Notes: Kalin has a dream-flashback involving child abuse. Just a heads-up there. That scene and the ensuing scene are inspired by my favorite doujinshi that I found part of on Pixiv, which was written by Ekawa Kanako. I call it the hug doujinshi, lol. Scotch and Biff, meanwhile, end up with the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys treatment. Can't have a mystery fic without paying tribute to my favorite mystery series!
Chapter Four
Kalin and Radley were indeed at the diner by the time Scotch, Biff, and the kids arrived. "Hello!" Scotch chirped. "We come bearing gifts!"
"Oh?" Kalin quirked an eyebrow.
"Well, one gift," Scotch shrugged.
"We found it in the dirt by the hideout!" West said proudly.
"You've been investigating the hideout?" Radley stepped away from the counter and went over to them, Kalin closely following. "What did you find?"
Scotch held it out and Radley gingerly took it, turning it back and forth. "Hmm. It's attractive, but I have no idea what it is if it's not a normal pendant."
"It looks like those weird kind that are broke in half on purpose and each friend takes one half," Clint said.
"Only I don't think those existed this far back," Kalin deadpanned. "I can see an engraved date on the back. . . . 1879. It must have another purpose."
"That's what we thought," Scotch said triumphantly.
"I wonder if Klaus or Ishizu would have any idea about what it is," Kalin said.
"I'll show it to Klaus." Radley took out his phone, snapped a picture of the pendant half, and sent it on to his foreman. Within a few minutes Klaus replied that he had no idea what it was, but they had better take good care of it.
"Well, that's a 'well, duh,'" Virgil said, rolling his eyes a bit.
"I'll put it in the safe upstairs," Radley said. "And I'll send this picture on to Ishizu too. If she doesn't know what it is, she might have resources to find out."
"She probably will," Kalin said.
"I also asked Klaus about the stuff we cleared out of the mine," Radley said. "He still has it. He says we can go through it any time. I told him we'd be by tomorrow."
"So it's more than old tools?" Kalin asked.
"He said there might be a few other trinkets," Radley said. "That's the way he phrased it."
Kalin nodded. "Maybe we'll find something worthwhile in there."
"Maybe," Radley said skeptically.
He looked around the diner. Billy had been noticeably absent from downstairs, so Radley assumed he had gone upstairs to think, as he often did. When Radley went upstairs, he wasn't surprised to find his friend in the hallway, staring out the window with folded arms.
"Hey," Radley said quietly as he approached.
Billy half-turned. ". . . I guess . . . Kalin's told you by now, huh?"
Radley sighed. "Yes, he's told me. Billy, I . . ." He shook his head. "I feel like I should have known. I wish I'd found out before now. I understand why no one wanted to say," he quickly added. "But that doesn't change I would have wanted to know."
Billy looked away. "I just felt so ugly inside. I felt like I'd become a monster. You were dead, I'd almost sold Marty into slavery and death, and I just wanted to die like I deserved." He choked on a sob but didn't cry. He just clenched his fists at his sides.
"But Virgil saved you," Radley said. "He gave you a second chance so you could try to make things right. And you've been my loyal friend again just like before." He drew an arm around Billy's shoulders. "You're a lot sadder, though. We've all noticed."
"I was always serious," Billy said.
"Not like this." Radley looked at him in concern. "I know Kalin struggled for months with his guilt and grief. Now, so have you. I wish you could find a release, a way to finally put the past behind you and recover."
"I wish I could too," Billy said. "I don't know how. How do I forgive myself for betraying the first person who ever believed in me? Or for turning against my entire family?" He shut his eyes tightly. "I can't. It's just too impossible."
"That's what Kalin thought too," Radley said. "But he's finally found peace."
"I feel like . . ." Billy finally turned to look at him. "Like I can only hope to have that peace if I prove I won't abandon you under pressure again."
