Summary:

Typical Drake & Josh storyline. Drake and Josh plan to go to a concert where a famous singer will be, but get sidetracked when a mysterious box addressed to Walter shows up and Meghan's pranks take over. Drake also must deal with an annoying girl (who says everything with a "w") from his class, that also shows signs she has a crush on him. When he & Josh go to the concert, something terrible happens.

Disclaimer:

If you think I own anything, go to the nearest psychiatrist. Please. As a service to all humanity.

Note to Readers:

Okay, kids, over 6,000 words! And suspenseful words, too! That's a good thing, right? LOL, hope so. Read and PLEASE review. I'm starting to doubt that this story is any good at all!

Story: "Party in a Box"

Chapter: "Getting Critical"; Thirteen

Written By: Ginger

Extras:
Italics in "quotation marks" symbolize thoughts of Drake's.

Italic Bold paragraphs are flashbacks.

Italic, Bold, and Underlined "he"s refer to the mysterious man.

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"Oooohhhh..." moaned Josh and his brother simultaneously, as they drug themselves through the door of their home. "I'm so tired!" Drake muttered, in a whiney voice. "Dude, you're not the only one!" "Why are you guys tired?" Meghan laughed, with a frown on her face as she ran in to the house and stripped off her jacket. "Well, I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with that fact that you hit us in the head with soccer balls!" Drake exclaimed. "And then made us take you to Chucky Cheddar's!" "AND then made us take you to play mini golf!" Both boys countered her. With a malevolent grin, she shrugged and said: "Whatever. I'm going up to my room to play ZBOX. Bye, bye." With that, she turned on her heel and waltzed out of the room, toward the steps. "ZBOX? What little girl has a ZBOX!" Josh exclaimed, throwing himself tiredly on the couch beside his brother, who was already sitting down. "Meghan little girl does." Drake mumbled, closing his eyes. "But I don't remember Mom and Dad getting her one!" Josh said, in confusion. "And who said they had to? Remember the sheep? And the zebra? And the—" "Gotcha." Josh nodded, cutting him off and lying tiredly back in to the seat.

A moment of silence passed and Drake had almost forgotten that he was on the couch, not in his bed, he was so sleepy. "Aww… man." Josh's voice spoke, waking the reluctant Drake finally up. "Ugh. What?" "I forgot—I gott'a look up that phone number from that call you got last night." His brother replied, getting up from beside him and walking a few steps across the room. "Naw, man, it's fine. It was probably just a wrong number. Don't bother." Drake added, waving his hand. "I'm gonn'a go look it up anyway. I just feel like it. It won't leave my mind." "Okay!" Drake shrugged with a good-natured laugh: "Whatever you say!" Josh started again and was almost to the door to the hall when his brother said: "Hey! Wait up!" As he rose from the couch and walked quickly, nearing up beside him, he continued: "I'm come with you and watch." "Why?" Josh questioned with a little laugh. "Because of two reasons." "And those are…?" "One--if I lay on that couch any longer, I'll fall asleep. And two-- it's better to stay together with Meghan in the house alone. It's much safer." his step brother answered. "Good point." Josh nodded, as they both turned back and hurried up the flight of stairs, once in the hall.

They made sure to be careful when they walked in to their room, highly aware that Meghan could have easily had time to rig some prank in there before they arrived. "Watch out for booby traps. …No pun intended." Josh said, making Drake giggle. "What!" he asked the amused teen ager. "Ohh… nothin'." Drake said, chuckling and whisking a strand of amber brunette hair from his playfully glittering brown eyes.

Josh walked across the space of the room, slowly, toward the computer, but was careful to watch every step he made, not wanting at all to get smacked with a pie, or tripped with a length of wire. But thankfully, he made it to the computer and felt the chair before sitting down, just to make sure there was no glue in it this time: "I think that path is okay to walk through, Drake. Come on over here." Drake sighed in relief and walked across the floor with out any delays.

As his step brother leaned his crossed arms over a stool beside the desk and leaned over to watch, Josh turned on the computer and signed on to the internet. "Oh boy. Stupid dial up. Man, we really need to order high speed broad band. Look how long it's taking to pull up the white pages!" Drake said, pointing to the indeed slow computer and shaking his head. "You have that right. Maybe I can convince Mom and Dad to buy it for us when they get back from the funeral." his brother agreed. "Oh, no, no. I will do the job of convincing them. No offense but… you have absolutely no powers of persuasion." Drake laughed. Josh managed a deep scowl and decided to say nothing in response, but instead turning to look back at the monitor. "Hallelujah, it finally loaded!" the other boy murmured.

