Chapter One
Hi. My name is Casey Emerson. I'm from Phoenix, Arizona. I have two brothers. My older brother Michael, who's 18 and my twin brother Sam, who's 16. Here's the story. My Mom and Dad got a divorce, and now Mom, Sam, Michael, and I were moving to Santa Carla, California. My and mine twin's hair was a sort of dirty blonde to a light ash brown, and we had green to hazel eyes. Depends on the color of our clothes or the weather. Sam had his hair short, I had mine to my shoulders, and up with hairspray and stuff, making it look all poofy. Hey. Its 1987, man. Sam liked to wear clothes that looked like someone's tablecloth. I liked the tightfitting shirts and holey jeans. We had a lot of things in common, and we also had things that we didn't have in common. Like this: Sam likes to sing in the bathtub. I don't. But, I love him all the same. Sam, Michael, and I are really close. There's the saying "two peas in a pod". I say, "We're the three green apples in a basket full of red ones". Mainly because we're different, and because we're close.
Anyway.
We were sitting in a car full of old people music. Sam turned the knob.
"Keep going." He said.
"Hey, I like that song." Mom said to him. The station turned to where some guy was speaking fluent Spanish on the radio.
"Keep going, Mom." Sam said. He turned it again, and it went to a classical station.
"Oh, how about this?" Mom asked.
"No." I said.
"Hang on." Michael said, leaning forward from the backseat, and changing the channel.
"I don't see any bogeyman or nasty guys." Said the dude on the radio.
"Michael. Sam. One of you. Change it." I said. I shook my head. That announcer dude just had to be on drugs. Sam changed the channel to a country station.
"Pretty cool, Mom, you know. You wanna switch the dial?" Michael asked.
"Yes, please." I said. Mom changed it. Blues music began playing.
"Oh, this jams." Sam said, sarcastically.
"Quite right." Michael agreed. He rolled his eyes. I smirked.
"It's rockin'." I said. Sam and I high-fived.
"Gosh, you guys are rough." Mom said. She changed the channel.
"His pain, discomfort, manipulation—" the announcer said.
"What the hell?" I muttered. Thankfully, Mom didn't hear me, or she would have my ass.
"No, no." Sam said, changing the channel. Again. Groovin', by The Rascals began playing.
"No." Michael said.
"Oh!" Mom exclaimed. Michael, Sam, and I looked at each other.
"Keep going." We said.
"Oh, wait, wait, wait. That's from my era." Mom said. She began singing off-key. I loved my Mom. I did, honestly. But, seriously, she needed singing lessons. We looked at each other again.
"Keep going." We said again.
"Keep going, okay." Mom said, and changed the channel, a smile on her face. People Are Strange by Echo and the Bunnymen began playing.
"Yes." I whispered, and began singing along. Michael looked at me.
"You're such a freak." He said. I smiled, knowing he didn't mean it.
"I know."
"Hey, we're almost there." Mom said.
"Mom, what's that smell?" Sam asked. Mom took in a deep breath.
"Ah, that's the ocean air."
"It smells like someone died."
"Aw, honey. Look, guys, I know the last year hasn't been easy, but I think you're really gonna like living in Santa Carla."
Yeah. Right. I looked back at the welcome sign. It said MURDER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD.
Well. That's a good sign. Not.
```~~~LATER~~~```
We got out, and walked around. I cannot tell you how many freaks there are. Sam and I ran over to Mom, Nanook by our side. Nanook was the family dog, but he was more attached to Sam out of all of us.
"Mom." Sam said.
"Yeah?" Mom answered, filling up the car.
"There's an amusement park right on the beach."
"Sam, tell those kids to get something to eat." Mom pointed to some kids that looked like they hadn't eaten in forever. I walked over to where Michael was.
"Is there any jobs around here?" he asked.
"Nothing legal." The man answered. I raised my eyebrows. Michael turned, and he jumped five feet in the air. Well, not literally. But he still jumped.
"Hi." I said, smirking. Michael rolled his eyes, put his arm around my shoulders, and we walked back to the car. He then got on his bike, (more like motorcycle), and we saw Sam telling those kids to get something to eat. I got back in the car, along with Sam and Mom. I took a good looked around. There was a lot of missing posters. Later on, we made our way up to the cabin in which we were going to live in with our grandfather. I loved the guy. Honestly, I did. But he was weird. We got out, and looked around. Michael, who had followed us on his bike, got off, and looked around. Sam was the first one to get out. I was being trampled by Nanook on the car ride, because I wanted to take a simple nap in the backseat. That didn't turn out too well. I got out.
"Come on, Nanook." Sam said. Nanook barked, and then got out. Everywhere you looked, there were carvings or dead animals. I jumped, but then remembered Grandpa was into taxidermy. How, I have no clue. It was probably a hobby, or something. But it wasn't something that I would consider. We saw someone on the porch, lying down. Since no one else lived here, it had to be Grandpa. We cautiously made our way to the porch, and saw Grandpa on the ground. Mom knelt down next to him.