"Oh Billy. . . ." Radley stared at him sadly. "There might never even be another time like that. And I don't want you to get hurt for me anyway."
"I've tried everything else," Billy said. "I've even talked to the pastor, tried praying. . . . I just can't find any relief."
". . . Maybe if you tried a professional counselor," Radley said carefully.
"A therapist?" Billy scowled. "I don't want to spill my guts to somebody I don't even know."
"I knew you wouldn't," Radley sighed. "But I thought I should mention it."
Billy gave a weak smile. "Thanks for still caring about a screw-up like me."
"You're my friend, Billy," Radley said. "That's never changed."
"Yeah . . . but if I was in your shoes, I don't know if I could forgive me," Billy frowned.
"Well . . . fortunately in this case, I'm not you," Radley said with a small smile. "I don't think I ever thought of not forgiving you."
"Radley . . ." Billy turned and hugged him. "You've always been a better friend than I deserve."
"You deserve to be happy, Billy," Radley said softly as he hugged back. "I wish I could give you that again." But he was at a complete loss. All he could do was be there, and that didn't seem to be good enough. Still . . . if his being alive was what was keeping Billy from killing himself, maybe it was what was good enough now.
Billy finally just sobbed, resting his head on Radley's shoulder. "It's my own fault," he said. "Now I have to live with what I did forever."
Radley gave a sad smile and stroked Billy's hair like he would a younger person's. "The sad truth is, all of us have to live with it," he said. "Your sorrow affects the rest of us too."
"I know," Billy said. "I'm sorry. . . . It's not like I can turn it on and off."
"Yeah, I know," Radley said. He paused. "Do you know if that's why Scotch changed so much?"
"Huh?" Billy looked up. "Scotch changed in good ways. Although he's a lot more annoying now. . . ."
"I just kind of wonder if he's trying to overcompensate, being especially cheery and happy since you're so sad," Radley said.
Billy shrugged. "Well, if he is, he never said anything to me about it. You should ask him, or Biff. Whenever anything's going on with either one of them, the other always knows it."
"That's true," Radley chuckled. Sobering, he added, "I'm glad they have each other."
Billy finally smiled a bit. "I am too. And I'm glad all of us still have you."
Radley smiled back. "Me too."
xxxx
Everything was peaceful for the rest of the evening. Ishizu, too, didn't recognize the pendant, but she promised to show it to colleagues in the morning. With it too dark to investigate more that night, the Bunch had a karaoke session with the jukebox before calling it quits.
Scotch seemed deep in thought when he and Biff returned to the home they shared. "What're you thinking about?" Biff finally asked.
"The case. . . . Billy. . . ." Scotch sighed and set his messenger bag down in the living room. ". . . What Radley and Kalin told us today."
"Yeah." Biff frowned as he locked the door. "That was awful."
"It's no wonder they didn't want to tell us." Scotch headed into the kitchen and just stood there, hands on the window sill as he stared out at the night sky and the twinkling town lights.
"Maybe this mystery will help us get our minds on something else," Biff said. "Them too."
"I hope so. I think Kalin's more upset about what his ancestor did than he'll say," Scotch said. "Or maybe more than he even knows he is right now."
"It's not like it's him who did it," Biff said.
"I just hope he'll see it that way," Scotch said. "Kalin's had a lot of stuff to deal with . . . like Billy has now." He sighed. "I wish we could help him. . . ."
"If I was in Billy's place, I dunno if I could ever get over it," Biff said. "It's hard enough knowing we joined Lawton when Radley fell. I wish we'd stuck it out, like Virgil said. If we'd stormed the place or something . . ."
"Yeah, I know. Maybe we could have saved Radley and he wouldn't have had to suffer so much." Scotch sank down in a chair. "I have nightmares about it sometimes."
"I think we all do." Biff sat down near him. "It'd be kind of impossible not to."
Scotch's attention had diverted. He stood again, going closer to the window. "Hey . . ." He pointed at what looked like a strange light near their house. "What is that?"
