Warning: Mentioning of Past Truama.
It is typical for angsty teens to try to find remote locations for their gangs. Frank had just the spot. An old cabin built near an abandoned ski resort that had been shut down surprisingly by his own Mother's law firm. A case of state versus the resort for reckless endangerment. Frank had nothing to say about the topic, however that did not stop his mother from sharing all of the case files she had and explaining to the group the history.
"Frank's father and I built this place to have a home away from home. A place to relax and go skiing together." Frank's mother said as she rubbed her gloved hands together and went to try to turn on the lightswitch. When it didn't turn on she shrugged with a knowing look on her face.
"It was worth a shot. Frankie and I haven't seen this place in years." she told the group. Julie read the papers in her hands, still reviewing the court case.
"8 years-" Frank stated and Joey looked at all the windows that seemed to be taken out by the wind and cold. The place was bigger than he expected. He couldn't help but be in awe with how much money Frank and his family seemed to have.
"Frank, I can't believe you fell from a ski lift that derailed and somehow weren't scared for life." Julie said as she read through, yet another document.
"I was the one who rocked it." Frank said with a board tone falling onto his voice.
"What he means is- they hadn't had a mandatory safety check up in YEARS. They were not even up to code. So of course it broke so easily. Normally that wouldn't happen." Frank's mother chimed in. "Julie, if you like law so much, I could set you up as a part time jr. intern."
"That would be nice Mrs. Morrison but I would have to discuss it with my parents. I have a busy schedule as it is-" Julie replied and smiled brightly.
"Oh of course." she said. Susie kept eyeing the large amount of space they had and turned to Joey with a pinched nose.
"This place needs color, it looks dead." she told him and Joey chuckled.
"Fits my vibe." Frank said as he started poking glass out of an already broken window.
"Frank don't do that, you could cut yourself." his mother told him and Frank seemed to not care and continued to poke the sharded glass out of the payne.
"So edgy-" Julie whispered and Joey snorted as he sat down on a dusty leather couch.
"I could pay for some cleaners, painters-"
"No need Mrs. Morrison this is our project. We want to be able to do it on our own." Julie said kindly to Frank's sweet mother.
"I clean my house all the time." Susie said with a smile to . "My dad can be a bit of a slob."
"She's a really good cleaner Mrs. Morrison. I've been to her house, it's spotless." Joey added and Susie gave him a smile as she filled with pride.
"Alright where this house has its own generator and water heater. They are gas so if you get those running you should be fine." she said and the teens agreed.
This was going to be their home soon. Well after Halloween that was. Preparations went from killing a homeless man, to faking a kidnapping among the four of them. It had been an event that they decided would truly give them freedom from their lives. To escape the prison like holding their responsibilities had burdened them with.
Once Frank's mom left with her car, the teens got to work. Frank and Joey started pulling out computer parts out of the trunk of Frank's car and Susie looked in with a questioning stare.
"Told you I would find the parts." Joey said and Frank slapped him on the back.
"You did good, I will get to building it." Frank said and Julie lifted out a computer book she had gotten from the library.
"So, I did a lot of research on the subject. We could fake a radio signal. Or make a cellar scrambler" she said with a shrug.
"Where did you get all of these Joey?" Susie asked. Joey lifted a heavy box from the car's trunk and started taking it into the house.
"Some I got for free from a computer's store's trash. Others, I took from the school's computer lab's retired closet." he told Susie.
"I gave him the key. Told Ms. Fautchher it was for a robot reusing old computer parts. Something about a GreenTech Scholarship from Columbia State." Julie told Susie and she in return made a puzzled look on her face.
"You guys are either scarily good liers or terrifyingly good at using the truth in your twisted schemes." Susie said to Julie and she cracked up laughing.
"Oh dearest Sue, I told you I was evil."
"Noted-" Susie said back to Julie as they walked back up to the lodge.
"There is a can drive from my church, So I am going to take some of those supplies to, so we can live while we...well are quote on quote 'kidnapped'" Joey said and Frank drug into the boxes of parts.
"The idea is, this place is the location of the crime scene." Frank told them and Susie looked at the sad gloomy place. It had furniture but it was too...rustic for Susie's liking.
"Who is the name of the supposed kidnapper?" Susie asked as she sized up curtain areas for different things.
"Do they need a name?" Frank asked with an annoyed tone.
"There needs to be a persona for the cops to look for right? Like, what's the M.O of the kidnapper? Why would he or she want to kidnap four highschoolers with different backgrounds? Two us don't even have money for someone to steal from us for that reason." Susie addressed and Julie looked from her to Frank.
"Susie is right." she said and Frank growled as he stopped digging around.
"Motivation is convenient for four teens in a location away from others. If I were a kidnapper- Ethanol in the gas heater. High levels could cause intoxication among other things. A truck...would take our bodies away, tracks would lead to the road." Frank explained. He dusted himself off and stood up as he started to think further.
"Could be someone from the old Ski resort had it out for my mom and were following me waiting for a shot at getting revenge. Just so happens I was never really alone so taking the rest of you was a no brainer. Or we can keep it simple. A person had a need for power dominance and took it out of a group of students they could easily dominate." Frank suggested.
"I would suggest we leave drops of fake evidence leading up to the event. A stalker-like story. We could feed the people stories around us. Maybe they would be targeting Frank because he is a rich boy." Susie added. Joey laughed and looked at Frank with a smirk.
"Looks like you're the M.O Frank," he joked. Frank smirked and gave Joey a wink
"I will take the job as bait any day. Sounds like fun." he told the group.
It was a busy day for everyone. But that day was Frank's last straw. The school had had enough of his foolishness. So while Joey went from football to emotional therapy, and Susie went from doing art to helping her dad, and Julie went from cheer, to robotics, to helping at her parent's shop, Frank was being scolded by the Principal. His mother was called from work just to talk to him. She was not happy one bit.
