Final Destination Meets The Lost Boys
The Cici Academy Would Like To Thank: Dharke…for your lovely review. Trust YOU to pick at what I stated about the last chapter being Carter centric…and you said to ignore you on the repetition of words? No, I shall not ignore you…I like criticism, I thank you for it…however, anything fierce, then I think our friendship will take a sour turn lol. Are you hoping that my…lack of Larter enthusiasm lately will make me kill off Clear in the end? Don't be absurd, lol. That's like telling me to keep my Kate Beckinsale obsession to a minimum… And here! here! to Kerr Smith with a pierced eyebrow…some stubble next, uh?
Chapter Five
Alex gripped his mobile phone fearfully. He had called the comic book storeowners, Billy and Tod for advice. He had repeatedly explained what was happening to his cousin.
"You did the right thing by calling us," praised Billy. On the other end of the phone, Tod sat right aside his stepbrother, both listening in on the one earpiece. "Does your cousin sleep a lot?"
"Yeah, all day."
"Does the sunlight freak him out?"
"He wears sunglasses in the house."
"Bad breath? Long fingernails?"
"Yeah, all his fingernails are a little bit longer. He's always had shitty breath, though."
"He's a vampire alright," concluded Tod's voice. Alex sighed.
"Here's what you do," advised Billy, "Get yourself a sharp stake and drive it right through his heart!"
"I can't do that!" exclaimed Alex. "I'll get a splinter! Besides," he said, reasoning more seriously now. "Even though we don't get along at the best of times, he's still my cousin."
"Okay, we'll come over and do it for you."
"Hey, I doubt if I can't do it, neither could you."
"You better get yourself a garlic t-shirt buddy, or it's your funeral."
And with that the phone went dead.
---
Carter shifted his hands behind the back of his head, resting the heavy weight on the soft pillows. He sighed to himself, dreaming about Terry. The feelings he was being endorsed with, made him feel as if he was floating off the ground. She was so beautiful; he had never seen one quite as striking. Sure, he liked the Angelina Jolies of this world and he never imagined for one minute that he would find anyone quite so stunning. He smiled dreamily to himself, forgetting all about David and his cronies…
Another sigh escaped his lips and he slowly opened his eyes to stare right into the ceiling.
What the fuck…?
Carter had awoken to find himself literally floating into the air. His face crushed against the ceiling as he struggled to get down and comprehend what was happening. Suddenly he was dragged towards the window, which exploded open, and he tried to grab onto the cords of the blinds. Carter latched onto everything and anything that would forbid him from flying away…
---
Alex heard the commotion coming from Carter's room but backs himself away from the door. Nanook whined fretfully. The wind outside was gathering up speed and Alex shivered within his robe. Suddenly, the house phone rang.
"Hello?" asked Alex, cautiously.
"Alex, it's Aunt Lucy. Is everything alright?"
Thank god she wasn't home when all this weird shit started happening.
"Uh…I-I-I think you and I need to have a real long talk about something."
"HELP!"
Alex jumped at the sudden cry for help Carter was making. Just what was going on with him in that room? Lucy could hear the turmoil and demanded to know what was going on.
"What's going on there? Alex, I'm starting to get worried. What are you doing? Is that Carter breathing like that? Put him on the phone, immediately."
"Uh, we should stay calm," resolved Alex, even though he himself was far from calm.
"'Calm'? Calm about what?"
"Nothing, nothing!"
"Who is making that noise?"
"Aunt Lucy, I can't talk on the phone. It's about Carter."
"Don't listen to him, mom!" Came Carter's voice on the other end of the line. "He doesn't know what he's saying!""Carter, how the hell are you in on this line?" Alex demanded into the phone. He glanced up at the window and his eyes widened in amazement. There was Carter, outside his window, flying around like some stray balloon. Alex screamed.
"Shut up, Alex!" Carter yelled through the window, watching his cousin freak out. He could be so childish at times, but in this instance, Carter could see why Alex was afraid. He was pretty scared of himself right now, too.
"Ahhh! Help! He's coming to get me!!" Alex yelled into the phone.
"Oh my god!" exclaimed Lucy, petrified. Had someone broken into the home?
"He's gonna kill me!"
"I am not! Stop exaggerating you fucking dork!" she heard Carter argue back. Her own son was trying to kill her nephew? Such rubbish nonsense. Nonetheless, she hung up the phone, assuring Alex she was on her way home from the restaurant. She ran from the restaurant out to her car – completely forgetting about hapless Max back in the restaurant.
Alex dropped the phone and turned his attention back to Carter, floating around in mid air.
"Why did you tell her that, Browning? You've gone and scared her over nothing!""Nothing?!" repeated Alex. He couldn't believe his ears. How was this nothing? "There is something very wrong with this situation Carter! You're floating around for fuck's sake!"
"Open up the goddamn window!"
"Never!" his fearful cousin replied, comically putting his two index fingers together, making the sign of the cross. He had seen it in many a vampire movie, but even though he knew it did nothing to help the victim, he still continued to pantomime about. "Stay back, stay back!"
"Browning, help me! Open the fuck up! Help me and open your window!"