Biff gawked at it. "It looks like an orb!" he said in horror. "You know—a ghost!"
"Well, what's it doing here?!" Scotch bolted out the kitchen door, letting it bang shut behind him. "Who are you?! What do you want?!"
Alarmed, Biff hurried out after him. "What're you doing, Scotch?! We don't wanna follow random orbs in the middle of the night! Or any time!"
Scotch was already getting on his motorcycle. "I want to know why it's here!" he insisted. "Maybe we woke something up by finding that pendant!"
"Then let's let it go back to sleep!" Biff countered.
The orb swirled around him and then in front of Scotch, who sped off after it down the street. Groaning, Biff got on his motorcycle and chased after his friend.
Whatever or whoever the orb was, it was insistent. It led the two leisurely out the northern end of town, past the kids' hideout, and circled around some old crates near the well.
Scotch parked and jumped down, hurrying over. "What is it?" he demanded. "Is the other half of the pendant here?" He started to move the crates.
Biff got off his motorcycle too and came over, uneasy as he lifted a crate as well. Scotch was determined, so there was nothing to do but help him move things faster. Once he realized it was a wild goose chase, maybe . . .
The horrible creaking and groaning under their feet didn't come in time for them to do anything about it. The sand and dirt suddenly gave way as the hidden wooden floor underneath splintered and cracked under the weight of both young men. They screamed as they fell. Then there was silence.
xxxx
The first sound Biff heard was a bizarre, echoing drip and splash. He groaned, moving his bruised and sore body across the hard and uneven surface. Where was he? He remembered chasing the orb, and the fall, and . . .
"Scotch?!" He felt around in the dark. "Scotch, where are you, Buddy?!"
After a moment he found a limp hand. A chill ran up his spine. "Scotch, is this you?!" His own hands shaking, he pulled off Scotch's glove and searched for a pulse. To his relief and joy, there was one. But Scotch certainly wasn't conscious.
Biff searched his pockets and finally produced his phone. Of course, there was no signal. The only thing he could use it for right now was a flashlight. Shining the light on the scene made him sharply draw in his breath. Scotch was laying in front of him, sprawled on his stomach and not moving. Both of them were on what appeared to be a large rock. All around them was water. High above, the moon and stars shone through the opening.
"Oh Scotch. . . ." Biff crawled over closer to his friend, still shining the light while he examined Scotch for injuries. He was also bruised and scraped from the fall, and there was blood trickling from a wound near his left temple. It was a miracle nothing seemed to be broken, but the head injury was more than bad enough. Biff laid the phone in one of the rock's many creases and reached out, carefully lifting the limp body into his arms.
"Scotch . . . why'd you havta be such an idiot?!" Biff bemoaned. "I told you following orbs was a bad idea! The only ghosts out here wanna kill us!"
Scotch lay still, his breathing the only indication that he was still alive.
Biff stared at him for a long moment before choking on a helpless sob and hugging him close. "Come on, Scotch. . . . You can't leave me! Please don't leave me! We've had each other for so long. . . . I know we've got everybody else now too, but . . . you're still my best friend. . . . You've gotta come back. . . ."
Would they be stranded down there all night? In the morning the kids would come, but . . . desert nights were cold anyway, and down here it was even worse.
Biff shivered. Well, maybe with any luck some of the others heard them drive off and would come looking sooner. They all lived on the same street, and motorcycles pealing off were loud, especially at midnight.
He looked around the area morosely. Some kind of underground cave, apparently. But why had it been boarded up? Why wasn't it just used as another well? And why had the orb led them there? It definitely seemed to Biff that it just wanted to kill them. If there was possibly another reason, then what? There wasn't anything to see here.
