Runaways:

Southern Comforts

Chapter 2

One Wild Night

by Ri-kun

How is one supposed to react when they learn the youth minister is a serial killer, and worse? They never covered this in those edification classes my mom made me take growing up, so this was really outside my territory.

The fresher bodies looked as if they could have belonged to people our age, or maybe even younger. I must have puked a dozen times or so before my head began to clear. My brain just wasn't doing that great a job of processing what was all around us. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one. Nicole had been crying for several minutes now. O-Ren had her arms around her, providing comfort, but she too was sobbing quietly right alongside. I would like to have done something real manly and chivalrous, but my stomach hadn't finished reviewing what I'd eaten that day.

Miguel wasn't doing any better than me, but this really wasn't the time to poke fun. The whole room was a scene right out of Hell; there just wasn't a different way to describe it. And each time I remembered what awaited me the moment I raised up, my intestines heaved again. I was getting sick of this, pun intended!

The only one among us with man parts that hadn't lost his lunch yet was Gabriel. I had to give my buddy credit; he was holding his own. Small though in stature, he'd definitely proved his ownage of a pair in that moment where I was concerned. His face was even paler than usual, and the skinny frame that stood near one of the mutilated corpses radiated a painful desperation. I almost went over and threw my arms around him, but then remembered section twelve of the Man Bylaws.

Joking was the only way I could make myself function right then.

"Lets..." I gasped, trying to keep my voice somewhat steady. "Let's just... get the fuck outta here!"

Silence for a moment. "I'm with you," O-Ren spoke then, giving Nicole a shake. "Are you okay, honey?"

Nicole raised up, and I saw that her face was dry. Her face had swollen to the point that she was almost unrecognizable, but she wasn't crying anymore. That made me straighten my back and stand all the way up.

"Good," I told her, trying to sound gentle. My brain was screaming at me to hurry and run, but I was determined that I'd be as calm as possible for her sake.

"We'll go back upstairs," I continued. "And ask Jeff..."

"Why he's been keeping butchered human corpses in his basement?" Miguel finished, sharply. "What the hell kind of freak is he?!"

"Let's just go, Miguel," Nicole whispered audibly. "We'll worry about everything else later. For now..."

Nicole stopped talking suddenly, and whirled around. At the same time, the wall behind her gave way a little, and side to the side. A red square glowed in the spot where her hand had been just a second ago. O-Ren stared at the new doorway for a second, then backed off.

"No way!" she swore, holding her hands up. "No freakin' way! I don't even wanna guess what other skeletons are in Jeff's closet!"

"What's in there?" Miguel asked cautiously, as Nicole stuck her head in. "It's not more dead people, is it?"

I really did not want to go in there, but the instatable crush inside me that'd been lusting for so long spoke volumes at that moment. Against my better judgement, I found myself walking, albeit slowly, over to where she'd just left. Before I'd gotten halfway there, though, she stuck her head back out.

"No bodies!" she said quickly. "But, you guys need to come see this. It's... weird!"

"Weirder than this?!" Miguel asked incredulously. I had to agree with him privately, but since Nicole had said there were no bodies, I walked ahead of everyone else. Gabriel came up just behind me, just as quiet as before. I wanted to know what his secret was, but then we were on the other side. What we saw there really was weirder!

"It's like, some sort of museum!" Nicole said, gesturing around at everything.

And it really did! This area was a hell of a lot bigger than the meat locker we'd just walked out of. There were statues and carvings all over the place. The walls were layered over with paintings that looked centuries old. Most of it should have come over from another country, but a lot of it I didn't recognize. And history was one of my better subjects!

"Look at this," Nicole indicated to no one in particular.

I walked over to where she stood, and saw she was holding up a small, round object with a clear glass center. It was cylindral in shape, but one end was larger than the other. There was a sign hanging next to the platform where she'd picked it up from.

'Psychic Spyglass', it read. 'Hold up to the left eye and watch your friend's aura change colors based on their mood. Circa 1889 New England Empire.'

"I never knew they hand this sort of thing back then," I remarked, feeling somewhat stupid given the situation.

"I don't think they did," she whispered. "There never was a New England Empire, at least that I've heard of. I wonder what else there is here."