"Hey, dude, what was that number again?" Josh asked, waiting to type it in to the search. "Uh, hold on and I'll see." The thin teenager slipped from his post at the stool and strode to where his cell phone sat on top his messy bed comforter. He performed the very familiar task of pulling up the caller ID and then jumping down from the ladder and returning to his brother's side, he spoke: "Ready?" "Yep." "Okay. It's 1-4-0-4-2-1-0-2-1-9-2-9-5." Josh typed for a silent moment and then Drake asked: "Did'ya get it all?" "Sure did." his step brother nodded.

"Well… the moment of truth. The answer is only a click of an enter key away." Both brothers sighed anxiously and then Josh spoke up: "Want to do us the honor, Drake?" "Well… okay! Here goes nothing." he answered, his finger nearing the key. With a quick deep breath, he pushed it down and pulled his hand back, covering his eyes: "…What do the results say?" All was quiet a moment and then Drake felt Josh grab the hand that covered his eyes. When his vision cleared in only a moment, he saw his brother sitting there, pointing at the screen: "You don't have to worry." "Why? Was it a wrong number like I thought?" "No, yah dope! I don't know what it was yet. DIAL UP, remember!" Josh sighed in slight annoyance. "Oh… yeah. Well, it had better load faster than usual because other wise I'm going to start to loose it. I can't stand--" "Patience?" Josh cut in. "Hah. Very funny." Drake sneered, rolling his eyes and looking back at the screen.

"Oh, Josh look! It's loaded!" He turned back and quickly grabbed the mouse, scrolling down for the results. "Okay, Drake… there it is! The phone number belongs to 'Mr. Gavin Trent, Goldfield, Nevada.'" Josh spoke, his voice slowing down as he read the name. "Oh my g—Josh!" Drake gasped, clapping a hand over his mouth as his eyes got big: "Josh, that's—" His brother looked over and stood up, letting the words flow from his lips slowly: "…Great Uncle Gavin?"

Drake's shocked eyes glazed over and he turned, walking a few feet from the desk. "Josh… are you—are you positively sure you typed it in right?" "I think so." Josh said, picking up the cell that Drake had left beside the keyboard on the desk to double check the number. He was silent for a long time and then Drake turned around and came up beside him: "Josh?" "…It's definitely his number." his brother said, glancing at him and then looking back at the computer monitor. "Wait a minute… I wonder what time he died! I mean, if he called me—" Drake never finished his sentence. Instead he picked up his phone and looked at the call long enough to be sure of the exact time that the call happened, in his head. He closed his eyes and recited it over in his mind and then began to dial his mother's cell phone number.

It rang three times and still no one answered. He waited for maybe 45 seconds before finally, after 10 or 12 rings, the line opened. "Hello?" "Mom? Hey, it's Drake. What took you so long to pick up?" "Sorry, sweetie, I couldn't find my phone in my purse. Anything wrong?" "Um, no not really, Mom. I was just thinking. I wondered—what time exactly do they think Uncle Gavin died? I mean… I don't want to make you upset or anything, but I was just wondering." Drake asked, careful not to give away any suspiciousness or worry in his voice. "Oh, no, Drake's that's alright—I don't mind you being a little curious. The doctor said that he had died around three twenty or thirty in the morning." His mother replied. "Okay, Mom, thanks. Bye." He managed to mutter before hanging up.

"Josh… it was Gavin! He—he was calling me before he died!" Drake said, grabbing a fist full of hair. Josh's eyes grew big and he stood up: "Wh…at?" "He died at three twenty or thirty. And that's when I got the call. He must have been having a heart attack. That's what the doctors think anyway." The teen explained. "That's weird! But why… why would he call you?" "I really don't know. I can't make any sense out of it. I mean… I even never met him! And another thing—it sounded so much like the stalker, that I thought it was him! I don't—" Drake stopped speaking as a thought hit both of them at the same time.

