Down the Rabbit Hole Chapter 37 – People are Strange
A/N- ok we are back to current events, as Alice's end of the story has caught up with the funeral.
The air was cold that Friday morning, making each breath that escaped his lips a plume of smoke that quickly dissipated into the frigid wind that bit at his extremities through his winter clothes. The sun had yet to break the horizon, giving the snow that had started to fall around midnight last night a few more precious moments of darkness to accumulate without the fatal rays of that life-giving orb. From his hiding place in the shadows across the street, he watched the scene before him unfold in its tragically dramatic fashion. God only knows why he was here to watch Jeffery rush down the slippery steps of his front porch dragging a suite case behind him, while carrying four suites in his left hand wrapped in their protective plastic from the drycleaners. Tina May was hot on his heels in her thin light blue silk dressing gown, ignoring her cold feet as she marched through the snow in her matching slippers. She was trying her best to save face by keeping her voice down so that their neighbors would not hear their early morning fight, "Where are you going Jeff?" To little success as the silent watcher across the way could hear every inflection in her pleading words as she grabbed Jeffery by the arm to force him to face her, "Don't leave your family."
The air grew thick with tension as Jeffery stared her down for a few seconds before yanking his arm out of her grasp, "You'll be hearing from my lawyer by the end of the month." Turning away from her, he opens the trunk to his car and begins to load his belongings into it as he continued, "I expect you to sign the papers without any fuss and mail them back to me."
"Honey," she was still trying to keep her voice calm, but the fear of losing him was palpable in every word she spoke, "We can fix this, we'll get some counselling and even take some time off for that vacation you've been wanting, just don't let it end like this." Mentioning the vacation was the wrong move on her part, as he had been planning it as a family get away to help fix the rift that he had been sensing forming between them and their son.
Slamming the trunk closed, he ignored her final words as he made his way around the vehicle to the driver's side door, pointing his finger in her face, "You drove our child away." The guilt for having gone along with her in the first place was burning fiercely in his chest, feeling as though it was devouring his very soul.
"He was kidnapped," she snapped in a panic, and though the little spy could not see the look that Jeffery was giving her clearly, he could feel the tension between them surge and knew that he was calling bull shit on her statement.
He threw his hands up into the air as though he was begging god to give him strength as he bellowed out, "For fuck sakes Tina May, I can't believe I ever let you talk me into going through with that god damn funeral." He turns away from her to unlock the car door, "All the statistics say he's dead you said, it'll give us closure you said." Opening the door, he puts one foot in as he looks at her sternly, the guilt that weighed heavily upon his heart was threatening to crush him under its oppressive burden as his voice begins to break, "Well I say bull shit. You just wanted to burry all of your shame for having a child who didn't grow up to be exactly what you wanted them to be in that empty casket and forget about them."
She tries one last time to make him see reason as he sits down in the driver's seat and closes the door on her, "He's dead Jeffery, you need to let him go and move on."
Starting the car, he rolls down the power window and doesn't spare her a glance as he speaks his final words, "Then you'll have no problem staying out of our lives when I find him." Putting the car into reverse he speeds out of the drive, skidding to a stop on the street, the back end of his car fishtailing in the snow as he had hit the accelerator a little too hard as he began to drive away. Leaning over the handlebars of his Vespa, the little redheaded spy tried to conceal his presence from Mr. Rockwell as he quickly drove by. Mrs. Rockwell looked furious, heartbroken and defeated as she made her way back up the steps of her front porch and into her house. If she had been a decent person, Kevin's heart might have been breaking for her, but alas she is not someone that he would classify as a person, let alone decent.
He waited for the lights in the downstairs rooms to go back out before he started his own engine and headed down the road that Mr. Rockwell had just taken moments before. Turning left on the main road at the end of the street, he begins his trip down the curvy road that led into the valley and towards the downtown area of Peach Creek, and the trailer park that Plank lived in. Slowing at the bottom of the hill he takes the first right he comes to once he was on level ground again, entering the trailer park, slowly making his way passed several mobile homes before parking in front of his friend's house. Getting off his moped, he knocks gently upon the front widow of the trailer and waits patiently for a response. But being thoroughly frozen through to the bone from his trip down the hill, his patients was not eternal and thus he knocked again. This time was a little louder than before, hoping to wake the living dead that is his friend. Getting the desired effect he was looking for this go round, when the curtain to Plank's room is drawn back revealing a very sleepy blond looking out at him. "Hurry up and open the door Plank," Kevin pleaded when the blond seemed to be falling back to sleep.
Plank's half lidded eyes blink slowly as he tried to focus on the person he was looking at, taking his right arm from around the person he was holding he flips Kevin off unenthusiastically. The person beside him stirs from their slumber and looks at the red head who was making all the noise, letting Kevin know that Rave had stayed over last night in the process. "Go let him in," Rave says still half asleep while he pushes Plank out of the bed and onto the floor.
