get ready for chapter 6, folks- she's a real doozy! things get really and truly wild

Chapter Six: The Devil's Playground

We caught up to the black pickup just as it was taking the west road out of town. Daphne was careful to keep us at a safe distance- close enough that the driver couldn't shake us off of his tail, and far away enough that he wouldn't see a reason to.

We followed the truck away from the coast and into the thick Massachusetts forest, skirting down winding roads and through dense brush. During the day, it was a beautiful road, but by nightfall, the woods became something to be feared. There was something sinister just beyond the tree line. I had only suspected it as a child, but that was the night it proved to be true.

Daphne called back to check on me for the fourth time, but it was her I was worried about. She had no helmet, and her arms and shoulders were bare. It was unseasonably cold that night, and I could see goosebumps forming on her arms and shoulders as a result of the relentless wind. I wanted nothing more than to reach out and run my hands along the exposed skin to warm it up, but between the foreboding aura that surrounded us as my fear of Daphne's reckless driving, I was too afraid to let go of her waist.

The truck's red brake lights flashed about a hundred yards ahead of us, and we slowed down to watch him turn down a long driveway and disappear into the trees. We followed him, tentatively, and by the time we reached the end of the long dirt path, he had disappeared.

"Well," Daphne said, shutting off the bike's engine. "Land ho."

We pushed the bike into the bushes, where it would remain hidden from the view of any passing cars, and stared down the driveway. It was nearly pitch black, the only light coming from the crescent moon, which hung low in the sky.

Daphne pulled a small flashlight out of her purse and illuminated the path ahead of us. Although the forest was scary at night, it had almost been less frightening when it had been too dark to see. Now, I was forced to look at it. Daphne grabbed my sleeve and we began to make our way down the lane.

She stumbled and took a fistful of my suit to steady herself with, her high heels not agreeing with the rocky terrain. Daphne cussed through gritted teeth, clearly doing her best to mute the sound of chattering. Her gaze didn't leave the ground as we continued to walk, and I could tell that she was beginning to regret her fashion choice. It was rare to see Daphne looking so vulnerable, and I couldn't deny enjoying the change in the power dynamic.

"I take it that magic purse of yours isn't equipped with a change of clothes?" I joked, elbowing her playfully in the ribs. She didn't laugh, and instead shot me a dirty look before turning back towards the ground.

Sighing, I stopped walking and began to take off my jacket. Daphne paused as well, raising an eyebrow as she turned the flashlight towards me. I held my jacket out for her to take, but she just stared at me as though I were the biggest idiot on the planet.

"Well?" I asked, nudging the jacket towards her. "You're cold, aren't you?"

Those were dangerous waters. I knew that. Daphne hated when people tried to do things for her, especially guys and especially when the favor was so clichéd. This was the hat trick of bad moves, but with Daphne looking so desperate, I was willing to face the consequences.

Finally, she snatched the jacket out of my hand, muttering, "you're such a dork," as she begrudgingly pulled it on. We continued to walk, and I noticed a hint of a smile on her face. I opened my mouth to say something else, but her smile suddenly dropped to a look of horror and confusion.

I turned to see what she was looking at and my attention was immediately caught by the log cabin which stood in front of us. Its windows were all barred and covered with plywood from the inside, and the only point of entry appeared to be the windowless iron door, which seemed like a clear indicator that we'd found exactly what we were looking for. The black pickup was parked in front of the cabin, although the driver was nowhere to be seen.

"Think he's inside?" Daphne asked, shutting off the flashlight and tucking it back into her purse.

"I'd be willing to bet on it." I whispered.

We reached the front door of the cabin and Daphne immediately bent down and pulled two bobby pins out of their hair, bending one open before sliding them both into the lock.

"Hold on!" I breathed. "What if he's in there?"

"Then I'll make him wish he weren't." She smirked, flashing a can of pepper spray inside of her purse.

Daphne turned the knob gingerly and the door cracked open. She shone her flashlight inside, doing a quick scan of the room. Nothing stuck out as strange to us. It was a simple, one room cabin, with a quaint kitchenette and two large recliners positioned in front of a stone fireplace. Most notably, the man driving the pickup was clearly not inside.

Slowly, we stepped into the cabin, the floors creating obnoxiously as we did so. I suggested to Daphne that we had better split up, and we each veered off to a different area. While Daphne began to explore the cupboards (which she soon discovered to all be empty), I made my way towards the small living area. I stepped onto the cow hide rug and immediately noticed that something was amiss.