"'Thamaturgical Ink Pen'" she read aloud. "'Write messages on paper that are magickally transmitted to the person in question. Only they can read it! Caution: Receiver must be someone you know, or at least have seen a picture of. Circa 1944, Old Japan Kingdom.'"

'Thieves Blade. Press to any lock and watch the liquid metal fit in seconds. Outlawed in 2017 after infamous Billy Idol, Jr. incident!'

'Seer's Ring. Decode secret messages and encrypted script. Banned in South Africa from 1976--2001! Usage may turn skin green.'

'Gravity Magnet Boots. Dance on the ceiling in style! Must have license to operate following 2193.'

"He's a time traveller!" Miguel cried out, making all of us jump. "No, serious! I've read all about this sort of thing online. There really are people who travel between time lines and visit alternate futures and stuff. We need to look for either a telephone booth, a car that resembles an old Model-T Ford, or a big blue Police Box!"

O-Ren shook her head sadly. "You spend way to much time watching the BBC America!"

"Jeff's an evil time travelling serial killer," he insisted. "I'm sure of it!"

"Just like ten minutes ago, when he was a relocated superhero working undercover? I think we need to get out of here!"

"Best idea I've heard all night," I agreed. "Let's hurry up before Jeff finds us."

"Too late!" Gabriel whispered.

The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs made my blood freeze up. Each of us looked to the other for a plan, but it was Nicole who began sweeping things up into a bag. She then seized me by the arm, and dragged all of us over to a corner next to a statue of what looked like Ed McMahon dressed as Buddah. Nicole was fighting to squeeze a watch-looking device on her wrist as the shadow of Jeff passed over the entrance to the room. Just as I thought we were all doomed, I saw Nicole press a button on the watch's side, and the world exploded in a brilliant flash of green light.

The next thing I knew, we were all landing in soft, wet grass. It was dark outside, and my insides felt as though they were fighting a battle royal against one another. It literally felt like I'd been turned inside out! I thought I'd thrown up everything in me that night, but apparently I was mistaken.

No one else was puking, but they didn't look all that great. Nicole raised up first, and helped pick me up off the ground. I tried to get an idea of where we were, but it was very dark, and my eyes were still swimming with unshed tears. Lucky for me, she went over to check on O-Ren and the others.

"What..." O-Ren stammered, getting to her feet. "What the hell was that?!"

"Teleportation watch!" Nicole gasped, moving over to Gabriel. "At least, that was what it said on the display case. It seemed like the best way for us to get out of there alive!"

"That's a matter of opinion," Miguel grumbled. "So, where did you teleport us to?"

"No idea," she reluctantly admitted. "The watch was already pre-set. I just pushed the button and prayed it would take us out of there! I don't think we're very far from Jeff's house, though."

"Marvellous!"

I was getting real sick of Miguel's attitude, but Nicole was leading O-Ren and Gabriel up the hill. I followed, and saw we were not far away from the main highway. Jeff's house was indeed not far from him.

"I guess Jeff must've set the watch in case he needed to make a quick getaway," she mused, looking over at me.

"Must have." My head was clearing a little, but I was still reeling from what we'd seen.

"What do we do now?" Gabriel asked, looking between Nicole and myself.

I wished then that I had an answer for him. No one else seemed to have any great ideas, either.

"We go home," Nicole said finally. "At least for now. Tomorrow, after school, I'll show my parents what we took from Jeff's house. It'll be good to have something along that'll prove our story. If we all go together, they should believe us."

"Is that why you took that stuff?" I asked, pointing.

Nicole nodded. "There wasn't time to get anything from the other room, and I really didn't want to touch... you know."

I did know. "Right," I said. "So, I'll see you guys tomorrow at school?"

It took me a minute to realize that none of us had a way of getting home. Jeff usually drove us when the night was over; we would have been piling into his SUV right about now, going from one house to the next. Without him, we were stranded on the side of the road.

Nicole, meanwhile, had pulled out her phone and was dialing a number one-handed. I watched as she spoke for several seconds with what sounded like a computerized voice, then hung up. "Taxi cab service," she explained, putting her phone back. "I don't have enough cash to get us all home. Can you guys make it back on your own if the driver takes us to the mall?"

Miguel was the only one who really complained, but I was getting used to the sound of it by now. It was strangely comforting to hear something normal after what we all just experienced together. I'd always read that living through something horrifying brings people closer together. At the moment, the only thing going through my mind was how much I wanted to get away from everybody. It was as if some part of me had been corrupted by what I'd seen. I hated myself for it, but I wanted to go home more.

