Notes: Now we start getting into part of the intense dream I had that I wanted to adapt in this fic.

Chapter Five

The Christmas holidays passed in peace and delight. Radley's relationships with his family continued to improve, and when everyone gathered at the diner for Christmas, New Year's, and Epiphany, it was a happy experience for all. When it was time to head to the villa to continue their visit, they were all excited and hyped for the chance to share in experiencing Radley's childhood home, a place that would be special to him again now.

"I hope the town will be up to the task of being temporarily deputized," Radley said as they all boarded the family's private jet.

"They'll be fine," Kalin said. "We've taught them well, and you wanted the entire Bunch to come with us."

"Yes, I was sad when some of them had to stay behind on our Scotland trek," Radley said.

Like a commercial flight, entertainment was provided. Scotch decided to watch the Pixar movie Soul, which some of the others thought they would look at as well.

Radley leaned back thoughtfully when the film finished. "That's an interesting concept, isn't it?" he said to Kalin. "That there's actually some sort of existence for a soul before it comes to Earth? That's different than reincarnation. It's like the person is always the same person all the way along."

Kalin nodded. "I'd never heard of such a thing before."

"There's some real-life cultures that believe in it," Radley mused. "If something like that really is true, do you think there's any chance we knew each other then?"

Kalin smiled a bit. "I'd like to think so."

Radley nodded, looking thoughtful. "And I'll bet we promised to find each other on Earth."

"Of course," Kalin said. "And we have." He smiled more. It was a nice thought to take with them.

They were already landing on the property now. The Bunch stared out the windows, fascinated by the lush green everywhere.

"This place is epic!" Scotch exclaimed. "You really grew up here, Radley?! It's so amazing! It looks like you could never get it all explored!"

Radley laughed. "I used to have everything memorized. Let's see how good I still am about that."

First, everyone went on a tour of the villa and selected their rooms. They would need to double up, but that was fine with all of them. Radley and Kalin would share Radley's old room, which had remained untouched all through the years. Radley had to smile when he saw that. There were things he had left behind to go to college that were still special to him.

Radley was indeed excellent as a tour guide as well, guiding his friends successfully through all the rooms of the house before taking them outside and also showing them around the entire length of the property. Nostalgia flickered in his eyes as he pointed out places he had especially enjoyed.

Kalin smiled. "You still love it here, don't you?"

"Oh yeah. I'd forgotten how much." Radley laid his hands on the fence bordering the vineyard and just basked in the cool breeze for a moment. "And you know, it still feels like home, even though Satisfaction Town is home now too."

Scotch looked a little worried. "This place is awesome and all, but . . . you'd never come back here to live all the time, would you?!"

Radley smiled at him. "Of course not. I do want to visit a lot, but I'm not in the wine business and we have a lot of important work to do back home. That's where all of us are planning to live, I hope."

Kalin nodded. "But any time you want to visit, we'll come with you unless you want to come alone."

"I would never want that," Radley objected. "What makes me the happiest is having all of my closest loved ones together." He hugged Kalin close.

Kalin smiled and returned it.

Satisfied, Scotch turned his attention to the scenery beyond the Ramon property, and promptly got intrigued by something on the other side of the fence. "What's over there?" he asked. From here he could see plenty of trees, brush, and what looked like a large, cathedral-type building through the trees.

"You know, I'm not sure," Radley mused. "None of that was there when I left. The building, anyway, and some of the brush. It was more of an open field back then, with some trees. Now it looks like they're trying to close it all in more."

Scotch immediately jumped the fence. "Let's go see!"

"Scotch!" Radley exclaimed with a laugh. "It might be private property."

"There's no sign up that says so," Scotch said. "It's probably a church or something."

Radley chuckled and shook his head. "Okay, you're probably right." He finally climbed over too, as did everyone else.

"Did you come over when it was a field?" Scotch wondered.

"Sometimes," Radley said. "Wow, everything looks so different now. It's nice, though."

Kalin nodded. "Definitely. But you're right that it looks like the owner wants to close it all in. I wonder if much sunlight even gets through those windows."

"Maybe they're doing creepy stuff over there and they don't want any witnesses!" Scotch exclaimed.

"I don't wanna be a witness!" Biff moaned.

"I'm sure they just like privacy," Radley said evenly. "Which we're kinda trampling on. We should probably turn around and go back."

"Let me just see what this place is!" Scotch hurried ahead to the back of the building, but there was no name on the green back doors. He tried to pull them and they were locked.

