Disclaimer: I do not own the Lost Boys. However, I reserve the right to change events to suit with how my story will progress. In the movie: theirs. Not in movie: mine.
Chapter Four: Rose Tint My World
Santa Carla was at one point in time the most desirable resort location in the United States. From the late eighteen hundreds to the early nineteen hundreds thousands of people wandered through the town, seeking a refuge from the stresses of common life.
The resorts would take tourists to the nearby mountains for peaceful hikes, boat rides, and dips in heated water swimming pools.
However, the most impressive resort, one built on the face of Hudson's Bluff, the Atlantis Hotel & Resort, the most luxurious resort in the tri-county region fell straight through the Earth in the 1906 earthquake that decimated California.
After this the tourists stopped coming in the massive droves that they had been. The other resorts either closed their doors or moved to other areas on the California Coast. Hotel Twilight, as the locals began to fondly call the remnants of the once opulent building rose over the horizon, sharp peaks peering over the edge of the world, was forbidden to all citizens of Santa Carla.
The city degraded, changing to a small town that had to create gimmicks to seduce the crowds of people that were once thronging on the beach. Thus, the boardwalk was created, a more open public environment, filled with shops and locals desperate for the revived tourism.
It was successful to a degree.
Instead of families coming for a wonderful weekend getaway, there were groups hoping to use the desperation of those who lived there for their own nefarious needs. It became a home for gangs, drug addicts, the lost, the hopeless, and the desperate. With this influx of this new vulnerable population, this new prey, it makes sense that predators would move in with them.
People began to go missing. One by one by one. Just one or two a week for a while, until it became a nightly occurrence. It began with the runaways. Then those who were members of gangs, the cheats, pickpockets, murderers, and monsters disappeared only to be found sometimes in horrific conditions with their bodies torn apart.
A manhunt ensued; the livelihood of the very city was at stake. The cops combed the streets, talking to the tourists, shaking down people who were of a questionable occupation. Multiple arrests were made, hundreds of people were taking to the station, questioned, and released.
Then the killings stopped. It stayed quiet for decades, enough time passed that people forgot that there had even been killings in the town itself.
Then they started again in 1985. This time however, there were no bodies ever found. Only the fluttering stark white sheets pinned onto a board at the beginning of the Boardwalk to show evidence that there were people here.
In this environment, the predator that can walk through the crowds is the most powerful creature in the world.
All predators run with packs though.
When night fell; the largest pack of Santa Carla stirred. Raucous laughter filled the caverns of the old hotel as they ran from the depths into the main lobby. Dwayne was first, eagerly looking around the room.
His face fell as the only other people that he saw was Star and Laddie sprawled out on their opulent bed. He stalked over to the bed and roughly pushed aside the hanging curtains. He jerked Star up into a sitting position and shook her roughly.
Star's hands flew to the hand on her shoulder, claws embedding into Dwayne's wrist. The snarl he released made her freeze.
"Where are they?"
Her eyes darted around the room, seeking out the dark corners as if the girls were hiding away. Another harsh jerk made her snap her eyes back up to Dwayne.
"I don't know. They were here before I fell asleep. I…I don't know."
"Hey, there's a note!"
Paul's voice smoothly interjected. Dwayne released Star roughly before moving to Paul by the fountain. Marko raised an eyebrow at him before shrugging. David sat in his wheelchair, legs crossed.
"Hey, thanks for taking care of Rebekah last night. Sorry to inconvenience you. We'll see you if we see you. Thanks, Allison and Rebekah. What the hell?"
The more he read the more irritation was audible in Paul's voice.
"It wasn't an inconvenience. And who writes like this anymore?"
"Obviously they do."
"Shut up Paul."
"No."
Dwayne snatched the letter from Paul's hand. He reread it multiple times before groaning and putting the letter down.
"They were here. We had them here and now they're gone."
"They weren't dogs. You couldn't just tell them to stay and expect them to obey."
"Star, don't you start with me. Just keep your mouth shut and your head down."
"Dwayne."
David's voice caused everyone to freeze.
