Chapter 2

"Well frizz head, here we are," Denise said as she put the truck into park.

Richie fidgeted with the door handle a few times and finally said, "the door won't open."

"I told you," Denise smiled, "hold on, I'll get you out."

Denise got out through the driver's side, went around and opened the door, letting Richie out.

"Thank you," he said.

"You want me to walk you to the front door?" Denise laughed.

"No thanks, I can manage myself," the redhead replied.

"Suit yourself."

Denise got back in the truck, stuck the key in ignition, turned around and left. Richie turned around and headed for the door.

"What's that noise?" Tessa asked.

"What noise?" Duncan asked.

Duncan listened closely and heard the door downstairs close and lock.

"Richie's back," Tessa said.

They stayed in their room and waited as Richie came up the stairs. They both noticed that the boy seemed exhausted.

"Richie, are you allright?" Tessa asked.

"Oh yeah, fine, just fine," he said.

"How was your night?" Duncan asked.

Richie stopped and turned back and headed into their room.

"Oh, there was this guy there and he brought his big brother and– the big brother decided to show everyone some techniques he's learned on the wrestling team. Guess who he used as the opponent?"

"You poor baby," Tessa laughed, "did he hurt you?"

"No, I was numb for a while but – they put me on ice and soon the numbness was replaced by frost nip," Richie explained.

Tessa walked over to Richie and placed her hands on his cheeks, "I don't know what must be colder, the ice they put on you or the cold air, Richie your cheeks are freezing."

"I know, and I didn't even walk back here," he responded.

"What do you mean?" Tessa asked.

"Denise gave me a ride back," Richie said.

"Well," Duncan said, "I think you better get into bed."

Richie turned around and walked out the door saying, "Good idea, goodnight Mac, Tess."

Richie yawned and stretched before he climbed into bed. Ordinarily he just went to sleep in his boxers and a shirt, tonight he didn't feel like freezing his thighs so he went to bed with his jeans on. He'd heard this was uncomfortable, but he'd done it plenty of times before so he knew it wasn't true. Besides, he could really care less about whether it was comfortable or not, he was exhausted.

And still nauseous, too, he thought.

After seeing that movie, Richie figured it'd be a wonder if he could even eat the next day.

Oh well, he figured he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. Richie pulled the covers up to his shoulders and fell asleep. He tossed and turned a few times trying to get comfortable, he grabbed his pillow to flatten it out when he remembered he had his magazines in there.

Man, if Tess ever found these, I'd be a dead man, he thought.

Richie reached into the pillowcase, took out the magazines and slipped them under his mattress.

Out of sight, out of mind, he figured.

Even with that taken care of, Richie still couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep, he rolled around for a while before he finally found the right spot, and he slowly drifted into sleep.

Richie sprung up in bed gasping for air, he found himself surrounded by darkness and it took him a minute to remember where he was.

Thank God, he thought, just a nightmare.

Richie shook his head as he laughed under his breath, now he was getting scared of nightmares.

Of course he remembered just why he was scared in the first place, it had been no regular nightmare. Richie heard something and he looked over at the door. The knob turned and it slowly opened and a large figure walked into the room and over to the bed.

"Hey Mac," he quietly said.

"Richie, are you allright?" Duncan asked.

Richie thought for a minute, had he been talking in his sleep? He couldn't figure what Duncan might've heard.

"Yeah, fine Mac, why?" Richie asked.

"I heard you screaming, are you sure you're allright?" Duncan asked.

"I was screaming?" Richie asked.

"A bit, is something wrong?"

Richie shook his head, "No, nothing's wrong, I'm sorry I got you up for nothing."

Duncan exhaled, "It's allright laddie, I'm just glad you're okay."

Duncan knew Richie wasn't telling him something, he could tell because Richie was shaking. But he was certain whatever it was; he wouldn't be getting it out of Richie, at least not tonight anyway.

Duncan lightly stroked the back of Richie's head and watched him become tense again, but he knew he wasn't going to hear anything more from Richie tonight.

"Well Richie I guess I'll see you in the morning," he said.

