signal to alert my parents and when the house was in sight, I saw that creep had Ember. My parents and the guys weren’t happy. I snarled and tackled him. Ember ran to mom as we rolled around, we both threw punches as I kicked him off me. I grabbed his leg as he tried to get away and I ripped off his mask. My eyes widened as it came to reveal…
“Willy the Janitor…?” I stuttered in disbelief. He looked back at me, rage in his eyes.
“That’s right, laddy!” His Scottish brogue spoke out.
“You’re the one who’s threatening my sister?” I asked him, disbelief still in my voice. He looked at me.
“Aye…!” I slammed him down, growling.
“Why?!” I demanded. I was pissed off and confused.
“Because she interfered with m’plans” He answered, accent getting thicker
“What plans?!”
“I was gonna kill that trouble makin’ boy and his stupid friends!” I snorted
“Ember didn’t have anything to do with it, you dumbass!” I snarled at him.
“She wasn’t?” He asked.
“No! If you had watched the news, you would have known that they killed themselves! Then the father’s come and murdered their mothers!” I told him as he nodded. Just then, the police came as my grandfather came out.
“I came as soon as I could when Harley called” He explained as Mustang cuffed Willy. I got off the ground as my legs gave out. Ember caught me as she wrapped my arm around her shoulders.
“The real killer’s still out there, somewhere…” I stated.
“It was Willy that wrote those notes… Why would the killer come after us?” Ember asked our grandfather as he shook his head.
“I don’t know, Em… I don’t know…” Was all he said as he and my parents conversed before they all left. I looked at my parents.
“That was a brave thing you did, Junior” My dad said as I nodded. My mom smiled at me as everybody went inside, Ember taking me up to my room. She sat me at my desk.
“You could’ve gotten hurt”
“I was protecting you” I countered as she nodded.
Ember left as I did my homework. I sat at my desk as I stared at my math homework. I looked at my phone and it said 3:15am. I had finished everything else and now I’m just working on Pre-Calc. I started working the problems and I started getting frustrated. I threw my pencil down and got up and walked down to the gym. I worked out my frustrations out on the punching bag before somebody grabbed my wrist. I growled at them, whirled around as I saw Cena. I panted faintly as I sat on the bench.
“What’s wrong?” He asked as I snorted softly.
“You heard about what happened?” He nodded
“I could have killed him, John. I wanted too, so bad.” I admitted
“With great power come’s great responsibility” he told me as I tilted my head.
“Look, Junior… What you did tonight was out of pure instinct. Ember’s your little sister and you would kill for her. Just like you would for any of your siblings if they were threatened like this…” Cena stated as I nodded.
“I know… It’s just…” He nodded as I went back up to my room.
After that talk with Cena in the weight room, I was able to focus and finish my math. It was 4:40am and I knew I wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight.
I was just getting out of the shower as I looked at my reflection in the mirror. Circles were under my eyes as I looked slightly pale. I had a few bruises from last night and other than that, I just looked like crap. I opened the bathroom door and walked into my bedroom. I yawned as I wandered into my closet and flipped on the light. I dried off as I stood in my boxers, debating if I want to wear basketball shorts or pants. I decided on pants as I slid into them. I slipped on my football jersey. I’m the quarterback as the colors of my jersey are purple and gold. The back top says ‘Calaway’ and my number, 13. Ember has my jersey also, so she wears mine on game days. Speaking of game days… There’s a game tonight.
5:37am… I lay on my bed as I looked up at the ceiling. I yawned again as Ember walked in.
“I could have been naked” I commented as she rolled her eyes.
“Oh please… Don’t flatter yourself.” I scoffed to myself as she opened my curtains.
“You seem to be better” I commented as she nodded.
“I am… Thanks… For what you did” She said as I shrugged
“I didn’t wanna hear shit from mom about it” I lied as she raised her eyebrow.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON:
Before the first football game of the year, I went home and played video games. The game wasn’t until 6, so I had plenty of time. Ember had told our parents to go to my opening game and that they’ll be plenty of her games. They agreed and when the team came out, I saw my parents, Cena (who played football), Hunter, and Randy. We were going up against the Tigers (Who I heard were a pretty good team), who didn’t even have a chance. We beat them 36-0 and when I got that touchdown, the whole team tackled me, cheering me on. The stands went up with cheers. Once I got home and showered, I passed out on my bed out of pure exhaustion.
SUNDAY MORNING: 5:12am
I rolled over and looked up at my ceiling as I glanced at my clock as it read 5:13am. I sighed softly as I let my mind wander over the day’s events of yesterday as Led Zeppelins ‘Baby I’m gonna leave you’ plays softly through my stereo.