"Relax."
Dwayne growled before he stalked over to the couch and collapsed upon it. Laddie, who had been silent this entire time, wandered over to him and sat down by him, resting his head on Dwayne's shoulder.
"Where would they go?"
Laddie questioned, voice whispering with downcast eyes.
"Wherever they've been staying. Chill, little bro, it's not like we won't see them again. They've been on the boardwalk for a couple of days. It should be easy enough to find them again. After all, they are staying at the Sand & Sea Inn."
Paul was filled with optimism at the knowledge. He was confident that it would be easy enough to find their sisters again.
"And, with that head wound they can't travel very far. How bad was it anyway?"
"Bad enough. It was bleeding like a motherfucker. She woke up on the way over I kept her talking to me the entire time. It turned to shit once we got off the bikes though. She touched her head and just started screaming at the blood. Took Allison and me forever to calm her down enough to actually let me look at it. She's cut about two inches so I stitched it up and gave her some pain meds. Basically, she's going to be in a shit mood for a while."
Marko bit at his thumb with more vehemence angrily pacing along the fountain.
"Well, then, do you think we should visit them first or eat?" David's interjection was unexpected and cut through the tension that was surrounding the group.
"Let's eat. My mood gets better when I'm full." Dwayne spoke stalking up the edge of the stairs. "Laddie, come on, you can ride behind me."
Laddie eagerly hopped up, fears over his sisters relieved, and happiness etching back into his cherubic face. He cheerfully rushed up the steps with Dwayne close behind, hand outreached to catch him if he happened to fall.
Paul meandered slowly afterwards with Marko stalking soon after.
"Star?"
David's cool voice interjected towards the silent brunette.
"Yes David?"
She responded reluctantly.
"I know this wasn't your fault, so I won't blame you for them being missing. But you need to be careful, Star. This is your endgame. You need to play it better. You know as well as I what will happen if you fail."
"I know David. I'm trying."
"Try harder."
David's voice was harsh but his eyes were softer, a mixture of affection and pity.
Star had been here for years, spending every night out at the boardwalk with the boys and Laddie when he wandered into the pack. There had been many good times, the boys were exuberant and love the life that they had been gifted. There was never a night that the boys didn't want to celebrate life.
But there had been bad times as well. These seemed to come more and more for Star. The boys hadn't changed, Laddie hadn't changed. She had. And these changes began to chafe at her relationships with the rest of the pack.
She began to hate this life.
However, she didn't want that life to end, no matter how unhappy she was with it at the moment. It would get better. Star believed this with every iota of her being. This would not be the end. This was another chapter and a new one would begin soon.
"Come on Star."
David softly urged Star up the stairs to the impatient pack mates above.
The Santa Carla boardwalk was exceedingly crowded as it always seemed to be in the summer.
Rebekah meandered slowly through the crowd following the lead of her younger sister who had her hand grasped tightly in hers.
"Come on. We're just getting food and returning this movie then we're going back to the room. What do you want to eat?"
Allison asked over her shoulder.
"I…think that something easy would be nice. I don't feel so good still."
"Alright, so let's return the movie first and we can ask that owner about a place that serves soup or salads or something near here. Sound good?"
"Yeah, that sounds good. Do you think there's chicken noodle?"
"No place worth their salt wouldn't have chicken noodle."
Allison smiled softly over her shoulder, the knitting between her brows belying the soft expression.
"Oh. Good."
Allison kept them moving slowly but surely through the crowd. She was quietly glaring at people who did not move out of the way quickly enough to suit her.
"Just a little further."
Allison kept gently tugging on her older sister's hand to keep her in line behind her.
The bright lights of Max's Video were blindingly colorful compared to the warm glows of the streetlights and the muted carousel of colors along all of the boardwalk's rides.
"Can I just sit on the bench right there?"
Allison turned to look at her sister who was gazing longingly at the wooden bench.
"Alright, you stay right here and don't move. Alright? I'll be right back."