"Josh… oh my God, he killed Great Uncle Gavin!" Drake was barely able to work the words from his throat. "Drake! A murderer is stalking you? Are you serious?" Josh said in a voice so disturbed and serious that he hardly even knew it was his own. "Yes, Josh." After a quiet moment, he finally added: "What am I going to do? I can't tell Mom and Dad! Yet if Gavin was murdered, then… oh, gosh, I don't know why all this had to happen. I thought everything was going to be fine with him… but now he's even going after my family." He paused for a while and then continued: "I guess he went to Gavin's house and… then after he did it, he called me from the phone." Drake wasn't crying, or even really sad. It was disturbing and more shocking than sad. He felt almost like a detective on a case, when he's just found the finger prints of the criminal. A more static, adrenaline driven electricity split through his body. "Josh, if he even so much as lays one single finger on anyone in this house, I'll—"

Josh interrupted him by standing up and grabbing him in a tight hug, not caring if he did try to pluck him off, which he didn't. Drawing his arms tightly around his brother, he said: "Drake, it's gonn'a be fine. I'm not going to let this crazy guy hurt you. And man, I'm gonn'a be here for you, always. I love you, brother." Drake for once hugged his brother back and for a moment almost let Josh hold up all of his weight, for him. "I love you too, brother." Drake didn't let go or pull back for a long time. Because, for once in the last few weeks, he felt secure at that moment, here—in his brother's arms, safe from everything.

Finally he sighed a tired sigh and the two brothers stepped back from each other, with knowing smiles of slight peace written across their faces. Both put their hands on the opposite's shoulders and breathed in a deep, audible breath and said simultaneously: "I'm fine."

"Okay—sure. What ever you pitiful beings have to believe." Meghan said, leaning on the door frame of the entrance to their room, with a deep, pleased look written on her face. "I thought you were busy playing with your ZBOX." Drake said, making sure to keep himself and his still shocked emotions under complete control. "I was playing it until I heard you two boobs blubbering it up in here, and then I thought I'd come see the fun." she smirked at them. "You know, Meghan, we do have a door for a reason, you know. Try knocking on it some time! You'd be surprised—it does wonders." Josh grumbled at her. "Aw, go ahead and go easy on her, Josh. It's umm… the best thing." Drake said, deep meaning in his wording. "Ugh, you two annoy me highly." Meghan said, rolling her eyes and passing the door, as she began to walk down the stairs.

"You know, Josh… I was just thinking." Drake said, sitting thoughtfully down on the soft couch. "'Bout what?" came the question. "About… well, I mean, now that you kind of know a bit about him, maybe it's time to open the box in the garage." "What do you mean? Is it some how connected with him!" the brother replied, in a thoroughly confused tone. "I'm almost completely sure of it, now." He nodded. "Then his name is 'Landis'?" Josh asked. "What?" "Well that's the name that the note on the box said—Landis." Josh said matter of factly. "As in a first or last name?" Drake asked, wondering and trying hard to piece together what his step brother was thinking. "Well, last I guess. Though it could be a first name." "No, his name isn't Landis. It's P—" Drake stopped himself before continuing his sentence. Josh had began to get a hunch on what his brother had started to say, but asked another question than the one he had in his head: "What makes you think he had something to do with the box?" "Well, it was mysterious, wasn't it? And it came right before all of this insanity started, didn't it? It might be quite a stab in the dark, but I think we should wait—" Drake leaned over, closer to his brother and spoke in a whisper, so Meghan could no way of hearing him: "Should wait until Megs goes to bed. Then we should go in to the garage and open it. What ever is inside—good or bad—might help us figure out his next move and plans, before he gets a chance to put them in action." Josh nodded with a serious facial expression: "I think so too. I mean, it's been two weeks since it came, so it's about time to open it. And since Mom and Dad are gone, tonight sounds like the absolute perfect opportunity." "Good. Let's go on down and see what Meghan is doing. Who knows? Maybe we can even get her to go to bed early if we wear her out enough." Drake answered, standing.

Both boys linked arms as they dismounted the stairs and walked slowly in to the living room, being careful not to get separated while alone in the house with Miss Prankster, herself.

Meghan was no where in sight but suddenly her voice yelled loudly from the kitchen: "Yo, Drake!" Drake and Josh hurried toward the other room and heard her yell again: "Hellooo? Spaz! Telephone for you!" "Thanks, Megs! Who is it, by the way? Do you know?" Drake said, sliding through the swinging door and picking up the phone from her hand, covering the mouthpiece. "It's just Anita again." She said, walking off in to the other room in annoyance.