Saturday was just another Saturday. I slept in until 2pm and got up. I walked downstairs and found my parents sitting on the couch as I stretched and yawned. I don’t know what was wrong, but my dad made me mow the entire lawn by myself. That took like, two hours. I ate my lunch and showered. I called up Vince to see if he and the guys wanted to hang out in the mall and they agreed. I came home around 10ish and played video games. I sighed softly. Then why am I awake? I pondered on that question for a few minutes. Oh yeah… I remember. I bitterly thought. When I had gotten home from the mall, Lili told me what was going on and I remember just getting pissed. I also remember my dad holding me back as Lili tried to calm me down. I rolled over and faced my door. This sucks… I noted I looked at the various posters on my wall. I had Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Aerosmith, and a few others. I had Jimi Hendrix, a marijuana poster on my wall also. Gabe gave it to me for my birthday. I sighed softly and briefly closed my eyes. I opened them a few minutes later and rolled again. I got in a comfortable position and fell back asleep to Foreigner.
SUNDAY NIGHT: 8pm
I got up at noon and showered. I got dressed as I headed downstairs to eat my lunch. I don’t know what’s up with my dad as of late, but he told me to clean out the horse stalls as I began to argue. He just looked at me and told me that I’m grounded… What the hell? I looked at mom as she got up and lead me to the barn. She started cleaning out her horse’s stall. Her horse’s name is Wildfire. (We call him Fire for short). I started cleaning and paused half way through.
“Mom?” I asked as she looked at me
“What the hell’s up with dad?” I asked again as she wiped her forehead, leaning against a stall.
“His mom is sick, so he’s been worried about her and whatever.” She started. I motioned her to continue.
“He’s been busy with the school and with other things too, Junior. I wouldn’t worry about it.” I snorted as she raised an eyebrow.
“I had to mow the ENTIRE lawn by MYSELF yesterday… He better lay off some, mom.” I told her as we finished cleaning out the stalls. That took a few hours. We both walked out as I saw Ember sitting on the porch. I walked past her, grumbling. I stomped upstairs and took another shower. I scrubbed my skin until it was pink and my scalp until I was sure it was clean. I got out and got re-dressed. I pulled on shorts and a shirt as I sighed again. I looked around and gathered my dirty laundry.
Once I was in the laundry room, I put my clothes in the washer and started a load. I did that with a few other washers as I started them at the same time. It’s better than waiting for a few minutes or hours… I sat on an empty washer and leaned against the wall as I pulled out my phone. A few minutes later the washers all went off so I put them all in the dryer, starting them as I took my spot again. Ember came down with her laundry as she looked at me, hamper on her hip.
“Junior… Is there ONE available washer?!” She asked as I nodded. I hopped off the available one as she started. I re-started each dryer I was using. We took our seats as she looked at me.
“Good game” She spoke first as I nodded
“You too” I said as she nodded.
Ember’s game was at an earlier time and it got over right as mine was about to start, so she was able to see it. When we won, she jumped over the barricade and hugged me. I shook my head as I took all my hot and dry clothes out of the dryers and walked back upstairs. I saw Rey, Jeff, and my mom putting up Halloween decorations. I laughed softly as I shook my head. I also saw Willow hanging up some too from the ground. I heard Halloween music playing as I saw the stair banister and railing all decorated. If you think Halloween is bad, wait until Christmas! I laughed softly to myself as I continued to my room. I arrived as I shut the door and put away my clothes. I looked at my TV as I saw ‘The Addams Family’ playing. I sometimes think my family is kind of like the Addams… The sick part is, I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. I turned up the volume and found a marathon. I grinned and grabbed my homework, sitting at my desk.
An hour later, I was all done with my homework. Wow… That was fast… I noted as I packed it all away. I had finished my Psychology project (the independent one) and had returned the books I borrowed from Glenn except a few. I sat on my bean bag chair and watched ‘The Addams Family’ as Ember joined me a few minutes later. She sat in the other one as she looked at me during a commercial.
“I decorated my room for Halloween” she announced as I rolled my eyes
“Good for you” I said as she smacked my arm. I smirked faintly and looked around my room.
“Wanna do mine?” I asked her as she nodded as a grin appeared on her face. I sighed softly. She’s just like mom on that… Loves decorating for the holidays, even though it’s not October yet; Em ran back in with decorations as she set out to decorate. I continued watching ‘The Addams Family’.
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