Allison helped Rebekah sit and then turned into the doorway. Pushing the glass door in with a cheerful jingle from the bell above the doorway, she almost groaned at the line that she was welcomed with.
Why are there so many people here tonight? Was there a special on rentals? Was everyone and their dog returning their movies?
"Ugh."
Rebekah tilted her head to stare into the window of the shop behind her.
"I don't think this is going to be quick."
Rebekah took off her jacket and rolled it into a small ball before placing it on one side of the bench before lying down and resting her head on it gingerly.
Her feet curled up and a slight shiver wracked her form.
She closed her eyes and let herself drift, shivers occasionally coming when the cool ocean breeze washed over her.
She started as a weight settled over her and a warm scent of leather and ocean swam into her senses.
"What? What? Who?"
Rebekah struggled to get back up and tried to push her hair out of her face.
"Easy little sister."
She was gently pushed down by a hand on her shoulder. She huffed the hair out of her face and looked blearily at the figure in front of her.
"Dwayne?"
"Yeah, stay down. How's your head?"
"Everything is a little fuzzy sometimes, so I have to sit down or lie down. I have a major headache. Allison kept waking me up every two hours to make sure that I would wake up. I haven't been able to check on the back of my head. Ali checked on it but I haven't tried to. I'm kinda scared to."
"You can be scared. It's scary what happened."
Rebekah turned over to look at Dwayne and gave him a weak grin.
"So, why exactly are you outside alone?"
Dwayne asked, lifting up Rebekah's legs and sitting down before placing her legs on his lap.
"Allison is inside returning a movie. She's gonna interrogate the owner for a decent place to get some soup near here. It's a very important mission. Cause I am taking it so easy today, tonight, tomorrow. And I want chicken noodle."
"Comfort food?"
"Ohh, yeah."
They fell silent, sitting comfortably together watching tourists move to and fro.
A loud ding caused them to both turn to look at the door where Allison stomped out of the store.
"Three things: one – we are never coming back here on a Saturday. It is ridiculous and these people are idiots. Two – Mr. Max needs better help and he has a beautiful dog. That is for you Rebekah. When you feel better we will come back so you can see. Three – there's this little place, the Sea Breeze Tavern, that has a very decent chicken noodle and potato chowder that is slightly more money than we're used to spending on food, may in fact not let us in further than the doorway, but is close and has soup. So, oh hello Dwayne, are we going for your chicken noodle?"
"Oh, cool. I say we meander there then go to the hotel room. Chill out time and relax. Maybe more painkillers?"
Rebekah moved her legs off of Dwayne and gave him back his jacket before un-crumpling her jacket and putting it on. She got up while steadying herself on Dwayne's shoulder.
"Alright," she said swaying softly from side to side, "Let's get going."
Dwayne moved swiftly in front of Rebekah before kneeling down.
"What are you doing?"
Allison questioned him tilting her head to the side.
"Get on my back. You're not steady enough to walk all the way to that tavern. I know the place too. This will be easier for everyone all around."
Rebekah stared at Dwayne's back for a good long moment before subtly shrugging.
"He's offering."
She essentially fell onto his back and let him rearrange her to his satisfaction.
He took a few steps to be in line with Allison before kicking out his arm in a sharper angle and giving her a pointed look. Allison sighed before wrapping her arm around his and resting her hand on his bicep.
"Move on, my valiant steed." Rebekah slurred out.
The small group walked silently until they got near the end of the boardwalk.
"Hey, is that Laddie? Little dude! Laddie boy! Yo! Hey!" Allison surprised them by shouting out.
Rebekah turned to look at her with an eyebrow raised.
"What?" Allison shrugged, "I like him."
Laddie turned his head from the rest of the pack. His face brightened up from the dejected expression that he had worn since rising that night. He raced to the small group shortly followed by an exuberant Paul and almost as fast Marko. David refused to run but followed at a more sedate pace.
"Hey, you're looking a little pale there little sister." Paul interjected energetically.
"How's the head wound?" Marko asked.
