Chapter 5

The following two days, Tyrone and Matt spent hours watching TV, playing video games, and of course; eating. But that was it. Two whole days inside the house doing practically nothing. That was great at first, but by the third day….

"I'm bored." said Tyrone as he set up breakfast.

"Me too." replied Matt, with his eye twitching.

"I know Dad told us to stay inside the house, but we are not indoor people." said Tyrone.

"You know, before Dad was the Bogey Man, he used to be an indoors kind of guy. It's easy for him to say "stay inside"!" said Matt.

"I know. Hey, why don't we go outside and walk?" asked Tyrone.

"Where?" asked Matt, rubbing his eye as he yawned.

"Rood Bridge Park." said Tyrone, looking outside his window. Matt looked up at Tyrone with excitement.

"What?! You mean, break the rules?!" asked Matt with a huge smile.

"It sounds like fun. We should go ahead and do it." said Tyrone.

"But you heard Garret. No humans allowed." said Matt.

"Whatever. You heard Gannon. He had no problem with us going. And it's not like we don't know about the hidden world." said Tyrone.

Matt stood us and nodded. "Practically, we're just tourists!"

"I'll take some salt with me, just in case." said Tyrone.

A few hours later, Tyrone and Matt stepped outside and they carried a car full of salt in their backpack. Tyrone carried it and whispered to Matt.

"We need to be extra careful. We'll follow the trail the Mothman left behind." said Tyrone.

"Okay." replied Matt.

The boys slowly walked out into their backyard, almost as if they had committed some sort of crime. It looked funny because this was their house and the way they walked looked so suspicious. The boys walked on farther and found themselves passing a couple of trees.

"This looks promising. Let's keep walking." said Tyrone.

"You lead the way." said Matt.

They kept on walking into the woods and the trees looked as if they were getting bigger and bigger.

"Is it just me or are the trees getting a little more creepy?" asked Matt.

"I don't know. Most horror movies were filmed here in Oregon." said Tyrone.

Matt gulped and smiled nervously. "If we find dead bodies, what are we going to do?" asked Matt.

"I'll call the cops. Simple as that." said Tyrone.

"And if the cops won't show up?" asked Matt.

"Don't say that." said Tyrone.

The boys kept on walking until they found a hiking trail. Much to their surprise, they heard a woman not far from where they were, talking on the phone and walking her dog.

"Looks like we're back in civilization, for now." said Tyrone.

"Aww. Lame. I thought we were going to run into monsters or something more exciting! Not run into a vieja with her phone." said Matt, rather loudly. Perhaps too loud.

Tyrone tried not to laugh and not surprisingly, the woman heard them both.

She then walked up to them. Tyrone clenched his teeth as he saw the woman. She was caucasian, blonde, and wearing sunglasses. Her dog, which was a small pomchi, struggled to follow her. Tyrone pulled Matt to his side quickly and stood his ground, just in case of a confrontation.

"Hey kids! You two shouldn't be out here! Don't you know there's a person kidnapping kids!" said the woman.

Tyrone let out a sigh of relief and Matt quickly spoke up. "Kidnapping kids? No way, lady. Who would steal a tough looking guy like me?" asked Matt, showing off his charisma. Matt was really good at breaking the ice and Tyrone felt relief all over.

"Oh look at you being tough and all. Regardless guys, you two should head home. I heard some kid was going to be kidnapped and a girl saved him! A girl about your age honey." said the woman directing at Tyrone.

"Any idea how it happened?" asked Tyrone.

"The news said it all. The boy was walking like you two are doing right now, and he said he didn't remember a thing! Only the girl saw what happened and she said she saw a hooded figure around this place!" said the woman.

"Hooded figure?" asked Matt.

"A girl huh? Which news did you see this on?" asked Tyrone.

A couple minutes later, Tyrone and Matt were in town eating hamburgers at a local Dairy Queen. Tyrone had to steer clear from the Corn Dog place since that was where he worked at. And his boss wasn't too happy to give him vacation days. In fact, Tyrone had something on his manager. He hired underage employees ranging from fifteen to sixteen and the manager couldn't allow that to happen since eighteen year olds in town either leave town or work on something totally different besides frying up corn dogs for hungry high schoolers that leave the dreaded and boring high school.

"A girl my age saw the hooded figure huh? I wonder who she was." said Tyrone.

"The look on your face Ty! When she came walking up towards us, you thought she was going to scold me for calling her "vieja!" Matt burst out laughing.

"Dude, you were so close. And what does vieja mean?" asked Tyrone.

"Old lady." replied Matt.

"Oh! Yikes, you were savage." said Tyrone.

"I didn't mean it like that. It was a harmless joke." said Matt.

"I know. So about this mystery phantom… when Gannon and Garret came to pick Dad up, they never mentioned that the girl described the kidnapper." said Tyrone.

"You also heard that we can't get involved with that sort of thing." said Matt.

"Yeah, but why is it taking kids? What for? Shouldn't the Mothman do something about it? The girl told the news what she saw and now people are on the alert. Plus, this kinda exposes the hidden world." said Tyrone.

"Maybe it's no big deal." said Matt.

"But didn't you hear that the village where he works has some sort of outbreak?" asked Tyrone.

"I heard. But I don't know much. There is a lot that Mom and Dad are not telling us." said Matt.