Duncan saw Richie was shaking harder and it seemed to hurt him when he breathed.

"Richie."

"Huh?"

"Is something wrong?'

"What?"

"You look like you're in pain, is something wrong?"

"I don't know. I just – I can't stop shaking and my chest hurts."

"Do your ribs hurt too?" Duncan asked.

"What?"

Duncan placed his hand on Richie's rib, he heard Richie hiss through his teeth in pain.

"Richie -I think you're growing."

"Me?"

"Yes you."

"That can't be, I'm almost eighteen, people don't grow at my age," Richie said.

"Sure they do, a lot of teenagers don't even grow until they are eighteen," Duncan told him.

"Oh," Richie said, "well that's a relief, I guess."

Richie threw back the covers and swung his feet around and headed to the kitchen. After he got a drink of water, he was about to head back to his room and try to go to sleep. First, he stopped in the living room and picked up the telephone receiver and dialed Denise's number, and waited, anxiously.

"Hello?" a female voice said.

"Denise," Richie gasped.

"Richie?"

"Denise, did you just have a nightmare?" he asked as quickly and as quietly as he could.

"No, I haven't gone to sleep yet – why?"

"No reason."

"Richie – please tell me that the movie didn't scare you that bad that you're having nightmares again," she said.

"No," he answered, "at least I don't think, – it wasn't about the movie but, –forget it, I'm going back to bed."

Richie hung up and headed back to his room. It used to be when they were younger, there was some kind of link or bond between he and Denise. If he had a nightmare she would too, if she was near trouble, he'd find her before anything happened. He guessed it must've worn off after they parted for so long. Richie got back in bed and brought the covers up over his body, but he wasn't sleeping. He wasn't even tired.

What is wrong with me? He thought.

Unfortunately, he didn't have an answer.

Tessa tied her robe shut as she came out of her bedroom and made her way across the hall. Her original intention was to go straight to the kitchen and start on breakfast, but she decided to save Duncan the trouble of waking Richie up so she went in and saw him lying on top of his bed with his face buried in the pillows.

She laughed at how cute Richie seemed in his sleep and she went over to him and shook him gently. He started shaking as his eyes opened automatically and he jumped around on the bed to get up.

"What happened?" he asked, "Oh, it's you, Tess."

"Thanks a lot."

"I'm sorry, I'm just exhausted," he said.

"Didn't you sleep well last night?" Tessa asked him.

"Not really, I woke up at three and couldn't get back to sleep so I did some reading," Richie said.

"Why couldn't you sleep?"

"Mac didn't tell you? He thinks I'm growing."

"What time did you get back to sleep?" Tessa asked.

"I don't know, I guess around 4:30…that's the last time I looked at my watch," Richie said, "sometime after that I went to sleep."

"Well do you feel like getting up already? It's only 7:30."

"Yeah."

Richie swung his feet around to the floor and got up.

"Where are you going?" Tessa asked when she realized he was following her out of his room.

"I'm going to give you a hand with breakfast."

Richie helped Tessa cook breakfast, but when it was time to actually sit down and eat, he was less than willing.

"Come on Richie, sit down and eat, your food's getting cold," Tessa said.

Richie looked at the grits and sausage and scrambled eggs and felt his face change color and turn pale.

"Come on Richie, you helped make this meal, you know what's in it so you don't have to worry about food poisoning," Duncan said.

"Sorry Mac, but I don't really feel like eating," Richie said.

"What?" Duncan sounded half-surprised, "are you okay?"

"I'm just not hungry," Richie weakly replied as he stood beside his chair.

"Well after last night I'd think you'd be hungry enough to eat a horse," Duncan said.

"Mac please, I just don't feel like eating," Richie said as he looked down at the floor.

Duncan had a feeling there was more to it than Richie was saying, but he also knew he wouldn't get anymore out of him unless he wanted to tell them. So Duncan decided to leave it at that.

"Richie," Tessa called, "phone for you!"

Richie went into the living room and took the receiver from Tessa, "Hello."

"Richie, can you come over?" Jeremy asked.

