by E. R. Mason
“Still game?” asked Jax.
Skyla replied with a “Tsk.”
“I’ll tell Remy we’re going down.”
The doors to the dining area had been already been blocked open. Jax stood at the entrance and looked into the room. There was no sign of him. He called out, “Rem! Where’d you go?”
There was no reply.
“What now?” asked Skyla.
“I think our lookout has flown the coup. Hey Rem, where are you?”
No reply.
“Guess I’d better go look. Don’t you go down there. You wait for me, okay?” said Jax. He stepped into the dining room, took one last look around and stopped. Suddenly, there in the far corner was Remy, standing at a small desk, inspecting a large blade.
“Rem, we’re heading down. I thought you took off on us.”
Remy held up the large knife. “Look at this thing. You know what it is?”
“Bayonet?”
“Yep. World War II. That’s weird.”
“Why?”
“Well, I know this place was some kind of lookout station during the war, but that desk is for decorative crystal and china. Why would anyone put this thing there?”
“Well anyway, we’re going down. Keep an eye out, okay?”
“Hey, I’m on it, Captain.”
Jax rolled his eyes and returned to Skyla, now waiting at the open cellar door. With a quick nod, she carefully stepped down, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder from Jax.
“Sky, maybe you’d better let me go first. What if there’s an animal down there or something. You know, like rats?”
“Oh! Okay. Lead the way, hero.”
Jax stepped down toward the darkness one worn wooden step at a time. The air became heavy with staleness, and very cool. Piled stone lined the wall on his left, a dark drop-off on the right. The boards sagged beneath his feet, though each seemed able to bear his weight. As he approached the bottom, a dark gravel floor came into view.
He stepped off the stairs and flashed his light around. Remy was correct not to come. The place was macabre. Skyla bumped up against him as she stepped down. She held onto the sleeve of his shirt, studying the dirty wood and rock room with her own light.
The musty space was stacked with unidentifiable equipment covered by dirty web and vine. Most of it appeared very old and very rusty. A wide path had been left within the stacks. Skyla pushed by and went on ahead. Jax was hesitant to speak, almost as if he feared waking monsters in hiding. He marched gingerly along and caught up.
Skyla paused to look. “This place is amazing,” she said.
“If you say so,” replied Jax.
“A lot of it is broken furniture, like somebody was planning on fixing it and selling it. Other stuff is broken farm machinery. There must be some outside entrance that they used to bring this stuff in, but I didn’t see any when we arrived.”
“It’s all grimy dirty down here,” said Jax. “I’m almost afraid to breathe the air.”
Skyla ignored him. “Look, there’s another room up ahead.”
“That may be where the ogre lives,” said Jax.
Skyla cast a sarcastic look, brushed her hair off with one hand, and headed for the half-open doorway. It took several tries with her foot to force the broken door open the rest of the way.
“You know there’s spiders down here, right?”
“Don’t worry, Remy. I’ll protect you.”
“Very funny.”
They moved into the next darkened chamber to find it quite different from the first. The space was just as dirty and unused, but it was arranged in a much more orderly manner.
“This was a workshop,” said Skyla half under her breath.
“Yeah, now if we can just find Frankenstein’s monster,” commented Jax.
“Careful what you wish for,” answered Skyla.
“There’s another room over there on the right, just past that workbench.”
Skyla surveyed the room’s storage cabinets, shelves, tool cases, and tools hanging on the wall. She stopped at the closed door leading to the next room.
“My flashlight’s battery is running down. We can’t stay here too much longer,” said Jax.
“This door is locked with a macho old fashioned lock on a deadbolt,” said Skyla. “This leads to a big storage area or something.” Skyla drew her newly acquired set of keys and tried each one. “Damn,” she complained when none of the keys fit.
Jax came up alongside and inspected the hanging lock. “It would take a good-size set of bolt cutters to cut this one,” he said.
“Can you get them?” she asked.
“You actually want to come back here a third time just to get in a side store room?”
“I’ll never stop wondering if I don’t.”
Skyla pulled away and began photographing everything in both rooms. When was done, she gave Jax a pleading look. “So you going to help me or not?”
Jax smiled. “I seem to have trouble refusing you, Sky. You know they won’t put us in the same police cell.”
Skyla snickered. “So you’ll help me.”
“Yes, I will help you.”
“You really are good to have around.”
Jax again wondered if the comment was one of affection or patronization.
Back in the main dining room they found Remy standing over his laptop writing software. He looked up and with a satirical tone said, “Are we there yet?”
“We are there until next time, Rem. Pack it in.”
“Next time? You’re kidding right?”
Skyla came up beside him, put one arm around his shoulder and in a sexy voice pleaded, “Darling, would you transfer these pictures to a flash drive? You’re so wonderful,” she said and she planted a kiss on his cheek.
Jax looked on in jealous envy.
Remy flushed and tried to appear unaffected. “What’s in for me, sweetheart?”
“How about a steak dinner at the café,” replied Skyla as she headed for the exit.
For a moment Remy appeared conflicted. “When did you need them,” he called, as he rushed to gather up his stuff.