"I think that's enough exploring over here now," Radley said, more firmly now. "They clearly don't want to be bothered. Let's just go back and ask who lives here."

"Aww, but that's not as fun," Scotch pouted. Still, he respected Radley's decisions and he came back to the others.

They didn't have a chance to ask about the mysterious property until they were all settling down to dinner at the long dining room table that evening.

"Did you have fun showing everyone around?" Marisol smiled.

"I sure did," Radley said. "It's all still so beautiful here."

Emilio beamed. "Tomorrow let's look at my favorite places to explore!"

"Yeah, let's do that," Radley smiled.

"What's the big building at the far end of the vineyard?!" Scotch demanded. "Where Radley says it used to be a field?!"

"You know, I am not sure exactly what that is," Marisol mused. "A mysterious person bought that land after Radley left for college and constructed that building, but they never turn up at town meetings and the property is enclosed on all sides by trees and brush."

"Seriously?! Spooky!" Scotch's eyes were wide.

"Even when it was a field, I was only allowed to explore up to where those trees start on the other side of the building," Radley said.

"Yes, beyond those trees is a large cemetery," Marisol said.

"Not an appropriate place for a child to play," Lucia grunted.

"Whoever purchased the land now owns the cemetery too," Fidelio interjected. "It's possible they plan to expand the boundaries of the cemetery, although I hope they won't bring it too close to our property."

"It's been years and they haven't done that," Alejandro said. "The building's a chapel, mortuary, and crematorium, I think."

Biff looked ready to cry. "And you wanted to go in!" he scolded Scotch.

Scotch shrugged. "It still sounds cool?" he offered. "It looks too big to just be those things."

"The caretaker lives there, I think," Alejandro said. "Sometimes the owner visits and stays there too."

Radley slowly shook his head. He could tell that Scotch was still fascinated. A cemetery would only make him more eager to visit again, not less.

"Is the cemetery open to the public?" he asked.

"It's usually closed," Lucia said. "It's very old and most of the plots were filled long ago. It's generally only open by appointment. Sometimes people like to tour old cemeteries, or occasionally a living relative will want to visit a grave."

"And yet the new building is a mortuary and crematorium?" Radley mused. He had to admit that was strange.

". . . Well, by 'filled' I meant bought and reserved," Lucia amended. "The mortuary handles the burials of those who purchased plots."

"Oh, okay." But Radley frowned. It still seemed strange. The building was so large.

"It doesn't matter, of course," Fidelio said. "As long as they don't dig plots near the fence, I don't care what they do."

"If they do start attempting to do that, we will protest," Marisol said. "It just wouldn't be sanitary for the grapes."

"I'll admit it doesn't sound too appetizing," Radley said.

Nothing more was said about the place that evening. For a while everyone stayed up, exploring the villa some more and going out on the balconies to enjoy the night air and the stars. But as the hour grew later, they started drifting off to bed. Kalin and Radley eventually did as well.

"Do you think Scotch is going to try to go back out there?" Kalin said with a bit of a smirk.

"What do you think?" Radley smirked back. "An old, closed cemetery? A mansion housing a mortuary?"

"He'll go back," Kalin intoned.

"Yeah. I just hope he won't cause a lot of havoc or get Biff scared when he does," Radley chuckled. "Maybe he won't go back tonight, but he will absolutely try to go there while we're here. He wouldn't miss that opportunity. If nothing else, he'll take the tour." He walked over to the bed and turned down the covers.

Kalin was amused in spite of himself. ". . . Is everything really the way you left it years ago?" he wondered.

"Yeah," Radley said. "That's comforting, you know? I thought maybe everything would be gone, sold or thrown away or something." He laid down in the cool sheets.

Kalin laid down next to him. It was a twin bed, the same as what they both had back home. "That is comforting," he agreed. "Are you going to take anything back with us, or leave it for future visits?"

"That's a good question," Radley mused. "I think I might go through it, see if there's anything Emilio or Scotch would like to have, and then decide on the rest after that. The clothes, though . . . probably not, unless there's any T-Shirts I still wanna wear. I've developed my own style since then."

"You sure have," Kalin remarked. It was still sickening to him that Radley's style was what had caused all the trouble years ago. As if that should have made one speck of difference.

Radley gazed up at the ceiling. "This really is real, isn't it, Kalin?" he said softly. "I won't wake up and the last weeks won't have happened?"

"It's real," Kalin assured him. His plaintive question tore at Kalin's heart. Radley still felt the scars from what he had suffered because of his family.