"Mrs. Morrison, I know Frank has had a hard history. From moving from school to school. You even had to fight to gain custody over him with the foster care system. But, this behavior is inexcusable. We let him come back to school to finish his GED. We were merciful then. But that mercy has run out." the principle stated. Mrs. Morrison's face dropped. All her fighting to get him back into school seemed to just be a total failure. She couldn't be too hard on Frank. He was indeed suffering from many things. But, she wanted nothing else than to be there for him even if he pushed her away. At least he called her mom. Despite his not being her biological son. He even agreed to change his last name. So she thought he was getting back on the right foot. Little did she know.
"Frank ended up getting into a fight with the basketball team. He drove one of the students mad with his taunting. Then while they were in the changing room hit him repedietly." the principle sounds flabbergasted and Mrs. Morrison couldn't help but let out a shocked gasp and snapped her head towards Frank.
"Franklin!" she said with a clear as day mom tone.
"Lidia-" Frank said in a casual and monotone voice.
"See, Mrs. Morrison. He seems to not care about any discipline we give him. You told me he will be different this year, and we haven't seen that." the principal snapped.
"Please Dr. Gunther. You know he isn't like other kids. He suffers from his anti-social disorder and so that can make him careless and not understanding of consequences." Mrs. Morrison declared and the principle nodded.
"Yes and you had threated our school over discrimination against the mentally ill multiple times so I think I and the school board sees your point Mrs. Morrison. But I think anyone can see that we have given a lot of grace to your son. To the point where many students think your family is paying off our school. Some families even withdrew their students because their kids were fearful of Frank." the principle pointed out and Mrs. Morrison bit her lip. She had lost.
All of her fighting seemed to be entirely useless. So she took her bag with one hand and got out of the office chair.
"I understand, let's go Frank." was all she could say with a face filled with defeat. Frank looked at the president who seemed to be finally relieved that they could kick him out. Frank clicked his tongue. The president had no spine on a normal day but this was his last straw. So not even his mother's slick moves could save him now. He didn't feel bad for her. She was the one that put this on herself. She wanted to take care of him so badly. This was all her choice.
In the car Frank turned up the radio to listen to whatever rock band was playing in the background. When his mom reached over to turn it down, he knew he was going to get an earful.
"Frank, why did you hurt that student?" his mother asked. Frank continued staring out the window as they drove away from the school.
"Well, first, he wasn't shooting the ball right. I told him that if he kept shooting it wrong he was going to miss the hoop every time." Frank replied as he heard his mom sigh.
"Basketball was supposed to be a positive outlet for you-"
"It wasn't besides, He hit me first. I was just the one that was on top. He was easy to take down and even easier to hit." Frank said and Mrs. Morrison shook her head.
"Don't say things like that Frank." she told him and Frank continued to stare out the window.
Sitting down with a shrink wasn't Joey's idea of fun. He actually hated it. But he agreed to deal with it and at least pretend to take it seriously. But answering every dumb question from this idiot was really starting to piss him off.
"When did you start getting mad?" he had asked.
"I don't know." was Joey's answer.
"What do you like about football?"
"What does this have to do with that?"
"Why is football a touchy subject for you?" Joey had annoyingly grunted. This man was making him feel crazy even though he wasn't before he got there.
"Can we just sit here in silence?" Joey asked and the Shrink shook his head.
"I have to give the school something Mr. Bergara." he had said and Joey's knee started to bounce as he thought of something to say, anything.
"I got a good grade on my social studies test. It was a B. I never got a "B" before." Joey said finally finding something to say.
"How did you get the "B"? Did you just like the topic more or-"
"A friend helped me study." he said and the Shrink seemed to jot the information down and then went back to listening to him.
"Who's the friend?" he asked and Joey thought of saying something rude like "What does it matter?" or "I told you something so now we are done."
"Um, her name is Julie. She is a senior. Pretty cool girl." he said and the Shrink wrote his comment down.
"And do you have feeling for this girl-"
"HELL NO! I have a girlfriend!" Joey shouted on impulse he couldn't stop himself. He wasn't going to say anything about Susie. That was too close for his own comfort. He just had to go and let it out.
"What is she like?" he asked and Joey was going to be snarky but he stopped himself.
"Hey, Doc. Let me be real with you. My girl is… really sweet. She can be fiery too sometimes, but she keeps me calm. But, there are times where she just… stops." Joey told him and this seemed to peak the shrink's interest.
"Stop? What does that mean?" he asked and Joey sighed. He wanted help with something he had been holding back for a while now. Since the Shrink had no idea what the group had been doing and wasn't related at all with the others, there was a bit of comfort there.
"Like- when a cell phone drops it's signal? She stops talking. Other times she just doesn't seem to be in her body. Other times she goes from her robot state to becoming weirdly unlike herself. It takes a while to get her back." Joey explains.
"Does your girlfriend have past trauma?" the shrink asked.
"Her dad sucks. Paralyzed waist down after a seizure. That's- uh- not what makes him sucky though. But he just lays there like a lug and drinks beer all day. When he doesn't get it he throws fits, and when he is drunk he gets kinda hurtful." Joey stated and the shrink pauses.
"Do you think you can talk to her about it? Get her to open up more?" he asked. Joey thought about it and then shook his head.
"I tried once and she completely froze. I don't think she is ready."
"Is there anything else you can think of that might cause these...breaks from her character?"
"Naw, can't think of anything. Only that one time I asked if her mom was still around she said "Not anymore, she made sure of that." which I found odd." The Shrink nodded at Joey's response and then smiled.
"It's not bad talking things out is it?" he asked and Joey shrugged.
"Not as bad as I thought."