Landing beside the bed with a thud, Plank moans in pain for a few seconds then sits up to go do as he was told with a soft smart ass, "Yes dear," as he left the room.
Rave muttering to himself as he nuzzled back under the covers for warmth, "I'm not your dear."
Opening the front door, Plank grabs Kevin by the collar of his coat and yanks him inside to close the door quickly to keep the frigid cold outside where it belongs. "Why are you here so early dork," Plank asked in an exhausted tone as he led the way back to his bedroom.
"Couldn't sleep," Kevin responded softly.
Opening the door to his room, he steps over Jonny as he walks inside, "Well, mom doesn't get home for a few more hours, so just lay down and try and sleep, cause I aint getting up yet." Sitting upon the edge of the bed as he finished his sentence he found that his ass was quickly being pushed back off the edge, landing him on the floor once again. With a low groan and evident pain in his voice, he chastises Rave, "Girl, you've got to stop doing that."
Rave's voice was sleepy as he replied mid-yawn, "We're your guest, we get the bed, you get the floor with Jonny."
"There's room for three," he argued, for it would be a fight to try and wrestle his spare blankets away from Jonny, even if only to share them.
"That argument didn't work for Jonny last night, it sure as hell not going to work for you now," motioning with his hand he points as he says the word "Floor," in as much of a commanding voice as he could muster in his groggy state.
"You know," Plank begins, "Sometimes you can be a fucking ..." His sleepy mind finally catching up to the situation, stops him from finishing that sentence.
But Rave had caught the gist of his words and snaps his head around to look at Plank harshly as he awaited some sign of remorse for his rough words towards him. Feeling the tension, Kevin tried to defuse the situation with some lame couples humor he had heard his dad say to his friends, "Looks like someone's in the dog house."
The two of them responding in unison to Kevin's failed attempt as Rave turns back around to face away from Plank, "We're not dating." But Plank's last word was fucking, not dating, sending a pang of insecurity into the pit of Rave's stomach as he contemplated their recent interactions together. Was the kindness he was showing him the result of two friends trying to make their relationship something more? Or was he being the player Rave feared he was, softening him up with affection in an attempt to get what he desired from him? One thing was certain though, Rave would keep his heart guarded regardless of the outcome, whether they became lovers or just friends with benefits, for he would not allow himself to be hurt like his mother was.
Taking off his shoes and winter coat, Kevin climbs into bed with Rave as Plank pulled on the blanket Jonny had tucked under him, pulling it over himself once he had enough to cover up with. Using his arm as a makeshift pillow, he looks bitterly at the dork now in his bed sharing the warmth he had been enjoying just moments ago with his Raven. The three of them slowly fell back to sleep once settled in, Plank having the roughest time out of the trio since he was now on the uncomfortable floor with Jonny, who was notorious for his nighttime tossing and turning. Hence why Rave and Plank would not let him share the bed with them last night, for if they had they would have woken up bruised and beaten the next day.
Kevin's dreams were a mix of eager anticipation for today, filled with his hopes of finding their lost friend along with his fears that they would be unsuccessful at their endeavor. Being rudely awaken by Jonny when he was this close to catching up to Eddward in the labyrinthine streets of Summerville, "Come on dude, it's time to go."
Rubbing his eyes clear of sleep, he sits up, tasting his own bad breath, "Where's everyone else."
"In the living room," he motions with his thumb to the bedroom door, "They've been awake for a few hours, so hurry up and get ready or we'll leave you behind."
Scrambling out of the bed, Kevin gathered up his coat, shoes and hat then makes his way into the bathroom to rinse out his mouth with mouthwash and relieve himself. "Come on dude," Plank's voice calls from the other side of the closed door, "Stop tinkering with your tiny tool and let's go already." Flushing the toilet and zipping up, he flings open the door and hurries passed Plank, giving him the finger as he walks by. "I didn't hear you wash your hands," he teases, earning him another affectionate hand gesture from the red head who was stepping out the front door to join Rave on the porch.
"Thomas is going," Kevin asked as he pointed to the man opening the driver's side door of the car.
"Yep," Rave responded fondly as he looked at the man, "He's the only one with a driver's license we could get to go." The family resemblance was uncanny as the young man looked like Plank's doppelganger accept that he was older, taller and had more muscle definition then his younger brother.
As well as being undeniably and terminally straight, "Lets get this show on the road," Thomas called out to them as Plank came walking down the porch steps. Making his way roughly between Rave and Kevin to put a stop to their obvious eye fucking of his brother. What? There's nothing wrong with admiring art from a distance is there? But like any museum in which that art is displayed, you must be mindful of the roped off area which has set the boundaries. And anyways, Thomas found it kind of amusing and somewhat flattering that his brother's friends were "drooling" over him, it was kind of inflating his ego, and nothing else.
