A Nightmare Rides My Bus!
By: The Talking Absol
Chapter Two: Life at Home
"So kids, how was school today?" Mrs. McCarvic asked, trying to start a conversation when they walked in the door.
"Stupid." Rachel answered, still texting on her phone as she passed both of her parents and was up in her room in only seconds.
"Cool." Missy said, and then went into massive detail about her day, starting from the moment she had walked onto the bus until she had walked in the door.
When she mentioned Natalie, Walter started to explain that he had seen her sisters, but Missy kept talking, so as a polite gesture he was quiet until she finished, getting her and himself a snack to eat while doing homework. Their parents nodded along, looking ecstatic when she mentioned the new kid.
When Walter explained about seeing her sisters, Missy made a face.
"I still can't believe they put us in separate lunches." she mumbled, then quieter, "I wanna meet her sisters."
"Heh, well, they're both really, um, quiet." Walter commented.
"It's probably just because they're new to the school, or possibly new to the country from the way you described Sadaku, Walter." his father pointed out.
"Awesome!" he grinned, "Never thought of it that way…I just became friends with foreign kids!" He punched the air in celebration.
By the time they finished their homework, their mother had prepared dinner, and Rachel, smelling food, came down from her room and decided to spend time with her family. The running joke was that she was already a teenager- she was antisocial to her family when it came down to her friends, but required the family unit when she needed them, such as for food and comfort.
Ah yes, such was the life of Rachel.
She brushed her brown hair out of her eyes as she scarfed down the tuna, occasionally talking to point out interesting things in her day over dinner. When she brought up how her hair had simply refused to do anything right, Walter, once again, pointed out the fact she at least didn't have his hair. Nobody knew where or why he had gotten it- the rest of his family had brown hair, even his father. Nor freckles, which dotted their way across Walter's nose and some of his upper cheekbones. But, it must have been a recessive trait, most likely from his grandfather on his mother's side, who had also had orange-ish hair and freckles. But that bright of a shade? No one knew.
About the only thing he had in common with his family were his green eyes, which Rachel and their father had. Missy and their mother had those nice blue eyes.
Rachel smirked sarcastically. "Sure. Well, you're right. At least I don't stand out in a crowd like my head's on fire." She made a scrunched-up face, continuing, "But I still hate my hair. It just refuses to cooperate with me!"
"It'll pass, sweetie." Their mother stated, nodding sagely.
"I wish it would go along a lot faster." Rachel pouted.
…::Elsewhere in the city::…
A man waited in the shadows, calmly watching the world pass him by. Rain fell rapidly in sheets as cold as ice, but it didn't bother him. His casual brown hat didn't hide the glint of his sunglasses from the passing car headlights.
He looked up slightly at the payphone in front of him, finally making the decision to go up and dial a number.
There were several rings before the line clicked, and a dark voice asked, "Well, Charles?"
Charles, as that was the man's name, grumbled back, "Nothing, sir. I've been doing everything in my power, and they're still evading me."
"Well then try harder. I trust you; you're still one of the best at this."
"Thank you sir, thank you. But…" Charles inhaled slightly, feeling nervousness wreck his system, "…I think I will be a lot more danger if I continue this alone. I have a bad feeling about this next lead; I just…I think they're leading me into some kind of trap. Especially that one woman- uh- Miss Thompson. She's dangerous, and she knows I'm investigating them."
He shouldn't have been scared. He'd handled tougher cases while on this job, and still came home to see his wife and child every night. But something about this "company" gave him the willies…
"You've trained for this day, Charles." The dark voice softened sympathetically. "But, if you do need backup, just say the word."
His boss was right.
"No, I just…just letting you know. I'll call you again after this lead." He quickly hung up, feeling as if something or someone was watching him. He glanced around, but nobody was there except the person who was waiting to use the line. She smiled politely at him, nodding as he tipped his hat and moved on.
He fingered something in the inner pocket of his soaking jacket. Still there. Good then, he still had something against those Nightmare Hunters, as they called themselves.
The FBI had sent him to casually investigate their company, but what he had uncovered so far was twisted beyond his belief. It was full of crazy people that had, at some point or another in most of their lives, been locked away in asylums, and they were being given guns and ammo and told that whatever they thought had put them in the asylum, to go out and strike back. But that was all he knew so far; he still had a lot of work to do.
As Charles sauntered off into the night, the woman watched him, her green eyes glinting with deep-rooted anger, possibly a family trait. She ran a hand through her pixie-short, brown hair, and dialed another number.
It rang only once before a voice, more gravely but just as dark as the previous one across the line, picked up.
"Yes, Kate?"
"He's getting too close, Nightmare."
END CHAPTER TWO
Not all of the chapters will be this short, I can guarantee that. This is just mainly a sort-of background thing, along with setting up the characters.
And yes, Walter is weird. Glasses, freckles, bright orange hair…how much more COULD you stand out?
Everyone except for the woman on the phone belongs to me. If you know who she is, I'll give you a cookie! ^^
And yes, Charles is married. His child goes to Walter's school. She has his eyes and her mother's hair. Another cookie if you know who she is!