"Every day I still wonder," Radley said. "It still just seems too incredible, too impossible, to be real."

"I understand," Kalin said. "I felt like that all the time after you came back to life and still cared about me even after all I put you through."

Radley smiled, laying his hand on Kalin's. "We have quite a story, don't we?"

Kalin stiffened a bit. ". . . I just realized," he said, appalled. "Everyone you've ever cared about has betrayed you in some way. I mean, I already knew that, but it's really hitting hard again suddenly. You didn't have one person who stuck by you through everything!"

Radley sighed. "I do now," he replied, squeezing Kalin's hand. "The past is over. I'd rather think about the present and the future."

"I would too," Kalin conceded. "But . . . I'm so sorry, Radley."

Radley hugged him. "I know."

xxxx

Scotch was having difficulty sleeping. Try as he might, he couldn't not keep staring out the window. The mysterious building was unfortunately visible from his and Biff's room, and the more he looked, the more fascinated he was. He loved spooky things, and old cemeteries, and knowing one was right over there made it difficult to sit still. But he didn't want to do anything to disrespect Radley or his family, or that might get them into trouble, so he was resisting the urge to sneak outside and explore.

Biff sighed from the bed. "Come on, Scotch," he said. "We've gotta get some sleep."

"I know, I know." Scotch was just forcing himself to turn away from the window when a flicker of light brought him right back. "What was that?!"

"You know they said people live over there," Biff grunted.

"Yeah, but it's been in darkness all night!" Scotch retorted. "Now suddenly I saw a flash of light over there!" He stared out the window. "It looks like a flashlight moving through the rooms!"

"So the power's out or something," Biff said. "Sometimes people don't connect it if they're on vacation for a while."

Scotch scowled. "It's something weird, okay?"

"You just want it to be weird so you'll feel justified going over there to look at stuff," Biff said. He rolled over in the bed. "I'm not going."

"Then don't," Scotch said. "I mean . . . I want you with me, Biff, but I don't want you to feel like you have to come when you don't like creepy things."

"So you really are planning to go!" Biff sat up. "Scotch, come on!"

"It was hypothetical!" Scotch insisted.

Biff groaned. "Just get to bed, Scotch. Please?"

Scotch sighed. ". . . I'm going to call about a tour tomorrow," he said.

"And that will surprise no one," Virgil snorted from the doorway.

Both Scotch and Biff looked over in surprise. "Are we keeping you and Jimmy awake?" Scotch asked, looking guilty.

"No, not really," Virgil grunted. "We can see that weird place from our room too. Jimmy thinks it's weird that someone's using a flashlight in there."

"If there's any question about it being a creep, the police should be called," Biff frowned.

"Yeah, but if it's not a creep, we'll get somebody in trouble and maybe things will look bad for Radley's family," Scotch worried.

"You really think the best solution is just going over there ourselves, don't you," Biff said in disbelief.

"We could just go knock and say, 'Hi, we're the neighbors and we wondered if everything was okay over here since you're using a flashlight,'" Scotch said. "There's nothing wrong with that!"

Biff groaned and burrowed into the pillow. "It'll look nosy."

"Jimmy's worried too," Virgil said. "Let's just go get it over with so we can get some sleep."

"Maybe you and I can go," Scotch suggested. "I don't want to bug Biff."

"You should tell Radley," Biff said.

"He's asleep," Scotch frowned. "I don't want to bug him either. It's been a long day and he should be able to just rest in his old bed with Kalin. We'll just be gone ten minutes at the most!" He hurried to the door. "You go ahead and go to sleep, Biff."

Biff muttered to himself as Scotch and Virgil left. He was definitely going to try to sleep. But he had the feeling that actually succeeding would be another matter, at least until they came back safe. He would probably end up going after them.

Scotch was very perky as he and Virgil slipped out of the villa and across the property to the fence. He really did wonder if something untoward was going on, but it was nice to get out of the house and investigate regardless. He had to admit it was true that he had wanted an excuse to go back. Going over at night sounded especially fun to him. Well, not that he would deliberately roam the cemetery if it was closed, but if it just so happened that they ended up over there, he wouldn't complain.

"You don't have to look so jazzed," Virgil said with a roll of his eyes.

"Well, it's not like I really think we'll be in danger or something," Scotch said.

"You never do. And then something happens," Virgil said.

Scotch flinched. He was still hurting from those times in the past when Biff and Radley had been hurt. That was really the real reason why he hadn't wanted to drag them into this, just in case he was wrong and something would happen.