"Daph, check this out." I said. She wandered over towards me and I didn't waste time showing off what I had discovered. I stomped on the ground just a few feet away from the rug, producing a small thud. Next, I stomped again, this time on the rug. There was a much more definitive boom, which appeared to echo beneath the floor.

"Hollow," she noted, raising her eyebrows.

We each picked up a section of the raw hide rug, Daphne making a sour face as she felt the coarse hairs between her fingers. Between the less than tasteful rug and the aroma of cigar smoke which flooded the room, it was clear that the cabin belonged to a man. Whether that man was our pickup driver, or if he was merely a pawn in a larger operation, were factors unknown.

We pushed aside the rug, and at first we didn't realize what we were looking at. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the carved out shape of a rectangle within the old pine floor boards, and the iron handle which protruded from the side. I knelt down towards the floor and tugged up slightly on the handle, the doorway of what was clearly a hidden passage lifting slightly. I dropped the handle and the door slammed shut, a cloud of dust puffing up into my face.

I turned to Daphne, squinting under the scrutinizing beam of her flashlight. She nodded at me slightly, and I lifted the handle again, this time pushing the door all the way open and allowing it to rest against the worn leather of the two reclining chairs.

She shone her light into the passage, revealing a concrete staircase which disappeared into a sea of darkness.

"What do you think's down there?" I asked as I stood up, brushing the dust off of my black trousers. By the time I reached Daphne's side, she was already making her way down the stairs. I followed carefully after her, placing my hand against the cold wall to support myself.

Daphne reached up and pulled on the bathtub chain which hung from the ceiling, and the once pitch black room was flooded with a soft pink light. The room was small, and entirely made of concrete. Two rows of metal tables filled the space, each one equipped with a microscope, a small bowl of empty black pill capsules, and various small metal instruments, most of which I didn't recognize. Sitting on the table closest to us was the small brown package which Curtis had dropped at The Silver Angel.

"It's a drug lab." Daphne scoffed, picking up one of the strange metal instruments and beginning to inspect it.

"We don't know that." I countered. I snatched the utensil out of Daphne's hand and began to polish it with my tie, which I then used in place of a glove to carefully set it down exactly where she had grabbed it from. By the time I looked back up, she was already touching something else. I rolled my eyes.

"Yes we do." Daphne said very matter-of-factly, dropping something on the table in front of me. I picked the object up and brought it close to my face, furrowing by brow as I attempted to make out what exactly I was looking at. It looked like a gum package, or a sleeve of medication. It did contain pills, but they were jet black- unlike any medicine I'd ever encountered.

"I'd be willing to bet," she began, "that whatever's in those pills is the same drug that Shaggy's pal Curtis has been shuttling- the same stuff that's been in all of our victim's stomachs"

Daphne reached out and took the package delicately from my hands. She undid the clasp on her pink suede purse and dropped the pills inside.

"What are you doing?" I snapped.

"I want to keep these." She replied. "I have a feeling that they'll come in handy."

"You're insane." I noted as Daphne went back to touching everything in sight. She leaned down and peered through the microscope on one of the tables, turning the knobs mindlessly.

"You're into it." She noted with a sly smirk. My palms grew sweaty at the suggestion, and I felt a lump grow in my throat. Desperate for something to do with my hands, I began to roll up the sleeves of my button-up as I made my way towards Daphne.

"Yeah," I said, my voice hitching slightly, "I am."

Daphne stood back up silently, a shy smile playing at her lips. She leaned against the table, raising her brows at me expectantly. My mouth dried up instantly.

"That was stupid." I sputtered, not knowing what else to say. I scratched the back of my neck, looking anywhere in the room but at Daphne.

She stepped towards me, taking my face gently in her hand and pulling my gaze down towards her.

"Stupid? Fred Jones?" She teased, giggling slightly as she spoke. "Impossible."

I chuckled, and before I knew it Daphne was drawing my face down towards her own. Her beer-stained breath tickled my face and my eyes fluttered shut out of sheer bliss. I reached a hand out and cupped the back of her head, her soft hair sending tingles up my wrist. I could sense our mouths growing closer together, right up to the point where I could feel the warmth of her lips only millimeters away from my own. Then everything stopped, and we heard the front door of the cabin open, and the floorboards squeak as two more bodies entered the building.