Exiting Demon House turned out to be easy. The property was still completely deserted. There wasn’t even a breeze or a bird chirping. The trio trotted nervously across the open lawn to the wood line. Through the woods they joked and laughed at each other until reaching the car.
There was just one problem. The car was gone.
Chapter 3
The three explorers stood staring in disbelief at the empty clearing where they had parked.
“I don’t freakin’ believe it,” cried Remy. “Some bloody imbecile has ripped the car.”
“Crap,” said Jax.
“Did you lock it?” asked Remy.
“Of course I locked it,” answered Jax. “And no, I did not leave the keys inside.”
“Well, isn’t this unexpected,” added Skyla.
“What the hell are you genius’s gonna do now?” complained Remy. “Are we gonna phone the police and tell ‘em our car was stolen while we were trespassing at Demon House?”
“We don’t have to say anything about Demon House,” suggested Skyla.
“So why did we hide the car in the woods, then?” countered Remy.
“We were just on a nature walk,” offered Skyla.
“And if they go through our stuff to check our story?” asked Remy.
“We’ll load my pictures onto your computer and then hide it here in the woods. I’ll shoot a bunch of nature shots with the camera and that’s all the police will find,” said Skyla.
“My god, you are the devious one, aren’t you,” answered Remy.
Jax tried to bring some solidarity to the situation. “We’re going to have to call somebody in any case. It’s a good hour’s walk to the main road. We need a ride. And anyway, I’d have to call the police at some point. Somebody’s got my Mom’s car, after all.”
“Actually you need to call them right away,” suggested S
kyla. “Otherwise they’ll be suspicious about you having waited to report it.”
“She’s right about that, Jax,” said Remy.
With the mood now sober, they went about putting Skyla’s plan into effect. When the backpack and computer were well hidden, and enough forest photos had been taken, Jax pulled out his mobile and dialed 999. He held the phone to his ear, gave an expression of confusion, then looked closely at his phone. “I’ve got no service,” he said exasperated.
Remy drew out his phone. “I’ve got no bars either,” said Remy.
They both looked hopefully at Skyla.
Skyla fumbled around and pulled out her odd-looking mobile phone. She looked up at them and shook her head. “No service.”
“Oh my god!” exclaimed Remy.
“Don’t panic,” replied Jax. “Maybe if we walk around.”
The three stranded friends all began wandering around the woodland in different areas. Ten minutes of circling brought no results.
“Oh my god!” said Remy again. “Are you telling me we’ve got to walk out of here down that gravel road?”
“We can start walking and we’ll probably get a signal fairly quickly,” said Skyla hopefully.
“I’ll be holding you to that steak dinner,” said Remy.
“We might as well get going, guys. We don’t want to get stuck out here after dark. We’d have to spend the night in Demon House,” said Jax.
“Demon House is not an option,” insisted Remy. “I’m leaving my backpack where we hid it. It may be a long walk. It’s bad enough we don’t have any water or anything. I’ll come back later for my stuff.”
“Actually I have a bottle of water in my handbag. I’ll share,” said Skyla.
The dejected trio gazed in the direction of the long road ahead and reluctantly began their journey.
After twenty minutes of silently plodding along, Skyla tried to boost the mood. “So, Remy, I understand you’re a computer genius.”
Remy looked up with a stolid expression. “Actually the genius is walking a few feet ahead of you there,” he replied.
“Jax? You’re saying Jax is a genius?”
“How else can you graduate from Senior school without lifting a finger? He’s got a photographic memory. Doesn’t even have to try, hardly.”
“So he was an A student then?”
“Only in history. Names, dates, events, he’s got them all in his head without trying. Anything a teacher mentioned in class got filed away. But all his other subjects he just got by because he didn’t do any of the actual work. He was famous for keeping teachers honest about what they’d said, though, and that did not make him popular with the faculty. The guy’s a mess, really.”
“Well, that’s impressive, though.”
“Oh but that’s not all. He’s also known as Superdude.”
“I don’t follow.”
“His Dad was a test pilot who got killed in an accident just after he was born. His Mom believed all the stuff about kids with no father growing up too weak and meek. So, she put him in karate classes beginning when he was 8. He was a black belt by 12. He’s kind of famous for that in an underground sort of way. Once at school we were loading on the bus and this big older kid everybody called Dexter the Bully was giving some shy kid a real bad time. Jax stopped him and asked him why he didn’t pick on somebody his own size. That afternoon we went to get on the bus to go home and Dexter the Bully was waiting. He needed to show everybody on the bus who was boss. Only thing was, he didn’t know about Jax. Jax walks up to the bus with a big armful of books and Dexter steps out and goes after him. Two seconds later, Dexter’s on the ground looking up. All the kids on the bus go wild cheering. Dexter is really pissed off. He goes at Jax over and over and goes down hard every time. The cheering got so loud it attracted a groundskeeper who broke it up.”
“Good story, Remy.”
“That’s not all. Jax’s Mom made him take marksmanship, junior military survival courses, and every other thing she could think of, worried her son might be at a disadvantage from not having a Dad. That’s why they started calling him Superdude.”
“I had no idea,” remarked Skyla. “I just thought he was cute.”