"Hey, Anita." He spoke, feeling Josh's sleeve brush up against his shoulder as he came closer behind him.

"Hey, Drake." her voice said in a bit of a melancholy tone, then not she didn't say anything for a long minute.

"What's the matter, honey?" Drake asked, in a very worried tone.

"I—I know about him, Drake."

"What? You do? Are you okay, Nita?" he said anxiously, almost blurring all of the words at the same time.

"I'm… fine. But, I don't know about all this. I'd like to come over and talk to you in a few minutes if you wouldn't mind." she said slowly.

"Of course! You have to ever ask. My house is always open you." He answered, biting his lip, in concern.

"Okay. I'll be over at… eleven forty five? That's in about thirty minutes." She questioned in a rather monotone way.

"Sure. I'll defiantly be waiting." he was going to say more, but her line went dead: "Hello? Anita? Anita, are you there?" He shook his head and finally hung up.

"Geez, I hope she's okay!" Josh said, bending a brow as Drake turned around. "So you heard, eh?" with a bleak nod from Josh, he continued: "Come on, let's go in the living room and really annoy Megs so she'll got o bed. That way we can all be alone down here once Nita comes over and after she and I… talk things over, we can all go out and open the box. But with Meghan—be careful not to over-do it too much. After all she is… Meghan." "Exactly." His brother agreed. They both turned and stepped through the door, side by side, leaving it swinging.

Meghan watched them walk over and plop down beside her, on each side, on the couch. Silence ruled for a minute, and then she glanced sideways both ways, in question. Turning her head all the way, she looked at Drake with a frown. He grinned and said: "Hi, Megs!" "…Hi?" she said, slowly, staring at him for a minute. Then she felt something sweep up behind her shoulders and glimpsing a bit behind her, she spotted Josh's arm. Looking over at him, her eyes got big and one eye brow raised vastly. The girl reached over and picked up his hand with two fingers, throwing his arm over her head and back over to him. She rolled her eyes and sat back in to the seat, looking back at the tv. "Finally, silence!" she thought. But then suddenly Drake giggled beside her. Turning her head just a little, she saw Drake, who was only about five or six inches from her face, leaning close to her and laughing in a very weird way. Looking again at the tv, she murmured: "…Okay…"

"You're cute." Josh snickered in a little voice. "Okay, I'm so out of here." she exclaimed, waving a hand and jumping up from the couch, walking toward the stairs and pausing as she walked to look back with a slightly freaked out face: "Nutsos…" As soon as she was gone from the room, Drake and his brother scooted close together on the couch and passed a "Nice job!" and a high five.

"Now to relax until Anita gets here." Josh smiled, settling back in to the soft cushion and glancing at his brother. But Drake didn't relax. Instead, he sat on the very edge of the couch and rested his elbows on his knees, staring at the floor with a disheartened look embedded in his frown. Josh stared at him for a moment and then spoke up when he noticed the down expression on his step brother's face: "Hey?" "Huh?" Drake replied, shaking his head and bringing his eyes in to focus again, after being dragged back in to reality. "What's the matter with you?" Josh asked, carefully.

"Me? Oh. Um, nothing really." he said with a tiny sigh as he limply let himself flop back on to the pillows in back of him. "No, really, bro," the other teenager said slowly, with a little frown: "What is it?" "Well… it's just worry over Nita, I guess. But it's really stupid." "Drake… come on. I want to hear everything."

With a tiny sigh, Drake leaned forward and smoothed back his hair, nervously: "I don't seriously know, man. I'm just scared of what she's going to say when she gets here. On the phone she said that she knew about him. And she sounded so…" he stopped and stared at the floor with a pitifully depressed frown. "So what?" Josh urged him carefully on. "Well, she sounded so tense and kind of… mad. It just reminded me too much of when she broke up with me." he said finally. "Why did she even break up with you in the first place, Drake?" his step brother asked after a moment. "Oh… she thought--I mean, somebody told her they had seen me making out with Stacie Franschez." came his answer with a little pause. "Oo-ho-hooo!" Josh said, crossing his arms and raising a brow with a tiny laugh. "No! Josh, seriously, I didn't do it! I swear I didn't. But then when Anita heard the lie, she got so upset and everything, that she didn't even ask me if it was true. She just broke up with me." Drake answered, trying as hard as he could to defend himself. "Well, who was it that spread the rumor, anyway?" "That's just it! I don't know! Neither does Nita. She got a text message on her cell phone from some unknown number and when she tried to call them back to ask who they were, the automatic service box answered and said that the number she had tried to call was out of order."