"Well, it's there. It's throbbing. You should probably check out the stitches and everything because you were the person who put them in. How did you know how to do that by the way? And early warning: there is still blood all over my head right by the scratch. Ali said that we shouldn't get it wet."
"Where are you all going?" David interrupted.
"The Sea Breeze Tavern. We are going to go get some chicken noodle soup. Then we are going to go back to our hotel room and eat and watch TV till we lose consciousness."
Allison spoke up while getting in between the boys and her sister. She reached out and laced her arm around Laddie's shoulder before twisting back to look askingly at Dwayne.
"Lead on captain."
Dwayne nodded before he began to walk away with Allison following shortly afterwards leading Laddie along. The boys shrug before falling in line behind them.
The aura surrounding the group just reeked of familial affection and just a hint of restrained violence.
Rebekah gently sighed and rested her head upon Dwayne's shoulder, a soft smile upon her lips.
The group was silent as they walked along the boardwalk, Dwayne carrying Rebekah and Allison in the center of the pack.
Rebekah's eyes kept sliding closed before she would jerk herself awake. Allison held onto Dwayne's arm barely looking ahead because she was watching her sister so closely. Laddie walked on Dwayne's left, his little arm reaching up to gently hold onto Dwayne's jacket underneath Rebekah's leg.
Marko was strutting behind Dwayne's group with his arms crossed behind his head, looking nonchalant to the untrained eye. In truth he was watching the strangers around him carefully, ready for any situation that might arise. Paul was walking alongside Allison an arm slung companionably around her shoulders. David was walking by Laddie one of his hands resting on his head.
After five minutes of walking a small weathered wood storefront was visible on the edge of the boardwalk. A small sign was hanging on from a pole near the front door 'The Sea Breeze Tavern'. It was placed in a more civilized portion of the boardwalk and the people coming to and fro from the restaurant were clothed in fancier garb than any of the group had on.
"Oh boy."
Rebekah muttered under her breath.
"What's up, lil sis?"
Marko questioned as he moved closer and placed a hand gently on her back.
"Look at that." She gestured over to the restaurant. "They are not even going to let us through the door."
She sighed and then rested her head back on Dwayne's shoulder. Dwayne looked over at her before readjusting her on his back and striding determinedly towards the restaurant entrance.
David looked over at the crowd acknowledging that the amount of stress that his sisters would be forced to go through walking around that crowd only to be rejected, possibly rudely, would make a poor situation even poorer.
He moved until he was in front of the group forcing Dwayne to stop in his single minded mission to get to the restaurant.
The ugly sneer that Dwayne shot him made a single eyebrow rise up in askance. Dwayne slightly jerked his head towards Rebekah's head resting on his shoulder.
David smirked.
"How about you just wait here then?"
Rebekah raised her head from Dwayne's shoulder and attempted to focus on David's face. He frowned slightly before clearing the expression. It was clear to him that Rebekah had a concussion, the magnitude of that he would let Marko determine.
"What do you want to eat?"
He spoke low and steady and watched as Rebekah's eyes cleared up from the haze of dazed confusion.
"All I want is some chicken noodle soup." She turned to look over at Allison. "What do you want Ali?"
Allison gazed at her sister fondly.
"I think some chicken noodle would be just fine."
"Cool."
Rebekah shifted on Dwayne's back as if she wanted to get down but Dwayne held onto her legs tightly. Instead she just leaned back almost unbalancing herself but Marko supported her back. She dug into a zippered pocket in the inner left side of her jacket. Pulling out a wad of crumpled bills she separated the group and straightened them out.
Rebekah reached over Dwayne's shoulder to hand two crumpled twenties at David. He looked down at them like they were something disgusting. Rebekah emphatically tried to get David to take the money.
He finally glanced at her as if she had personally insulted his mother and grandmother.
"Dude, I'm hungry and they aren't going to just give you the food. Take the money. Do you want anything Laddie hun?"
Rebekah kept the money waving towards David but her attention had moved on to the little boy to her left.
Laddie looked up at her, eyes shining and a small ecstatic smile on his cherubic face.
"I'll have the same as you if you don't mind."