"Never! You're a vampire, I knew it!"
"No, I am not!"
"Oh gee, Carter! What are you then, uh? The flying nun?!?"
"I'm your cousin!" Carter pleaded, "Help me! Browning, open the window and pull me in!"
Glancing around the room feverishly, Alex relented and ran towards the window. He grabbed Carter's arms and pulled him in. Carter tried to catch his breath, and he reached up behind him and shut the window over. He put his arm around Alex's shoulder, pulling him closer to him. His cousin could be annoying at times – well, make that most of the time, Carter corrected himself – but he needed him now than he ever had before.
"We've got to stick together, Alex. Goddamnit, this was my last option. But I mean it. I need you. I can't tell you anything more other than that."
"What about your mom?"
"Just don't tell her anything, alright?"
"I don't know Carter," replied an exasperated Alex. "It's not like she's not gonna notice that you're changing by the hour. Look at yourself, you look like shit."
"Jeez, thanks. We can work this out. We will make it work. You just gotta trust me."
"I've never been able to trust you before, but I guess…I guess this is different."
"Don't tell mom, alright?" he agonised again, slowly getting to his feet. How good it felt to be back on them again. Alex remained silent.
"Alright?" he prompted, again, making Alex take notice.
He nodded half-heartedly. This had hit him hard. Carter proceeded towards the door.
"Where are you going?""Out. Don't try to follow me; I need some answers."
---
Outside, Lucy's smoking truck came tearing up the gravely drive way. Upon pulling up to the house, she noticed that nothing was broken. There were no flames. No one was fleeing in fear of being caught for breaking and entering. So why the sudden flurry in her nephew's voice? Jumping out the car, Lucy tore up the steps and ran into the house, shouting names.
"Alex? Carter?"
Just then, Alex came bounding down the stairs, still clad in his robe, hair damp. Seems fine.
"Are you alright? You had me scared to death!" she panted, placing her hand on her head, wiping away sweat.
"I'm alright, Carter too. I was reading a scary comic and it had startled me so much that I thought I saw something outside my window. However, I realised I had got a bit carried away. It was just Carter."
Lame excuse, man! A scary comic?! He mentally slapped himself for spurting out the first, ridiculous excuse that came into his head. Lucy stood with her hands on her hips, looking at her nephew in utter disbelief.
"You got carried away by a comic book?"
Alex saw the disbelief and utter lividness in her eyes.
"It was a scary comic, I'm sorry."
"You know…I've just about had it with the two of you…" her lecture trailed off as she glanced over Alex's shoulder to see a carton of milk lying open on its side, it's contents spilling out. Storming over into the kitchen, Alex followed his hotly on the heels of his aunt.
"What is this mess? You spill milk all over the floor and don't even bother to clean it up?"
"I didn't spill it," Alex replied, somewhat like a child.
"I can't believe you people," she said, now noticing the fridge door was wide open. Alex grumbled at the mess Carter had apparently left. "The refrigerator door is wide open! What, are you trying to refrigerate the whole neighbourhood?"
She stormed over to the messy scene, kneeling down she picked up the carton and sat it on top of the counter. "You know, it's not fair. I'd like to have a personal life, too. And where is Carter by the way?"
"Oh, uh, he went to bed early."
"Hmm. I think I'll have an early night too, what with the sudden migraine you two have given me. Tell Carter I want a word with him in the morning; first thing."
Alex nodded as his aunt passed him in the kitchen doorway, heading for the stairs. Alex took the carton of milk from the counter and sat down at the kitchen table. What a night he was having. His cousin was turning into a creature of the night and his aunt was ranting and raving about their strange behaviour. When she called on him again, he rolled his eyes. What now?
Sighing, he got up and walked into the living room to see Clear standing at the front door with Lucy. An immediate smile formed upon his lips and all thoughts about breaking the bad news to Carter were etched out.
"If you need me, I'll be upstairs."
"Ok."
"Nice to see you again, Clear." Said Lucy in reference to the blonde. And with that, she disappeared up the stairs in retreat to her bedroom. Alex shifted nervously.
"I thought I'd come by and uh," Clear said, jerking her thumb backwards towards the door. "And ya know, finish what…" she stopped mid-sentence, taking in his edgy body language.
"Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"In more ways than one." He mumbled.
She walked over to him, took his hand and pulled him over to the sofa. Taking her place in the middle of the comfortable area, she turned to Alex. "Whatever it is, you can tell me."
That Carter's a vampire? Shit, no!
"It's nothing…" he dismissed.
"See, I don't think it is. I know we've only just met, but I feel like I've known you forever. That sounds like real cheese, I know…but…you can tell me."
But can I, really?
"You'll just laugh and think of me to be the weird kid you met down the Boardwalk."
"I won't. I promise."
Alex sighed. "It's Carter…he's going through a lot of, uh…changes…"
Clear's eyebrows went up with intrigue. "Like what?"