"Dude!" Josh exclaimed suddenly after a silence of a few seconds. "What?" his brother questioned, looking up and shaking off the haze of the memories he was reviewing. "It makes sense! If this guy is trying to screw over your life, and for some reason doesn't want you and Anita to have a relationship, maybe he texted her the rumor! And now that you two are back together, he must have found out and called her again, to try and scare her off of you!" he said, wearing a understanding look on his facial expression and waving a hand out toward his brother for emphasis.

"Holy snot… Josh, I think you're right! And then he killed great Uncle Gavin to get Mom and Dad of town!" Drake said, blatant fear and surprise on figuring out the truth smeared on his features. "Oh my gosh, Drake this is seriously a plan, isn't it? Or are we just speculating too hard? …Drake, Meghan's even still in the house. What will we do if he tries to--" the rest of Josh's sentence trailed off when there was a knock on the front door, across the room.

The two teenage boys looked at each other with a slightly frightened glance and then back at the door. "I'll answer it. It's just Nita, I hope." Drake said slowly, standing up and brushing the silky brown strands of hair aside from his brown, normally twinkling eyes, which were now only glistening in dread. As he crossed the large room, Josh stood up and watched after him, taking in a deep breath and trying to ready himself for anything that might happen.

The now overly-sensitive fingers of the teenage boy reached toward the front door's dead bolt and twisting the key carefully in the lock, he slid his hand down to the knob and turned it before he could have time to change his mind. Before he saw who it was, as he swung open the door, he realized how much danger they were all in. Even Meghan. And who ever this was, standing there, could easily change all of their lives instantly. Within that single instant, the person standing at the entry to their house could have easily drawn a gun or knife and killed him dead, leaving Josh to defend his little sister by himself. But they didn't.

Drake's eyes cleared and when he was able to see again, he laid his tired eyes on the girl whom he was so worried over. "Nita! Hi! Um, come on in. Sorry it took me so long to get to the door, me and Josh were just talking." "It's okay." came her slightly chilling reply, as she stepped in to the warmer house, out of the cold out doors. "Go ahead and sit down," Drake motioned to the couch as they both walked across the expanse of the floor toward it. Josh stood from the sofa a stepped to the side with a kind, accommodating smile: "Hello, Nita." She looked up and managed a smile: "Hi, Josh." "Well uh, I'm going to go ahead and get a little snack in the kitchen, if you two will excuse me for a while." Josh nodded, brushing past Drake as Nita sat down, and patting his step brother's shoulder before he disappeared from the room, leaving them alone.

"So… you said you wanted to talk to me about… you want to talk?" Drake asked, with a meek tone in his nervous voice as he sat down a bit of a distance from her, making sure not to make her uncomfortable. "Yeah… I kind of did." she answered, shifting uncomfortably in her seat and looking down toward the floor: "I got a very… interesting phone call this evening. It rather scared me, really." "Oh no…" Drake murmured, barely restraining himself from blurting out pointed questions. "It was this guy. He said that he had been watching you and that he had found out I was friends with you. He… told me that if I came near you this weekend that I would regret it deeply. I tried to trace the call, but it was unavailable. Even when I pressed "redial" it wouldn't work. He must have blocked my number from his phone, who ever he was." "Nita," Drake said, with a dead serious look and a frown on his face: "Why? …Why did you come here? If anything happens to you--" The girl looked up at him and he brow bent in to a worried expression: "You don't believe his threats do you?" Drake was completely silent and he just stared at her blankly, feeling his heart wrench with that question and then closing his eyes for a moment.