"Sam and Natalie. They wanted to keep away from the hidden world, now they are part of it again. I feel like it's up to us to do something." said Tyrone.

"Like what?" asked Matt.

"We can do Gannon and Garret's job! Keeping the fort here!" said Tyrone.

"Sounds cool! And kinda lame. They get bored with their job easily. Didn't you hear them when we played Smash Bros?" asked Matt.

"That's because they were practically born into it. We haven't and perhaps we can make a difference! C'mon Matt, we saved Sam and Natalie. Sort of. And now they are our parents!" said Tyrone.

"That's true. We pretty much were just there for support, nothing more." said Matt.

"But we can help out! We can make a difference in town! We can be heroes!" said Tyrone.

"Did you put something in your Coke?" asked Matt.

"You don't look excited," said Tyrone.

"Do I need to be? I'm all for saving town and being a hero, but you heard Mom and Dad and if the Mothman found out, he might not like it." said Matt.

"You're starting to sound like Garret." said Tyrone.

"Take that back!" cried Matt.

Tyrone chuckled. "What do you say? Why don't we look into this?"

"I'm all for it. As long as tacos are involved." said Matt with a wink.

"You little bad hombrei." said Tyrone.

"It's pronounced bad hombre. And you are too white to say it." said Matt with a smile.

Tyrone laughed out loud and the boys finished their meal.

Destiny was in the hotel room, pretty much settling in for a moment. She fell flat on her back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. The events about the boy hearing music and saving him were playing in her mind over and over again. Who was that hooded figure? And why is taking a kid? Did this sort of thing happened before?

Destiny heard her phone vibrate and she answered. "Hello? Hey."

"No. I'm in a town. I'm not telling you where. Sorry. I trust you, but you know I can't tell you. How are you? Good. Uh huh? No? You should. Really? That sounds bad. Tell them… what? C'mon. You know I can't do that. Sorry Uncle, but this is my life. Goodbye."

Destiny hung up and let out a deep breath. She then went outside and sat on a bench out of the motel. She pulled her backpack out with her and pulled out a large cigarette. Destiny never smoked, but she decided to give it a try. She thought it might release something. She wasn't sure. It was a cigarette she took from her Uncle, the day she left. She then realized she didn't have a lighter.

Just then, two boys walked up to her from where she was sitting. She looked up and saw them both standing there. A tall caucasian boy with brown hair and he was wearing an Oregon ducks shirt. The boy next to him was Hispanic, and he was wearing a Beaver's hoodie. Destiny didn't know if this was a coincidence, a joke, or perhaps them being themselves. She wasn't sure.

"Are you… the girl from the news?" asked Tryone.

Destiny threw the large cigarette on the ground and tried to acting all cool and stuff. She then thought this guy was probably a journalist or something.

"Umm… who's asking?" asked she.

"I'm Tyrone, and this is my little bro, Matt." said Tyrone.

"Hey! I'm Mateo. Nice to meet you nena." said Matt, swagging his head back and forth, just chilling.

"You're cute." said Destiny with a grin.

"We're wondering about what you say. You know, about the kid that was going to disappear. We heard about it and we want to know so we can stay safe." said Tyrone.

Destiny stood up from the bench and shook her head. "There really isn't much to say. All I saw was a person in a large black cloak. I didn't see a face, so I don't know if this was a man or a woman." said Destiny.

"Was that person standing in front of the woods?" asked Matt.

"Yes. And then the person walked away, back turned and the cloak just flew into the air. That was it. It was very weird." said Destiny.

"I see. Okay. That sounds very weird." said Tyrone.

"Not much to go on from there huh?" said Matt.

"Excuse me, who are you really?" asked Destiny.

"We're nobody. We are just curious." said Tyrone.

"We kinda sneaked away while our parents were out of town. They forbid us from leaving home." said Matt with a wink.

"Sound's pretty dangerous," said Destiny.

"Well, sorry to bother you um… we never got your name." said Tyrone.

"Destiny."

"Destiny? Cool." said Tyrone.

"Are you new in town?" asked Matt.

"Yeah, I just rented a room in the motel until I find someplace to live. But I'm a little worried about this thing that came out of nowhere. The police didn't believe me when I told them." said Destiny.

"We believe you. Garibaldi may be a small town, but you never know." said Tyrone.

"There could be giant moth people and ghosts and stuff." said Matt, grinning and winking.

Destiny chuckled. "I might like it here." she said.

"Well, we have to be on our way. Nice talking to you Destiny." said Tyrone, smiling and offering his hand for a handshake. Destiny returned it.

"Nice to meet you too. Stay safe out there guys." said Destiny.

Matt got close to Destiny and smiled mischievously. "Are you single?" he asked in a whisper.

"Matt!" Tyrone freaked out.

Destiny smiled and shook her head. "I am. And as a matter of fact, my current theme song is Single Ladies. But don't worry Matt. You'll be breaking hearts soon enough." said Destiny with a wink. Matt blushed and walked sheepishly towards Tyrone.

"Thanks. He can be a handful." said Tyrone.

"I got a cousin back home about the same age as him. No big deal." said Destiny.

Matt waved his hand, still blushing and he walked besides Tyrone back home. Destiny smiled.

"Who are were those two?" she wondered. Well, at least she made two new friends.