"We don't mind sweetie."
Allison spoke as Rebekah reached down to gently run her hand through Laddie's hair. Allison took the money out of her hand before stomping over to David and shoving the bills into his hand.
"Food costs money. You need this."
David turned a cold stare on Allison. She twitched and nervously shifted from foot to foot but didn't back down from his stare. A twitch in the corner of his mouth was the only expression before he turned and walked towards the restaurant.
Dwayne moved to the side of the boardwalk where a small copse of benches were placed. There was a small plaque telling who donated the money for the benches in the center of the little plaza.
An older lady was sitting on one of the benches holding her purse tightly on her lap.
She watched the group walk by her and sit on the benches across from her. She nervously nodded her head towards the group before averting her eyes to the door across the street.
David had just reached the entrance and strode in, the crowd at the door parted for him without a conscious thought.
Marko had moved behind Rebekah on the bench and was gently moving her hair out of the way of the stitches. He hummed gently when he brushed her stitches and she flinched softly. Paul sat down in front of her, Laddie hanging along his side, and began to rambunctiously tell a story about a fisherman and the carousel.
Dwayne and Allison both hovered nearby watching as Marko checked the stitches. There was blood matting her hair near the wound but the stitches themselves seemed fairly clean. The entire area around the wound was mottled black and purple and was raised into a large goose egg.
Marko hummed noncommittedly before moving towards Rebekah's front.
Rebekah was chuckling at the story that Paul was telling but seemed to not be following what the story was about.
Marko moved her head towards him and placed his hand in front of her eyes blocking the light from the streetlamp from shining on her face. He waited a moment before moving his hand back to his side and watched her eyes.
He tsked.
"That's not a good noise."
Rebekah spoke wryly staring at Marko.
He blinked thoughts a thousand miles away, before focusing on Rebekah. He shot her a quick grin.
"Good news or not as good news?"
"Tell me the bad news first."
Paul shook his head.
"Not as good news lil sis. Not the same thing as bad news."
Allison snorted.
"Fine," Rebekah conceded, "tell me the 'not as good' news first."
"You have a concussion."
Rebekah and Allison both looked at Marko incredulously.
"Um, yeah, we already figured that out. I've had a couple before so I know how they feel. We know what to do about them."
Dwayne cast a sharp glance over at Rebekah at that statement but held his peace.
"Hardy har har. This one is a doozy, so pain medicine and I think Allison should wake you up every hour or two again after you fall asleep. You can wash your hair but avoid getting the stitches wet. Try a wet washcloth on the matted hair, it should loosen them up. Other than that food and water and rest."
"Cool, now good news?"
"The stitches look good. You don't have any bleeding or popped stitches. Keep it dry and we'll check on them later on in the week to get an idea of when they can come out."
"Shit."
Rebekah cursed and laid her head gently onto the back of the bench.
"Shit?"
Paul questioned bemused.
"We're supposed to be going back to Chicago at the end of the week. I don't think I'm going to be able to ride with my head in this condition. And Ali can't ride for very long before needing a break. It was going to take us a couple of days to get home. Now we're gonna be late. Shit."
Allison frowned.
"It's just a few days. I'm not in school right now, its summer. I don't have a job and neither do you. Another week here won't kill us."
"We only have the motel room for another five days."
Both of the girls fell silent at the thought of being stranded in Santa Carla with no place to stay. The idea of living on the boardwalk, surrounded by the rough element already out there, with an incapacitating injury gave them chills.
Dwayne began to shift anxiously, feeling the shift in his sisters' emotions. They were beginning to show tension and fear and that was unacceptable in his estimation. Paul and Marko were not far behind though they both focused more on the fact that their new sisters were going to attempt to leave them behind. They would just make sure that they didn't leave. Simple enough.
"You can stay with us."
Laddie broke through the tension with calm ease.
"Hmm?"
Rebekah hummed and raised her head to look blearily at Laddie. Allison moved closer and sat on the bench's armrest.