The cab showed up about twenty minutes or so later. I was beginning to feel cold standing out in the damp air, but no one else had said anything yet. I wasn't about to be the first to complain; that was Miguel's job! We all rode in equal silence, acting as if everything was perfectly fine. I wanted to scream the whole time, but didn't. If I started screaming, I don't think I would have stopped. When the driver pulled into the mall parking lot, Nicole paid him and got out first. No one was really sure what to say, so I stepped forward.

"Tomorrow," I said firmly, hoping my voice really wasn't warbling as badly as it sounded. "We go to Nicole's parents, and we tell them what we saw. If they don't believe us, I'll talk to my mom and dad. Convincing them will be easier if we show them the bag, so be sure to bring it with you, Nicole."

"My parents will believe us!" she said, sounding oddly calm. "You should tell your parents too, though."

"I won't be telling mine," O-Ren spoke up loudly. "No amount of proof would convince them of something like this."

"Mine either!" Miguel agreed.

"Tomorrow," I said again, trying to etch the word into my brain. "Tomorrow!"

We walked away from each other after that. I looked back several times to make sure everyone was still in sight of me. After this night, I would never want to be alone again! My mom would have to buy me a new nightlight, one that required halogen bulbs.

It was a long walk home for me, though not nearly as far if Nicole hadn't been able to afford the cab. I swore to myself then that I'd pay her back. I'd left my wallet in my desk drawer that evening with all my money in it. My mind stayed fixed on it to keep from thinking about anything else. The tree branches overhead were starting to take the shape of the corpses in Jeff's basement. My stomach gave a hard lurch, and I walked faster. This night was never going to end for me!

I did manage to make it home, a feat for which I deserved the world's biggest Cadbury Egg! My feet trudged up the steps to our three-story house. My parents had already gone to sleep, apparently, so I was left to slip in with my shoes off. My mom might have yelled at me, but I was in little danger overall. Joseph had been caught slipping in far later than it was now; the clock said it wasn't even midnight yet!

Once upstairs, I caught myself heading down the hallway towards the wrong room. Last year, when Joseph went away to college, I moved into his old bedroom. He'd bragged for years about his being larger than mine; the moment he was out the door, I claimed it as my own! My old bedroom was now empty save for a few boxes containing old childhood memories I had no need for anymore. Turning around, I made my way back to the doorway at the top of the stairs, where my room now was.

The only thing I wanted to do was sleep, yet I didn't feel tired. It really wasn't all that late, though I would have gone to bed by now to wake up for school, had things not turned out the way they did. The idea that Jeff was a monster capable of slaughtering people, and then leaving them butchered in a hidden basement sounded laughable. Miguel's theory of him being a time traveller still hadn't registered with me. There had been all that junk in his basement, too...

Standing, I ran over to my closet and slid it open. My old Dance Dance Revolution mats were in here, but I hadn't used them since the arcade at the mall got their own machine in. It'd been a while since I played by myself at home. Tonight seemed as good as any to drag them out, and if this didn't tire me out enough to where I could sleep, nothing would!

The mats were the kind they made way back when the game was first getting popular; flimsy and easy to slip on. I had apparently tossed them farther back in the closet than I realized, which meant me crawling on my hands and knees to get to them. As I did, my head banged up against something hard to my right. Rubbing the spot and cursing up a storm, I gave thanks that mom couldn't hear me, and gave a look at what I'd bumped against.

It was a piece of wood sticking out oddly from the wall. A low-hanging jacket that'd belonged to Joseph before he left kept it covered, which was why I never noticed it before. The jacket had been a gift from one of dad's business friends, and looked incredibly ugly. Come to think of it, I couldn't remember ever seeing Joseph wear it before!

Curious, I gave the little piece of wood a jiggle, and it immediately slid up into the wall. At once, the back of the closet directly in front of me slid forward an inch or so, then off to the left. A secret compartment lay open in front of me all at once. My heart was pounding irregularly as I leaned up a little to peer inside. Thankfully, it wasn't all that big, which helped to reassure me that I was simply being paranoid. There were probably lots of houses in Meridian that held secret passages here and there. Apparently, mine was one of them!