He hugged Scotch closer. It had used to be just them against the world. They had met in the foster care system, two abused kids who had latched onto each other for companionship and survival. When they had learned they were being sent on to different homes, they had refused to accept it and had run away together. As the older, Biff had taken charge of looking after them both. He hadn't been able to relax once he had turned 18. He had been safe then, but as long as there had still been the danger of Scotch being taken back, he had stayed cautious and protective. Radley had found them while Scotch was still a minor but had said nothing, recognizing it would just be cruel to split them up. They had gravitated to him once they had realized he would keep their secret, and when Scotch had finally turned 18 they had breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Several helpless tears leaked from Biff's eyes. Please don't let him die. . . . He did something stupid, but I did too. I should've insisted we not go after that thing. He just wanted to help. . . . Please, God, help him. . . . Help us get out of this. . . .
The phone blinked off from inactivity. He sighed. He'd better conserve the battery, just in case he could get a signal later. For now, well . . . he'd have to just keep them both as warm as possible and keep praying Scotch would wake up. Maybe later, when the moon got overhead and there was more light, he could see if there were any pathways beyond the water. If it wasn't too deep, he might have to try wading through it and trying the passageways to see if they went anywhere. He'd rather Scotch was awake then and they could do it together, but that might not happen, or Scotch might be too hurt to move even if he did wake up.
It wouldn't be too long and the moon would be overhead. Until then, he would keep hoping for the best.
xxxx
He was hiding in the closet, his entire body trembling from fear. If only he would be overlooked this time. . . . If only the door would stay closed, or at least, if only the man would be too drunk to see him when he opened it. . . .
Some variant of this escapade happened most days. He always picked a different spot. But no matter how he hoped and prayed that the man would lose interest in finding him, sooner or later he was always found.
This day was no different.
The door opened, filling the small space with the almost overpowering stench of the man's alcohol-saturated breath. "Where are you?" he taunted in a slurring, sing-song voice. "You know I'll find you wherever you . . . oh, there you are." He reached into the rack with seemingly no effort at all and pulled out the desperately struggling boy by his shirt.
"No!" the boy cried.
"Now, it's not nice to hide from your old man." The drunkard threw the boy to the floor and delivered a harsh kick to his ribs, then another. "You're gonna get worse today because of it!"
The boy sobbed, grabbing at the man's ankle to push it away. In response, he kicked the child in the jaw. He fell back with a cry, light-blue hair flying in all directions.
Kalin started awake, his eyes wide, his breath fast and labored. He was slumped into the couch on his left side, and although he and Radley had not started out in this position, now Radley was laying curled up with his head against Kalin's right side.
He jumped when Kalin moved. "What is it?" he mumbled.
Kalin shook his head. "Nothing. Just a nightmare." He spoke too abruptly. His hand shaking, he dug it into his hair.
Radley sat up and turned around to face him. "We've been having nightmares every night," he pointed out. "That's partially why we've been sleeping on the couch like this, to offer support to each other when it happens. Obviously there was something different about this one."
Kalin looked away. "This one wasn't about you. . . . It was . . . the much more distant past. My father. . . . He was . . . very abusive and cruel. He made a game out of it, for him." He clenched a fist. "I was terrified and always tried to hide, but he would find me and then punish me more for trying to get away."
"That's barbaric," Radley exclaimed.
"I haven't thought about it in a long time," Kalin said darkly. "I guess . . . having to be involved with my family's less-than-stellar past today brought the memories back out front and center."
"I'm so sorry, Kalin," Radley frowned. "If we hadn't started looking into this, you wouldn't have found out about your ancestor."
Kalin shrugged. "It was my choice to start the investigation. I'm the one who nudged you into doing it."
"If you want to talk about it . . ." Radley hesitated. "I know I don't know what it is to be physically abused by family, but I understand abuse from family in general. Mine was always very emotionally abusive."
Kalin frowned. "You mean . . . even before they kicked you out?"