Up ahead, Jax stopped walking, turned, and came back to his friends. “Sky, can I get a hit off that water?”
Skyla drew the water from her bag and handed it to him. “Remy’s been telling me about Dexter the Bully.”
Jax gave Remy a caustic look and took a drink. “Rem . . .”
“Easy boy. It’s no secret.”
Jax shook his head. “I’m sure there was the usual exaggerations. That was kind of a bad choice I made back then. That jerk’s been screwing with me ever since. He’s pelted me with rocks, keyed my car, and even ran me off the road once. He’s going to plague me till the day he dies.” Jax took a long drink from the bottle, then handed it to Remy.
“Still, it wasn’t a bad choice,” countered Skyla.
“Not if you want to have someone harass you for the rest of your life,” argued Jax.
“There’s a bigger picture,” said Skyla. “You don’t know what events might have transpired had you not stood up to the bully. He may have gone on to hurt many others, but because one person taught him there could be consequences, he may have had second thoughts for the rest of his life, too.”
“I’m going with Skyla on this one,” said Remy, as he handed the bottle back to her. “I for one am glad you knocked that jerk on his ass for once. He used to give it to me, too, but after that little attitude adjustment with you he left me alone. He knew we hung out. So you saved my butt from a whole lot of crap, Superdude.”
“Please, could we reserve that title for the idiots who try to pick fights,” said Jax. “We’d better get going. The main road’s not too far ahead. Maybe we can hitch.”
Skyla came up beside Jax and hooked one arm under his. She gave him a big smile. “So, there’s more to you than meets the eye, Superdude.”
Jax flushed and again wondered if the remark was a compliment or a cut.
Twenty minutes more of walking brought them to the main paved road. Jax pulled out his mobile, stared down at it and exclaimed, “Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news.”
“I could stand some good news,” said Remy as he tried to catch his breath.
“The good news is that I’ve got service.”
“And the bad news?” asked Skyla.
“The bad news is, I’ve got service,” replied Jax. “I’ve got to call the police. You guys might as well hang in here with me. The police will be here sooner than anyone you’d call for a ride. I’ll need you to back up my story.”
Remy yelled, “Look out you guys. There’s a bunch of cars coming.”
The threesome shuffled farther away from the hard top and gathered around for the call to the police as traffic sped by. They looked up in time to see one car heading down the road toward Demon House.
“Hey, there’s somebody heading down toward Demon House,” exclaimed Remy.
“This part of Sutton road goes on way past Demon House,” replied Skyla. “It doesn’t mean they’re going there.”
“I’ll bet you a pint it’s the people going to look for their keys, and guess what little burglar type has them in her pocket!” answered Remy.
Jax could not hold back a laugh. As he did, a dispatcher answered his call.
Thirty minutes later a police vehicle came flying down the road, lights flashing, no siren. Skyla’s cover story seemed well received by the officer. The trio loaded into the car and directed the officer to the scene of the crime. As they approached, something else unexpected occurred.
“There is a vehicle parked in the woods over there, kids,” said the officer.
The threesome looked and immediately let out gasps of disbelief.
“I don’t believe it,” said Jax. “They brought it back.”
“You know, if you kids hadn’t walked all the way out to the main road from here, I’d be
starting to think this was a prank. Mr. Eaton, would you please go look your vehicle over and see if anything’s been taken, or if there’s any damage.”
After a quick inspection, Jax waved off the police report and let the officer leave. With Remy’s backpack retrieved, the weary threesome gathered at Jax’s car and climbed in happy to be heading home.
On the road, a determined Skyla broke the tired silence. “So, when can you get us a bolt cutter?”
“You have got to be kidding me!” exclaimed Remy.
Jax decided it was the perfect time to show Skyla he could take anything she could dish out. “When you want it by?”
“The police just now left,” said Remy. “You want to try this again tomorrow already?”
“What’s the difference?” asked Skyla.
“Well, how about they know us now. They know we’ve been out here. Maybe they’ve got their eyes on the house. If somebody gets murdered there or something, we’re the ones who were hanging around . . .”
“I think you’re stretching it a bit, Remington,” said Skyla. “But, it doesn’t matter. I have to meet with my Uncle tomorrow. He’s on a stopover on his way to North Africa. So I can’t do anything tomorrow. How about Thursday?”
“I have a bit of a problem myself,” said Jax. “My Mom had to be at work at 05:00 this morning. I took her in and went home and back to bed. That’s how I got the car today. But, she has to have the car Wednesday and Thursday. She has a bunch of medical tests and doctor’s appointments. I doubt Remy will want to take a chance with his car. His Aunt and Uncle would ask too many questions.”
“Yeah, even though they could care less,” said Remy.
“No problem,” answered Skyla. “I’ll get a taxi to bring us out. That way there’ll be no car to steal. Since there’s no mobile service out there, I’ll set up a time for them to come pick us up.”
“Just a tad expensive isn’t it, ma’am?” asked Remy.
“It will just be a business expense,” replied Skyla.
Remy wasn’t buying it. “You independently wealthy, or something, Skyla? What about you, anyway? I told you all Jax’s secrets. How come you’re still a big mystery? Where do your folks live?”