Even if my crazy theory was true, I doubt other people's secret passages had what mine did! I had to move everything out of the way, and pull my clothes all the way over to the other side to get a good look. Even then, it took me a moment to figure out what I was staring at.

It resembled some kind of hi-tech ninja outfit I'd seen in a movie once. My very first girlfriend, whom I learned was cheating on me a month later, had insisted we go and see Ninja Robo-Assassin 4. It was an alright movie, but I wasn't that big a fan of Hugh Jackson. Now, one of the props was staring me right in the face from my closet!

I couldn't resist taking it out for a quick look-see. The material felt like leather, but it was softer and firmer all at the same time. Joseph had tailored the suit to fit his size, but that didn't stop me from trying it on. The moment I pulled the pants over my skin, something really strange started happening. It was like the material was shrinking down to fit right over my skin. I put the other leg in slowly and pulled the pants up. They went to being a little loose on me, to being almost too tight in about three seconds!

The rest of the costume did the same thing. My mind fought against it, but I was beginning to worry that I hadn't stumbled onto a secret-but-harmless obsession that my older brother had tried desperately to keep hidden. There was a small bo staff sticking out of a slot hanging crossways from my spine. I was actually pretty damn good with one, having spent several years of my life training with different karate instructors. The staff was my favorite weapon of choice, even though Joseph could still beat me with it! I pulled it loose and examined it carefully.

It hadn't been in my hand five seconds, when my finger slid over a switch built into the side. The staff went from being about a meter long to roughly ten feet in the blink of an eye! I almost dropped it, and fumbled for the button that would make it collapse again. Instead, I made the damn thing even longer! My room wasn't big enough to handle something that long; plus, most of my anime posters were in serious danger of being torn to bits! Finally, I located the switch and collapsed it back to it's original shape.

Something cold slid over me as I examined the staff once more. Joseph had always hated anime; he'd made it a point to make fun of me at least once a week for watching it instead of doing something more constructive, like getting laid. He wasn't the sort to collect figurines and cosplay outfits, either. My room was filled to the brim with them, on the other hand. I'd have loved to have something like this a few years back. Seeing it now, in the room that once belonged to my older brother, my mind began putting together a very ugly picture. I wasn't sure what it meant, even after several long minutes of contemplation. Two secret panels in the same night, however, was too much of a coincidence.

And I'd never believed in coincidences, anyway!

For the next several hours, I paced constantly in a circle downstairs in the living room. The ninja uniform still clung to my body in several uncomfortable places, but I hadn't bothered taking it off yet. Wearing somehow made the thoughts I kept having more real. And for some reason, keeping them tangable was very important to me. I couldn't figure out why; the only thing stopping me from going upstairs, throwing the damn thing back in the closet, and going to bed was my overactive imagination.

That, and the nagging feeling that I would be denying something very obvious.

Finally, I made myself stop wearing a track in the carpet, and thought long and hard about what was happening. The only place in the whole house I'd never been allowed to go as a kid was my dad's study. I didn't want to go in there now, for fear of what I could find. I didn't want to know if my parents had secrets. In my world, they were perfectly normal and incredibly cool people that just about everyone else my age would want to trade for. Jeff had been a good friend, in spite of the age difference. Seeing what we saw in the basement had destroyed that in one fatal swoop, leaving behind a very black gaping hole that just wouldn't close up.

I didn't want to know what my parents might be keeping from me. Of course, there was also the possibility that this was just something Joseph alone had been a part of. I still wasn't sure what 'it' might be, and hadn't explored the thought beyond that much. If Joseph was mixed up in something awful and secretive, that was just fine with me. So long as the rest of my family didn't participate, I could live with it! I could go right up those stairs and sleep just fine.

But not...

But not until I knew for sure.

Doing this felt like an extreme form of self-abuse; the bad kind, I mean! I really couldn't explain what made me head to the back of the house where my father's study was kept tucked away. My only excuse was that the whole of my existence had been shattered. One betrayal had been bad enough, but the hint that there were skeletons in my own family's closet gnawed at what remained of my insides like a rabid beaver! I needed proof then and there that things hadn't changed too much. I wanted to know that my parents would believe me in the morning when I woke up and told them about what we found. I wanted clear evidence that they weren't somehow mixed up in it!

I wanted...

I wanted my goddamn brain to shut the hell up for a minute!