Following their friend to the car they all climbed in with Plank calling shotgun and taking the front seat to stare out of the window at the passing scenery, barely interacting with his friends the entire trip down to Summerville. Finally getting over his little spat of jealousy as they crossed the bridge and entered the cities limits, "So where do you guys want to start looking?"
Rave leans forward and suggests, "Why don't we try the homeless shelters."
Thomas looks at him through the rearview mirror as he asks, "Do you know where any of them are at?"
Rave deflates as he sits back into his seat defeated and Jonny suggests in an excited tone, "Why don't we pick up Marie, she lives here and might know where they at."
"And where is she going to sit Jonny? On your lap?" Plank asks harshly as he turns to look at his friend, "This isn't the sticks, the cops will pull us over in a heartbeat and Thomas will get arrested for violating his probation for being out of state."
"Hey, it's cool man," Thomas said to Plank softly, trying to defuse the situation, "We're not going to get pulled over so stop worrying."
"Whatever," Plank turns around to face forward and sits back in his seat, "Let's just go to the park first, I heard about this place where gay people hang out at, he might be there." In the back seat as Plank was talking, Kevin was reminding Rave that they needed to call Ms. Ritta and was asking him if he remembered to bring the phone number with him. "We'll call her after we check the park," Plank says harshly without sparing a glance in their direction, "She might also know where these homeless shelters are, hell she might even help us look." The two of them stopped talking and knew that it would be best to avoid the landmine that was named Plank today, for obviously his worry about Edd was putting him on edge. And it was, but so was his annoyance at his own jealousy increasing his irritation and thus causing him to snap at his friends and his love interest. And thus, did he decide that he needed to play things cool with Rave and guard his emotions and heart. For if he allowed his jealousy to rear its ugly face every time Rave looked in someone else's direction, he would most definitely drive him away.
The tension in the vehicle had increased as they drove down the streets of Summerville in silence towards Autumn Park. Each person in the car was looking out of their respective windows, scanning the sidewalks in hopes that they might catch a glimpse of Edd coincidentally standing on some isolated street corner along their route. Climbing a small hill and rounding a slight curve in the highlands area of the city had finally brought them to their destination where they began their slow trip along the paved roads that went around the perimeter of the park. Plank sitting up ridged in his seat when they finally came upon the area he had heard about which had been affectionately dubbed fag hill, drawing the other occupants of the cars attention to the area he was looking at.
Thomas had slowed the cars procession so that the others could take a good look at the area, to ensure that they would be satisfied that they had not just rushed by it. The small hillside was abandoned, covered in snow, with only a few tracks visible in the otherwise pristine powder that led up into the woods of leafless trees. The only visible sign of life was the couple leaning against an old '67 Ford Mustang parked under a lone tree along the side of the road that they were now slowly coasting by. The young African American woman leaning against the car shoots them the bird as her Caucasian male companion gave the side of their car a swift kick as a reward for their gawking stares. The four boys were furious with the disrespect that they had been shown, along with the possible damage to the car, and were ready to jump out and give the pair a piece of their minds. Wishing to avoid confrontation due to his probation, Thomas accelerates and quickly puts some distance between them and the two rude individuals to the protests of his passengers.
"Fucking hillbillies," Dino shouts at the retreating car, saluting them with both of his middle fingers, seeing one of the boys returning the gesture out of the back window.
Trixie watches as the car quickly takes one of the many exits the park had that led to a city side street, "Mother fuckers acting like this is the zoo and shit."
"Fucking kids got no god damn respect," Dino added as he takes his place by her side and pulls out his pack of cigarettes.
Leaning against the car once again the two of them were growing weary as the park was dead and business was bleak due to todays whether. They were only remaining where they were as they were waiting for Edd to return before heading home. They didn't have to wait much longer as he called out to them as he made his way down the hillside from the tree line, "What was all that yelling about?"
"Just some fucking rude ass rednecks," Dino explained as he motioned in the direction the aforementioned individuals had gone.
"They weren't getting shady with you, were they?" His voice was concerned, but his mind knew that her words would have cut those ignorant bastards down to size.
"No, just staring at us like we were on display or something," when most of the word has a tendency to shows no tolerance for her, her tolerance of their ignorance has equal been cut short.
"Baby, they couldn't help but admire your beauty," Dino says to sooth her renewed irritation, reinforcing his words with a gentle kiss.
"Mmhmm," her expression told him that she wasn't buying what he was selling. Turning she pulls her keys out of her pocket and opens the driver door, "Come on girls, it's fucking cold and momma needs some coffee."