"Drake, I don't care about this crazy stalker's threats! I had to come to this house tonight. He can't keep me away from you! And if he thinks he can, he hasn't a bit of sense." she said, leaning forward a bit to looked in to his face. Drake slumped over and threw his arms around her, cradling her to his shoulder and closing his eyes, trying to hold back tears. "Oh, Nita, why did you have to be so selfless? Now you're in danger. Terrible danger. And it's all… my fault." The teenage girl felt hot tears rush quickly to her own eyes and couldn't help but let one stinging one fall from her glistening eyes to his shoulder: "Drake, I'm not worried about me. He's hurting you and I can't stand it." The last seven words came out in tearful sobs and they struck his heart intensely. In response, he tightened his grip on the girl in his arms and whispered: "Don't cry Nita."

She laid her tired head against his collar and started to calm her crying, as did he. She sat back a bit from him after a minute or two and they looked at each other. "Are you alright?" he asked, taking in a quick breath. "I will be." Another quiet moment went by and then Anita handled herself so that she was able to let out a little sniffly chuckle: "I didn't expect my visit to entail this." "What? The hugging? Or the tears?" he asked, surprised that those words had slipped from his own lips. She blushed a little and looked up slowly: "Well, neither, actually… but I didn't mind it much…" "The crying or the hugging?" Drake added, looking back at her with a cute grin. She smiled and broke the long gaze she had been sharing with him.

Both teenagers sat back against the soft sofa cushions and then Drake spoke up, a while later: "Anita, how… how did you know about his stalking me?" "…Well, I kind of gathered it from--" He broke off her sentence: "Josh told you, didn't he?" She glanced up, quite taken by surprise: "No! I was going to say that I gathered it from my conversation with the man myself. He was talking at length about how he had seen me go in to your house before, seen you other places, etcetera. So my conclusion was that he could be nothing but a stalker. And Josh didn't tell me. But… I overheard you and him talking about it yesterday." "What? Yesterday?" Drake asked, with a very thoroughly confused look on his face. "I… I had come over to see you but right when I was about to knock on the door, I heard a yell and when I listened close to the door, I heard you and Josh talking. And when I heard you crying, I listened close. I heard a few mentions of the words 'him' and 'stalker' in connection with you, but then when I was going to go in and ask what the matter was, I lost my nerve and went home. I'm sorry if I shouldn't have listened." Her face was flushed deeply and full of deep concern. Looking down, he shook his head and reached over, clasping her soft hand: "Anita, you're in the midst of this now. It's better you heard. Then at least you know."

"Hey! Drake! Sorry if I'm interrupting but your cell's ringing!" Josh said, sticking his head through the kitchen window and nodding toward the kitchen itself. Drake looked over at Nita quickly and stood up, pulling her swiftly with his by the hand: "Come on Nita and tell me if this is the guy that talked to you."

The two teens ran in to the adjoining room where the boy's step brother was waiting, standing beside the counter on which the ringing cell phone sat. Rushing over to it, Anita stood in front of Drake and he pressed up behind her, leaning over her shoulder to answer the phone. "Hello?" With that word, he held the phone about two inches from ear and leaned closer in to the intently listening teenage girl standing in front of him.

Listening hard, all three teenagers heard the voice speak over the tiny cell phone speakers: "Drake?"

"Oh, man." Drake growled, rolling his eyes and pulling the phone back to his ear and stepping back from behind Anita. "What is it, Walter?" "I was just calling to check up on you boys. Your mother said something about umm… what was it again?" his step father's slightly obtuse voice spoke. "It's your dad?" Anita asked, giggling. "It sure is." Drake answered, shaking his head with a smile. "Drake, who was that talking to you? Meghan?" Walter said. "It's Anita." he answered. "Oh? Do her parents know she's out at midnight?" Drake sighed and closed his eyes in irritation: "Put Mom on for goodness sakes." There was pause on the line and the boy heard Walter say: "Honey, Anita's over there and it's already--" Then suddenly his mother's voice said in reply to her husband: "Walter, Josh is there, and Drake isn't that irresponsible. Now give me that phone!"

With a snicker, Drake said: "Hello, Mom?" "Hey, sweetheart. Your dad insists upon knowing-- do Anita's parents know she's over there?" she asked. Drake held the phone from his ear and raised his eyebrows, looking at the girl who stood beside him. She giggled again and he held the phone to her ear as she spoke. "Mrs. Audrey?" "Hello, dear. I just wanted to know if your parents were okay on you coming over. I really don't even care about asking much, because I know you, but Walter insists. You know how men are." At this, Drake even let out a giggle of his own. "My parents are away this weekend visiting my Grandmother in Colorado, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind my being here. If you want, I'll call them and get permission." "Oh, no, Nita, don't bother. That's good enough for me. You tell Drake to behave himself in the presence of a distinguished young lady while I'm not there to hit him, alright?" his mother said, in a playful tone. Nita grinned and looked straight in to Drake eyes and felt him stroke her ear with his finger accidentally as he held the phone for her: "I will, m'am. Have a safe trip. Goodbye, now." "Goodbye." The boy pulled the cellular back to himself and told his mother goodbye before hanging it up.