"Forget I said anything," he replied and moved to stand up, but she grabbed his hand and pulled him down. Alex barely had any time to think of what to say – or rather what to do – before she pulled him to her with reasonable force and fixed her lips onto his. Taken aback by quite a reasonable amount of surprise, he did nothing but go along with it, kissing her back. When she was sure, that might make Alex tell her what was up with Carter, Clear pulled away from him. He took a moment to savour the lingering taste of her lips on his before opening his eyes and letting out a hurried response:
"Carter's a vampire."The serious expression that was only moments ago on Clear's face had now turned to one of disbelief. Laughing nervously, not quite believing this revelation, she looked him in the eyes.
"What?"
Alex squirmed, realising …Damn her.
---
Max couldn't quite get his head around what had happened back at the restaurant, when Lucy had made her quite hasty exit. Was their date really that bad? Oh don't be absurd, old boy he thought inwardly. A family emergency…yes, that's it. Trouble with her son. Lucy had spent most of the night gushing about her son, Carter. She confessed to Max, that even though at times he wasn't the most perfect of sons, she loved him dearly.
Max had confided to Lucy that he himself had not seen or spoken to his son in years, however he wasn't about to let her know of that his son was not quite normal.
Sighing, he locked the door of his black Volvo and made his way along the wooden bridge, across the mini stream he had built into his garden. Max, in his heyday before owning the video store, was an aspiring Gardener taking after his father's craft. But with Santa Carla being a weird town and most farmland being suddenly turned into burying patches, he had lost the interest.
He was just about to step off the bridge when he heard a strange whistling noise. Ignoring it, and putting it down to his wind chimes, he continued on towards the front door. Passing under the arch, the noise repeated, this time closer. He stopped and looked around cautiously.
"Who's there?"
Looking down to the porch of his front door, he saw Thorn sitting there, panting softly. He was nudging the transparent ball towards his master's feet, the jingling noise coming from the ball. Ahhh, problem solved…
Max knelt down to Thorn, tickling him under the chin; relieved he did not have to face an unwanted intruder. The snow-white dog buried into his embrace.
"Is that you, Thorn, making all that noise?"
Suddenly an object, out of nowhere, smacked Max in the back of the head. Thinking his preconceived notion of a burglar was correct, he panicked. He turned to see that what had hit him, in fact, was a black bat kite. Max had neighbours but none of them had any children to speak of. Something was definitely wrong…
The next minute Max was almost blinded by motorcycle beams and revving engines…the Lost Boys were out to strike again…
---
If Michael was right, then it was David and his gang that had threatened to attack him and Alex. And further more, if he was right then they wouldn't be hiding out in the lair.
Carter stood at the entrance to the underground cave, looking around anxiously. Please be here, Terry, I need your help! Taking in a deep breath, he kicked the wooden door open, snapping off a piece of wood in the process. He picked it up and dug his hands into his pocket. Pulling out a lighter, Carter lit the piece of wood as a guide to show him down the rickety stairs.
"Terry!"
His exasperated cry echoed around the cave. The place seemed to be empty. If I can't get any answers out of her, I'll find them myself. The thought of becoming a creature of the night, was unbearable. Carter didn't want to be a recluse from the daylight…he mentally smacked himself for even thinking of such a ridiculous thought.
"Vampires aren't real, Carter." He whispered hoarsely, his throat feeling awfully dry and constricted.
Making his way into the centre of the lair, looking for any obvious clues that David was in on something illegal, he didn't find anything too incriminating. However, the light from his improvised torch revealed otherwise. The jewels from David's bottle of wine reflected from its place in a wrecked well. Carter walked up, dug his hands in and pulled out the bottle. Taking the cork out, he sniffed into it, looking for any kind of sedatives. Whatever it was, it smelled foul. And to think he hadn't noticed that the other night…
He threw the bottle away, feeling the need for a rampage flooding his veins. Just then her sweet voice called out.
"I'm over here, Carter."
Flicking his head in her direction, he saw her sitting on the edge of Laddie's bed, watching over his sleeping form protectively. She was clad in a flattering dress, as if she had just returned from an evening meal. She looked radiant and Carter felt his heart speed up a little.
"What's happening to me?" he asked desperately, throwing down the wood, running over to her. Terry arose from the boy's bed, making her way over to Carter. He looked as white as a ghost, he was trembling over all. Her heart ached at seeing his discomfort. She grabbed the lapels of his jacket and hugged herself into him.
"Carter, I can't tell you. I don't know how to help you."
Tell me what…? His brain screamed curiously. "Just tell me what's happening."
She shook her head on his shoulder…"I can't." she breathed, anguished. She pulled her head up from its position on Carter's broad shoulders. She looked him directly in the eyes, seeing the need for answers. She also saw his need. Her need for him…
Closing the gap between them, Terry softly placed her lips onto his. Carter responded immediately, taking a firm hold of her luscious body in his arms, his adrenaline increasing. She slid off his jacket, letting it drop to the floor.
"Carter…we don't have to…" she let out with a ragged breath. He was such a good kisser and he left her breathless. She needed him. And she was in no doubt that he felt the same…
"Shh, don't say anything." He captured her lips again and lifted her up into his strong arms. He eyed her empty bed at the opposite end of Laddie's and made his way over there, never once taking his lips from hers…