"Dad? Dad?"
"Looks like he's dead." Michael said.
"No, he's just a deep sleeper." She placed her hand on Grandpa's chest.
"If he's dead, can we go back to Phoenix?" Sam and I asked at the same time. Mom sent us her warning look. Grandpa sat up.
"Playing dead." He said. "And from what I heard, doing a damn good job of it too." He then began laughing.
"Dad. Oh, Dad." Mom said, as they hugged. Sam, Michael, and I just looked at each other. We walked inside with some bags, and took a look around as we headed into the kitchen.
"This is a pretty cool place." Michael said.
"Yeah, for the Texas Chain Saw Massacre." Sam said. I looked around, and touched a lamp shade. I shuddered, and followed my brothers into the kitchen.
"I just touched a lamp shade made out of fur." I said.
"Come on, guys, give Mom a break." Michael said.
"What's wrong with this picture?" Sam asked. He set some stuff down. "There's no TV. Have you seen a TV? I haven't seen a TV, Mike." He set something that was the paper, possibly, and the dog bowl (both of which he was hauling on his head) down. "You know what it means when there's no TV? No MTV."
"I can live without that." I said. Sam looked at me.
"I can't! I gotta have my MTV!"
"Sammy, we're flat broke." Michael said, lifting weights. I heard Nanook barking outside as Sam walked upstairs to choose his room. Michael soon followed. I rolled my eyes, and looked at my book that I had brought in, but had not begun to read. I opened it, and started on the first page. Soon, I heard Sam laughing, and then feet pounding on the stairs. Well, that broke my attention from the book. And now, I desperately thought about becoming a Greaser. Just to hang out with Ponyboy and his gang.
"Mom. Mom, you've gotta help me." Sam said, running past her. I came out of the kitchen as Michael came down after him.
"Soon." Mom said. She saw me and Michael running. "Hey, guys, no running in the house."
I ran over to some doors, squeaked, and then moved out of the way of my brothers. Sam opened the doors, and revealed Grandpa's taxidermy office.
"Talk about The Texas Chain Saw Massacre." Michael said. Sam and I laughed.
"Rules." Grandpa said, making up whip our heads to look at him. He was looking at us with a suspicious eye. "We've got some rules around here."
He led us into the kitchen, and opened the fridge door. There was a cover on the second shelf that said, OLD FART. Sam was leaning on the fridge door as Michael looked out the window. I just stood in front of the fridge.
"Second shelf is mine." Grandpa said. "That's where I keep my root beers and my double-thick Oreo cookies." Grandpa let go of the cover, took the fridge door (making Sam jump off of it), and closed the fridge. "Nobody touches the second shelf but me. Now, there's another rule around here, and I want you to pay close attention. Don't touch anything." Grandpa walked off. I opened the fridge, and then jacked an Oreo, shoving it into my mouth. Michael snapped his fingers, and pointed to a plant outside the house, and acted like he was smoking. Sam pointed to Grandpa, and Michael nodded. Sam, Michael, and I laughed as he headed out of the kitchen. "Everything is exactly where I want it to be." Grandpa continued. Michael had his arm around Sam, and Sam had his arm around him. I just walked by my twin's side, trying to hold in my laugh.
"Hey, Grandpa, is it true that Santa Carla's the murder capital of the world?" Michael asked, slapping Sam's hand away.
"Well, there are some bad elements around here." Grandpa said. We stopped walking as Mom walked in, holding some clothes, and two hats on her head.
"Wait a second. Let me get this straight." Sam said. "Are you telling me we moved to the murder capital of the world? Are you serious, Grandpa?"
"Well, now, let me put it this way." Grandpa said. "If all the corpses buried around here were to stand up all at once, we'd have one hell of a population problem."
"Great." I said, sarcastically. Sam and Michael looked at each other, and Michael had his mouth form into an 'o' shape.
"Great, Dad." Mom said, sarcastically, and then left the room. The four of us neared Grandpa's taxidermy office.
"Now, on Wednesdays, when the mailman beings the TV Guide, sometimes the address label is curled up just a little like that." Grandpa explained. As he was speaking, my two fool brothers were doing things to annoy each other, like sticking their finger up the other's nose or something along those lines. I put my finger in my mouth, and then gave Michael a wet willy. Michael shook his head, and his finger went into his ear, trying to get my spit out. Grandpa continued. "Now you'll be tempted to tear it off. Don't. You'll only wind up ripping the cover, and I don't like that." He walked into his office. "And stay out of here." He began to close the doors. Sam held them open.
"Wait, wait." He said. "You have a TV?"
"No. I just like to read the TV Guide. Read the TV Guide, you don't need a TV." Grandpa explained his strange logic. Sam removed his hands, and then Grandpa shut the door.
"If you read the TV Guide, then yes. You need a TV. Now I'm gonna miss The Honeymooners." I shook my head, and rolled my eyes.
"Man, Grandpa has some weird logic." Sam muttered.