The same realization seemed to occur to Virgil and he frowned. "Nevermind."

By now they were approaching the building. Instead of trying the back doors again, Scotch went around the side and headed for the front. Soon he was bounding up the steps and standing on the wide porch, knocking on the door. Awkward and annoyed, Virgil walked up next to him.

"No one's coming," he said after a moment.

Scotch frowned and knocked again. "Hello?" he called. "We're just wondering if everything's okay in there! We saw the flashlight and . . ."

For a split-second, a face flashed in the window to the side of the door and was gone. The blind snapped shut.

Scotch jumped. "Did you see that?!"

". . . Yeah, I saw something." Virgil sounded oddly strained.

"You saw exactly what I saw, didn't you?!" Scotch demanded.

"Maybe." Virgil clenched his fists at his sides.

Scotch rattled the doorknob and pounded on the door frantically, to no avail. It was locked. Finally he turned, leaping down the stairs. "Let's try all the doors!" He ran around to the other side and fought with another door, only to meet the same result.

Virgil chased after him, infuriated now as well. But it didn't take long to determine that accessing the building was not going to be possible without breaking a window or something else equally illegal. He fished in his pocket and brought out a wire.

". . . What's that?!" Scotch exclaimed.

"A makeshift lockpick." Virgil's voice was dark now. "Move over and I'll get us in there."

". . . Wait, what?!" Scotch stared at him. "What if this gets Radley in trouble?!"

"Radley will be thanking us." Virgil jammed the wire into the doorknob and started wiggling it around.

Scotch ran his hands through his hair. "I didn't mean to do anything illegal!" he exclaimed. "I just thought we could go in if we found a door unlocked! What if you open the door and you get a gun in your face?! What if you get shot?!"

Virgil clenched his teeth. "I have to know what's in there!" he snapped. "I have to know . . . if we really saw what we saw."

"We did! We saw it!" Scotch exclaimed. "I don't know how or why, but we saw it! We should just go back to Radley right now!"

The door clicked and Virgil pushed it open. "We will," he said. "As soon as we figure out what's going on here." He stormed inside with purpose.

"Oh gosh." Scotch looked around, but there was no sign of anyone to see their illegal entry. He took out his phone and tapped out a text to Jimmy before following Virgil inside.

The room beyond the door was in darkness. So was everything else. If there had been anyone wielding a flashlight, they were either gone or in hiding. Virgil reached for a lightswitch, but it didn't turn on. He beamed his phone around the room instead.

"It's an office," he remarked.

"There's a folder open on the desk," Scotch noted. He went over to look.

"What the heck are you guys doing in here?!"

Both boys jumped a horrified mile. The voice was familiar, but harmless.

"Biff!" Scotch realized in relief.

Biff was standing in the open doorway, glowering at them both. "You were just supposed to knock at the front door!" he scolded.

"We did!" Scotch said. "And we saw something awful, and Virgil got mad and he picked the lock . . . !" He looked down at the folder on the desk. "No," he gasped.

"What now?!" Biff frowned.

Scotch snatched the folder up. "Look! It's talking about this place and the cemetery! It's the deed or something. It says it's owned by Lawton Coulter. Do you think . . . ?!"

Biff took the folder and stared at the document while Virgil shined his flashlight on it. "That's not the last name the Facility has for him, but that doesn't mean anything. There's probably other people named Lawton, though. And does it really matter either way?! I mean, the guy's dead!"

"Is he?!" Scotch squealed.

Biff closed the folder. "You guys are getting too worked up over nothing! We're the ones who are gonna get called on the carpet! Come on, let's go!"

"It's not nothing!" Virgil snarled. "What Scotch and I saw at the front window? It was Lawton! He glared at us both and pulled the blind!"

Biff looked to him in disbelief. "You're sure you're not just hallucinating creepy stuff because there's a cemetery here?!"

"It was real!" Scotch insisted. "We just don't know if what we saw was his ghost or not!"

"We know he couldn't have survived that fall," Biff said. "Nobody could even get down there at him!"

Scotch threw his hands in the air. "Maybe it was his ghost then! But it was definitely Lawton! What are we going to do?!"

"We're going to go back and talk to Radley," Biff insisted. "You guys actually broke in this place! This is gonna go real bad for us!"

"It's not like Lawton could call the cops on us, even if he is alive," Virgil snorted. "Nothing will happen to us unless he does something!"

They all froze at the sound of footsteps somewhere in the dark.

"Yeah? Well, right now that's looking pretty possible," Scotch quavered.