"Well, it wasn't who we thought it was going to be. But maybe that's a good sign after all." Josh said with a shrug. They all stared for a minute and then Anita spoke up: "Oh! Drake, I'm sorry about your Great Uncle. Lyn called and told me." "Lyn! How did she know? Nobody told her!" the boy said, frowning confusedly. "Apparently no body has to tell her. When it comes to you… Lynn knows everything." Anita said, with a slightly amused grin and a shrug of her own. "Great… now I have a FEMALE stalker to match the guy one. Soon I'll have a whole set!" "Drake—um, shouldn't we tell her about Uncle Gavin?" Josh said, slowly. Drake bit his lip and turned his head to glance at Anita. "Um, Josh, I don't know…" "Tell me! It sounds important." Anita said. Drake was silent for a minute and then spoke up. "But it'll just worry you!" he said in his own defense. "Please, Drake? I really want to know what it is." She argued. Finally, after a quiet moment, Drake began: "Well, Anita, last night I got a call on my cell. Josh and I thought it was him, but… it wasn't. Or, it was, but it wasn't just a call for no reason like usual." "What do you mean?" she said, looking intently at him. "I mean… it was from a real telephone number. And tonight, when we looked it up on the white pages' website, we found out that the phone call was from… my Great Uncle's house, made just before or after he died." "…What do you mean—'after'?" she said slowly, frightened understanding beginning to flow in to her face. "The only conclusion is that," Josh began, pausing before he continued on: "He killed Gavin last night." Anita's eyes got big and she held a hand over her mouth in shock.

"But—But that can't be true! There were no signs of murder on your Great Uncle's body when they did the—" Josh stopped her and spoke himself: "We know. He must have… choked him. That's why everyone thought it was a heart attack. He just… suffocated." The girl's breath became heavy and she unconsciously let a hand drift to her neck: "That's… the most terrible thing I've ever heard." "Don't worry, we'll all be safe together, here. Even if Mom and Dad are gone, we still have a dead bolt lock." Josh said. "And anyway, if WE couldn't fight him off, Meghan could." Drake grinned, clasping her hand.

Anita chuckled an "Aww" and leaned up against him, wrapping an arm around his slim waist, comfortingly. Josh raised his eyebrows and said: "Well, perhaps the living roomwould be a better place to eat my sandwich." Drake rolled his eyes at grabbed a fist full of his brother's hair, tugging it mischievously and leading Anita in through the kitchen door way. "Owww!…" Josh moaned, frowning in his direction.

A minute later he joined the two in the next room, holding a rather heavy sandwich on a plate and a glass of Dr. Fizz. "Dude, poor turkeys…" Drake muttered, glancing at the turkey cold cuts stacked high on top of the bread: "For that sandwich alone forty or fifty turkeys must have sacrificed themselves." Josh glared at Drake and gripped his glass of soda: "Don't make me 'Fizz you, again." he said through clenched teeth. "Okay! Take a joke!" Drake laughed, shrugging.

Josh picked up the very large sandwich and began to take a bite out of it, but froze suddenly when there was a heavy knock at the front door. All three teenagers looked up toward the entrance hall and Anita jumped slightly when the knock came again. "Drake, what if it's—" she didn't finish her sentence, but instead let it trail off as Josh and his step brother stood up and looked at each other before walking over across the room, tensely.

"Drake, what will we do if it's him? We need to be ready." Josh said in a quiet voice as they stood near the door. "Just get ready to run and to get Anita upstairs. If it is him, I want all three of you behind Meghan's locked door and fast." Drake answered, taking a step forward. "But Drake I couldn't leave you down here all alone and with—" he didn't get to finish his sentence, because his step brother had reached out to clasp the knob in his hand, unlocking it and yanking it open.

Neither of them could fathom what might happen next.