"You can stay with us. Well, we have to talk to David first but he'll probably say yes. Then you just stay with us until you get better. That way it's even easier for Marko to check up on you and you would be able to relax."
"There are not a lot of places to sleep in that cave you guys stay in."
Allison leaned into Rebekah's side as she reached over and gently stroked Laddie's head.
"Yes there are!" Paul jumped up to enthusiastically pace in front of the small group. "It's an old hotel! There are plenty of rooms with beds and everything. We'll get one ready for you!"
He was all bright grins and smiles, eager to make a space that could be called his sisters' and would encourage them to stay with their new family longer.
Rebekah was significantly less enthused. She was nibbling on her lower lip with her brows drawn together in concentration.
"That hotel isn't exactly safe, is it?"
Laddie snorted.
"You only looked at the entrance to the hotel. The first couple of rooms in the hallway aren't that nice, but once you go further on there are rooms that are really nice. We've been checking them out for years. It would be fine to go and sleep in them. We might need to change the sheets on the beds though."
Allison perked up, hope blossoming in her eyes. Rebekah blinked tiredly.
"That could work," Allison grinned gently nudging Rebekah, "we could just stay for another week or so and then drive back to Chicago."
Rebekah frowned and rubbed her eyes.
"How're we supposed to get our luggage home? And it might be more than just two more weeks. I can't ride with a concussion and you know that."
Allison waved her hand in a negligent fashion.
"We can ship our luggage home. And it's the middle of the summer. We can stay here for a month and still get home in time for me to go to school."
Rebekah chewed her bottom lip.
"We'll need to call home and tell mom. And your dad."
Rebekah sounded like she didn't want to talk to either of them.
"There's a pay phone on the boardwalk. I'll explain everything to them. It'll be fine."
Rebekah looked severely unimpressed.
Dwayne was looking down at the ground and smiling to himself. A couple of weeks for them to convince his sisters that staying here and joining the pack would be the best thing that they could.
Paul and Marko simply grinned at each other over Rebekah's shoulders. Laddie moved closer to the seated girl.
An influx of noise made the group turn to see David exiting the restaurant. He was sneering and holding a large white plastic bag.
Rebekah perked up a little stomach growling. She reached her hands over, opening and closing them.
"Ooh, food. Gimme! Gimme!"
David smirked.
Allison nudged Marko further down on the bench with her hip and sat beside her sister who had moved her feet off the bench. David arrived and divvied up the three containers of soup among the group.
Allison peered over towards the empty bag flapping in David's weak hold.
"No spoons?"
David snorted.
"They didn't have any plastic spoons."
A mischievous smirk appeared on his face.
"Soo," Suddenly three spoons were held in between each of his fingers of the hand not holding the bag, "I snatched some."
"Wicked."
She reached over grabbed them and handed one to both Rebekah and Laddie. Laddie sat on the only other unoccupied bench and David and Dwayne followed him to sit on either side of him. They didn't talk; the only sounds were of slurping and muffled noises of appreciation. It seemed like no time at all before all of their food was done.
Rebekah sighed in contentment leaning to rest against her sister. Allison wrapped her arm around her sister's shoulders and carefully nestled her cheek against her sister's head. Paul moved Rebekah's feet off the ground to lie on his lap.
They rested there for thirty minutes or so before Paul placed Rebekah's feet down on the ground before standing up. He stretched onto his tip toes, arms reaching for the sky.
"Alright, it's getting late. Time for you guys to go to bed."
Allison snorted.
"You gonna tuck us in bed?"
Marko nudged her back.
"The sun's gonna come up soon. Ya need to sleep. We need to sleep."
Rebekah nodded.
"Yeah, you're right."
She moved to get off the bench but Dwayne was in front of her in an instant. She huffed before wrapping her arms around his shoulders and letting him carry her again. They began to walk back to the boardwalk with the rest of the group surrounding them like planets orbiting the sun.
The woman on the park bench stared off towards the group. The longer the group had spent in her vicinity and ignored them the more she relaxed. They looked like ruffians, sounded like ruffians, but acted like a family.
'What a lovely group of kids.'