"Not sure, why?"

"No reason."

"I'll see," Richie lowered the receiver and placed his hand over the mouthpiece, "Hey Tess, you guys need me here for anything right now?"

"No, why?"

"Jeremy wants to know if I can come over."

"Are you feeling allright?"

"Yeah."

"If you're sure. –Fine with me, just be back before five," Tessa said, "they're predicting rain for tonight, so it might get dark early."

"Okay," Richie brought the receiver back up and slipped his hand off the mouthpiece, "I'll be there as soon as I can get there."

Richie hung up the phone and slipped on his jacket as Duncan came up.

"Well, where are you going?" he asked.

"Jeremy's," Richie said as he went past Duncan and down the stairs.

"Who said he could go to Jeremy's again?" Duncan asked.

"I did," Tessa said, "you haven't had any deliveries come in today, he's not necessarily needed for anything around here right now. Besides, I don't like Richie staying in the house all day."

"So you're sending him over to their house?" Duncan asked.

"What's wrong with that? They're his friends, and they seem nice to me. Besides, they spent so much time apart, let them catch up."

The door opened a crack and Denise looked at Richie, she closed the door, unbolted it and opened it again for him to enter.

"So what'd you guys call me down here?" Richie asked, "is something wrong?

"Richie Ryan I'm insulted," Denise feigned hurt emotion mixed with anger, "we ask you to come down here so we can give you some good news and you assume something's wrong."

"So there isn't anything wrong?" Richie asked.

"Not right now," Jeremy said.

"When we told you our parents were out of town, it was an understatement, actually they're out of state."

"A therapist and a lawyer go out of town, on business?" Richie asked.

"They had some clients who couldn't exactly make it back here," Jeremy said.

"Anyway, they're both in Oregon, and they had a horrible snowstorm last night, so they probably won't be home for at least a week," Denise explained.

"And you're not worried about them?" Richie asked.

"Richie, they're just over in Oregon, not in the Antarctic," Denise said, "they'll be fine –I'm trying to get it through your head that since they won't be home soon, we can come and go around here as we please."

"Well that's great."

"Sure is, now –when does your warden want you home?" Jeremy asked.

"Before five."

"And what time is it now?" Jeremy asked.

"Quarter to one," Denise glanced at her wristwatch.

"Wonderful."

"So frizz," Denise said, "what were you up to last night after I took you home?"

"A growth spurt, eventually," he answered.

"Oh yeah," Denise smirked, "I thought you looked taller."

"Already?" Richie asked.

"No," Jeremy answered, "she just loves jerking you along."

"Apparently," Richie nervously laughed, "uh, Denise."

"What?"

"Exactly how much do you know about that uh – fruitcake living in that former slaughterhouse?"

"Enough to know to stay away from him, why?" Denise asked, "did you see him again on the way down?"

"No."

"Good."

"Why?"

"Because I don't trust him," Denise answered, "that's why."

"Nobody in their right mind would. That's why nobody ever visits him," Jeremy added.

"That's right," Denise said, "ever since he moved in, the only people who have come to visit him are the deputies, and hookers."

"Come again?" Richie asked.

"A couple of times the sheriff's deputies have been up there to serve him some papers, but for the rest of it, these two dollar hookers can be seen heading in there sometimes. If you wanna stick around for the night, you could get lucky and get in on the peep show."

"Really?" Richie asked with a trace of interest in his voice.

"Yeah, see he's got those tacky blinds that you draw them shut and people can still see in," Denise said, "especially at night when all the lights are on."

Denise pointed to the main window in the other room, Richie went over to the window and looked and could get a good view of one of the rooms on the second floor in Manson's home.

"Well you know," Richie told them, "that could be arranged. I heard Mac say on the phone that he and Tess have to go out of town for a few days – meet up with an antique dealer who's coming into the country."

"And they couldn't just meet right here in Seacouver?" Jeremy asked.

"He's from Germany, has a friend over in Seattle he's visiting, and he found this as an opportune time to talk to Mac about some things, of course he doesn't know I know yet, because I was listening in on the phone call. But he's going to ask me whether I want to go with them or stay with someone here, probably tonight," Richie explained.