"Yes," Radley admitted. "Any time I did something they felt wasn't fitting for the family, even by accident, I would be locked in my room without contact with anyone until I 'fully understood how my actions could damage the family's reputation.' Even as a kid, I had a phobia about being alone. I don't think anything else they could have done would have hurt me as much."
That brought a snarl. "Some people don't deserve to have kids."
"And some of the ones who do don't have any," Radley remarked. "I gave up trying to figure life out long ago." He slowly settled back into the couch, looking over at Kalin.
Kalin started to lean back into it as well. He really wasn't sure he even wanted to go back to sleep, but he was so tired. He might just start falling asleep whether he wanted to or not.
"I can't figure life out either," he said. "It always felt unfair. But . . . when I've met people like Yusei and Jack and Crow, and now you and the Bunch and the kids . . . I found that sometimes it can be alright after all. I have loved ones, so life is worth living."
Radley smiled. "I'm glad I'm included in that. All of the Bunch are my dear friends, and really, my family. You're my brother, Kalin."
Kalin stared at him in amazement. "Brother," he repeated. As kids, Yusei had declared something similar about Jack and Crow and Kalin being his brothers. That attitude had persisted through the years. Kalin had always thought of them that way, in his right mind. But he hadn't heard anyone other than the members of the Enforcers refer to him like that.
Radley looked a bit awkward now. "That's okay, isn't it? I guess it would be kind of shocking, to have someone say that out of the blue." He laughed a bit. "Especially when we haven't really known each other that long. . . . A little over a year by now, I guess."
"No," Kalin quickly said. "No, it's fine." He smiled. "You took me by surprise, yes, but in a good way. I'm . . . honored that you would feel like that about me, especially after we got such a rocky start."
"At least it didn't take twenty years, like it did for Lector and Nesbitt," Radley remarked.
Kalin couldn't even bring himself to joke about that. Disliking someone so intensely for so many years and then finally coming to care for them so much later. . . . Disliking Radley for two months seemed much too long as it was.
"I already wasted too much time not appreciating you," he said at last. "You're my brother too."
Radley looked happy, but he still had to ask, "You really mean that, Kalin? You're not just saying it because I said it, like how people feel like they need to return a compliment even if they wouldn't say it otherwise. . . ."
Kalin shook his head. "I mean it," he said sincerely. "You've come to mean so much to me. It's still shocking to me that anyone could care so deeply for me. I was a fool and I thought Yusei betrayed me. I nearly killed him when I was drowning in my darkness." His voice caught in his throat. Those memories would never not be painful. "Then after that got resolved, I couldn't see you were genuinely trying to reach out to me in friendship. I almost lost you too. How anyone could love someone who has a track record like that . . . !"
"You're a good person, Kalin Kessler," Radley said. "Yusei and I and everyone else who cares about you sees that. Maybe someday you'll be able to see it too." He gave a sad smile.
"Maybe," Kalin said. He paused. "You used my full name. Did you have a reason for that?"
"We've been hearing about a lot of bad Kesslers," Radley said. "You're a good one. I wanted to remind you of that."
Kalin smiled. Now that the conversation was winding down, the need to sleep was hitting him like a ton of bricks. He was starting to doze, but in frustration he tried to sit up and shake it off. He didn't want to slip back into that nightmare. He didn't want to remember that part of his past. But he was suddenly so tired. . . .
Radley moved closer, gently drawing Kalin into his arms. "It's alright to go to sleep," he said softly. "I'm here. I'll be here for you no matter what happens."
"I . . . need to stay awake," Kalin mumbled. "I don't want to dream about what happened. . . ."
"We already tried that, remember?" Radley said wryly. "When this all started, we kept looking for excuses not to go to bed. That's how we started being on the couch instead."
Kalin grunted, half-asleep again already. He sank down, resting his head on Radley's shoulder.
Radley chuckled and relaxed into the couch. "Goodnight, bro," he whispered as he started to doze as well.
He felt Kalin start to sleepily curl his arms around him. That was nice.