Daphne pushed me away and we each began to scramble as the two people upstairs grew nearer. We dove behind one of the metal tables, our hands pressed against our own mouths to prevent any sound from coming out. Daphne squeezed on my other hand with all her might, but the act didn't feel romantic. We were terrified for our lives.

The two people made their way into the basement, heavy footsteps pounding against the concrete steps in time with our racing hearts.

"You're sure it was them?" A first voice asked sternly. "A blonde boy and a redhead?"

I cocked an eyebrow at the sound of the voice. There was something so familiar about it, but I couldn't quite place it at the time.

"I didn't get a good look at the boy, but she was a ginger. Hot, too- I know I would have liked to-"

Daphne rolled her eyes in disgust as the second man, presumably the man in the pickup, finished his rather perverted thought.

"At least they didn't take this." The first man said, no doubt referring to the package the pickup driver had dropped off. His voice was calloused and deep, and my mind raced trying to figure out who the owner was.

"Yeah," The second man added, "Looks like they're long gone now. Probably heard us comin' and snuck out the back."

My eyes perked up at this. We hadn't noticed a back exit when we'd first entered the cabin, but if there was one it could prove useful for my and Daphne's escape.

"I suppose you're right," The first man said, retreating back up the stairs. "We'd best tread carefully from here on out. They're clearly hot on our trail already, and my son is nothing if not persistent."

And then I recognized the voice.

We sat in silence for about twenty minutes after my dad left the basement, unmoving and in the pitch black, afraid that they'd be waiting for us when we tried to leave. The truth hung in the air between us, neither of us daring to touch on the subject.

I felt like I could scream. And so I did. I stormed out of the cabin and into the dirt driveway and began to scream over and over again until my voice hurt and my hands felt numb in the wind. I took fistfuls of my hair in my hands and yanked as hard as I could, just hoping to release all the energy that had built up in my body.

"Freddy, stop!" I heard Daphne call. She ran up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "We don't know that-"

"Forget it, Daphne." I snapped through heavy breaths. "We're done! Mystery solved! My father's a killer- or a drug lord, or whatever the fuck is going on here... Let's just go back home."

We were silent until Daphne pulled the BMW to a stop in front of my house. My dad's car wasn't in the driveway, but the van was. I supposed that meant that Shaggy and Velma had had more luck than Daphne and I.

"You're taking this back, right?" I asked as I climbed off the back of the bike, handing Daphne my bright blue helmet.

"Are you kidding?" She snorted. "Finders-keepers!"

I didn't have the energy to tell her she was committing a felony. I doubted she would have cared.

She didn't drive off right away. Instead she sat there watching me, her eyes sad and wistful, like someone who had just watched an infomercial about starving children in Africa, or rescue puppies that had been beaten and left for dead. In a way, it was sort of how I felt.

"Goodnight, Freddy." She said finally, pulling on the helmet and lifting the kickstand.

"Night, Daph." I mumbled.

I didn't bother turning on the light as I trudged into my bedroom. The digital clock which sat next to my bed blared the time (twelve-forty-seven a.m.) with a dark red glow, and that was enough for me. I traded my button-down and slacks for jeans and a hoodie, hoping for not only comfort, but for something that could hide my identity. I took the duffel bag from the top shelf of my closet and began to load it full of clothes and toiletries.

As I left my bedroom, something caught my eye: a framed photo which sat on my desk, of me and my father after one of my baseball games. I'd hit the winning home run, and my team had been ecstatic. They had been chanting my name as they hoisted me up onto their shoulders, and all I could see from that high up was my father, standing and clapping in the bleachers with the other parents. It was the only time he'd ever looked proud of me. We took the photo as soon as my team put me back on the ground.

I brought the photo with me as well.

I swung the door of my dirty white van open and tossed the duffel bag inside. I glared at the picture in my hand, squatting down and placing it on the pavement right behind to front wheel before getting into the van.

I caught my own reflection in the rear view mirror. My face was tear stained, but I didn't remember crying. My blue eyes were puffy and red, with bags underneath them. I looked almost as bad as I felt.

I heard the picture frame crunch as I reversed over it and out of the driveway.

That was the last time I ever saw my house.

oh boy things sure are heating up! i'll probably post chapter 7 early, and i'm really excited for it! make sure you leave a review!