My dad's study looked pretty typical. He never kept it locked, since we all knew not to disturb him when he was in there with the door shut. It felt strange to me, being in there, like I should turn around and run out. I almost did, but resisted and shut the door quietly behind me. It still sounded way to loud, but nothing from upstairs suggested that they heard me. Plus, my parents slept on the third floor, on the opposite side of the house.

I stood there for the longest time, looking around and wondering where to start. It didn't look like there was enough space to have any kind of secret passage or compartment. Almost every square inch of wall was blocked by something. The room really wasn't all that large; I think my dad told me once that it'd originally been a storage room before he converted it. And besides that, I was starting to feel very stupid about this whole thing.

My parents weren't serial killers. They weren't a part of whatever sick, twisted hobby Jeff had been involved in, and more than likely, neither was my older brother. I was letting my mind run away with me, making up complicated conspiracies like Miguel constantly did. Although, the uniform in my brother's closet was pretty strange. So was the secret panel it had been hidden in, but I told myself that mom or dad one would be able to explain it in the morning.

As I marched purposely back down the hallway, my foot tripped over something lying near the side of the wall. I was turning into a real klutz, and nearly screamed aloud a very nasty swear word that would have assuredly reached my mother's ears, no matter how many floors above me she was! As it were, I managed to break the head off of this stupid monkey statue that was resting on a small table setting near the mouth of the hall. Seeing what I'd done, I sighed and stood up to survey the damage. Our house was full of old antiques that dad bought when he was stationed in Japan for several years. This one was holding a staff similar to the one strapped on my back, and riding on a thick cloud. As I looked closer, the dim light revealed that the head hadn't been broken off at all.

It was flipped back, showing a single red button that glowed in the dark.

I waited about two seconds, then jabbed a thumb against it. Another passage opened, this one just to the right of the statue in front of me. Sure enough, there was a set of stairs behind it, these spiral and much more elaborate.

At least, I thought to myself, heading down them. If my parents are killers, they have great taste!

It wasn't much comfort, but I was willing to take what I could get at that point. The staircase led down to an expansive room far below, one that had a very high ceiling and automatic lights. The room, once my eyes adjusted, was covered in the kind of mats they use in the Olympics; the type that people fight on. There were all sorts of weapons hanging from the walls, just like what you'd see in a kung fu movie. Across the room in front of me was a hallway.

I was praying the entire time I walked across the room to that hallway; praying that my parents were really just leading secret double-lives as Hollywood movie producers. Or, at this point, even actors! Just like Mel Gibson's kids!

There was no way I could have mistaken where we lived for Australia, though, or mistake what I saw farther in. There were more weapons, and these hadn't been crafted centuries ago in the mysterious far east. They were the sort of stuff that army surplus stores couldn't get their hands on! It looked like my parents were getting ready to fight a war with all the guns, explosives, and grenade launchers stacked one on top of the other. Some of it looked a bit precarious, too. It took all my resolve just to keep from running out the room; there was too great a risk that I'd blow myself up knocking something off.

At least O-Ren would have seen the humor in it.

The last room was the worst. There weren't any dead bodies lying around haphazardly in a Saw trilogy fashion, at least. I didn't see any blood on the walls, and there weren't any stuffed body parts hanging from the ceiling. The only thing that really occupied the room was computer screens. There was a single chair resting in front of the biggest one, and it felt like someone had been sitting in it recently. The leather was still warm.

What was on the screens made my blood run cold, though. It was all going by very fast, so I only caught bits and pieces. I kept telling myself that this was all just a big misunderstanding, that any second my mom would be behind me, wondering what I was doing up so late on a school night. Dad would take me into the kitchen for milk and cookies like he used to do when I was a kid. They'd explain all of this to me, then I could tell them about the horrible things I'd seen in Jeff's basement. They'd both be mortified, of course, but neither of them would blame me. Mom would give me a hug, while dad phoned for the police. He'd always gotten along really well with the police, I remembered suddenly.

Mom would tell me... how brave I was...

Neither one of them came, but the words on the computer screens kept right on going. None of it stopped, not even when I tore myself away and fell down on the rug sobbing. My whole world crumbled around me at that moment. I couldn't make any of it stop, anymore than I could make the truth less real.

At least I couldn't throw up again. My insides were too hollow!