"Excellent," Denise said.

Richie continued peering out the window and saw a dog run onto the property.

"Hey Denise, there's a weird dog out here!" he bellowed.

Denise came to the window and looked out, "Oh," she said. She turned and went to the door and whistled, "get over here, mutt!"

Jeremy and Richie followed after her, it was a large, skinny, trimmed black and white shitzu puppy with a Mohawk. The dog went over to Denise, she wrapped an arm under its stomach and picked it up.

"Denise, is that safe?" Richie asked.

"Sure, this dog is harmless, he lives right over on the next block, about three houses up from Mason," Denise replied.

Denise walked over to Richie with the dog in her arms, Richie backed away from it. "Don't worry, Richie, he won't bite, even if he does, he's had his shots, see?" Denise ran her thumb and forefinger across the dog's collar and brought up a red heart-shaped tag. It was the kind dogs got from the vet after they had their rabies shots.

"If you're sure," Richie said.

"I am, he's done this a couple of times before, see," Denise pointed up to the house where the dog lived, "he's out on that tree a lot, they have one leash wrapped around it, and they hook his leash onto that and leave him out. But a couple of nights ago he got loose without even breaking his leash, he took off in the middle of the night and came over here."

"I don't know what he sees over here, but he sure seems to be attracted to it," Jeremy added.

"I'll be back in a minute," Denise said, "I'm gonna take this mutt back before they notice he's gone."

"Come on Richie, let's get back in before we freeze," Jeremy said.

The boys headed back into the house and watched from the window as Denise carried the dog across the street, up to the next block and up the sidewalk, went around the house over to the tree and hooked the leash back onto the ring in the dog's collar. Then she made a beeline through the yard, across the street, took a left and headed back to her house.

"Now that is an usual dog," Richie said when she came through the door.

"It's a shitzu," Denise said.

"Never saw one built like that before," Richie said, "it looks like a horse."

"Well he's also part cat so he might have his reasons for being built odd. He comes over now and then so if he does that during your stay here, you know what to do."

"Well I think I'll call Mac and see if he'll let me stay here while he's gone," Richie said.

Richie went into the dining room, picked up the phone and dialed the store.

"Damn, it's busy," he complained as he hung up, "I'll have to go back and ask him in person. But I'm pretty sure he'll say yes."

"And we'll be waiting for you," Denise said. She turned to Jeremy who was looking back towards the window, "Hey Jeremy, get a bed ready for Richie—Jeremy? Jeremy?"

Denise noticed Jeremy was glancing half at them and towards the window, not moving a muscle, his teeth clenched together.

"What's wrong?" Richie asked.

Jeremy blinked and fully moved his eyes towards them, "Look—over—there—" he grunted through his teeth, gesturing towards the window.

Denise and Richie looked at each other for a second, then went over to the window and looked.

"What is it?" Denise asked.

"I don't see anything," Richie added

"He saw you," Jeremy said.

"What? What're you talking about?" Richie asked.

"Who?" Denise asked.

"Mason," Jeremy replied.

"I think you're getting paranoid," Denise said as she turned away from the window.

"I agree," Richie added.

"He saw you," Jeremy repeated.

"So what? Let him look," Denise said, "if it's cheap thrills that get him going—well they don't get much cheaper than looking at us, now do they?"

"Denise, I think he's got something planned," Jeremy said.

"Something planned, like what?" Richie asked, "A séance? A sacrificial ritual? Perhaps he'll cast a spell to raise the dead?" by now, Richie was laughing.

"Why don't you just go home and get the say-so from your warden?" Jeremy asked, gritting his teeth at Richie.

"I'm on my way, I'll be back soon," Richie said.

"Fine," Denise replied as he headed out.

"Hey Mac I wanted to—" Richie walked into the store and stopped in his tracks when he saw who the current customer was that Mac was helping.

"I'll be with you in a second, Richie," Duncan said, "So Mr. Mason, what do you think?"