⊹⊹ 2 ⊹⊹

Shelana awakes in a startle by the sound of a closing door. A sigh of relief washed over her when she realizes it wasn’t hers, but her parents’. She looks over the side of her bed, questioning if the events of last night were some crazy dream or if there really is a weird boy sleeping on her floor.

…There he is, in all of his slobbery obscurity. He hugs the pillow to his face as if it were the only lifejacket on a sinking ship, and he had to fight to get it. If he’s here, she thought, that must mean whatever creature was making those noises last night was real, too. 

She entertains the thought of being a monster hunter as she gets out of bed, slipping her dainty feet into her fuzzy pink slippers. She shuffles the few feet to her door and slips out of her room. She spends the next ten minutes talking to her parents as they dodge her presence in the kitchen in attempts to continue their morning pre-work routine without disruption. They sometimes work Saturdays. When they leave, she spends the next eight minutes figuring out breakfast for the boy asleep on her floor. She knows nothing about him. Does he have allergies? Does he like eggs? Does he have any food sensitivities I need to be concerned about? Everyone likes eggs, though, right? I think so. Scrambled eggs it is, then. She then spends twenty minutes trying to scramble eggs without burning the house down.
The smell of charring food wakes Ryker up with a startle. Not because it smells bad, but because his subconscious was warning him that his life was about to end in flames and he should probably do something about it. By the time he sits up he realizes that there is no fire and he’s safe in...a room that isn’t his.

The memories of the night before begin to flood back to the front of his brain- it wasn’t a crazy dream. Instantly his reaction is to tell Valeriya…or would she just think he got high and needed an excuse to cover up his freshly-trashed bike? Or she could get scared and ban him from leaving the house for the rest of the summer? That wouldn’t be like her, but crazier things had happened in the last twenty four hours. He gets out of his makeshift blanket bed and contemplates as he puts on his shoes. He considers going back out through the window and pretending last night never happened. But something pulled at him. What if she is passed out or something? And, like, the house burns down and she dies and shit, and all of it could have been prevented if I just glanced and made sure no one was, like, in mortal danger or whatever… He continues to contemplate when Shelana opens the door wide to her room.

“Oh! You’re up! Good morning, uh, I made breakfast!” She smiles at him as she leans her body weight onto the door handle.

I could have gone through the window.

“So that’s what that smell is? I thought that was the smell of home insurance fraud you were cooking.” He can’t help but let out a soft chuckle at his own joke.

She looks puzzled for a moment before her face turns a bright pink, “I don’t usually cook breakfast, okay? I usually have cereal- but I figured since, y’know, I had a guest over that maybe I should make a better breakfast than corn flakes.”

“Sure, yeah, I getcha,”
“Well, c’mon then..!” She turns on her heel and heads to the kitchen.

Ryker grabs his bookbag and follows after her, the burnt smell making his stomach knot. He sits down on a barstool at the counter and watches her as she dishes up the plates, setting one of them down in front of him.

“Ta-da~”
The eggs are about the darkest damned eggs he has ever seen. If he were to place them on freshly paved asphalt, you wouldn't be able to spot them. This scared him almost more than that bird monster.

“So...Eggs, huh?” I really should have just jumped out the window.

“Maybe…”

They sit there in awkward silence as they both contemplate what to do next.

Would it be rude if  I said I didn’t want to eat whatever the fuck this is?

Should I tell him he doesn’t have to eat them? I worked so hard on them. They don’t look too bad, do they?

How the fuck do you even burn eggs this badly? I’ll need my stomach

pumped if I eat them.

Maybe I should have just made toast. But what if he didn’t like whole wheat? Or maybe I would have burnt that, too?

He clears his throat, “So, uh. Do you cook much?”

“No, not really. If I’m being honest, I’m not that good at it.”

“Uh-huh. Who could’a guessed.”

The awkward silence continues.

I should have made oatmeal. You can’t screw up that, I don’t think?

Sweet Jesus, this chick could burn water.

Should I offer him cereal instead? He doesn’t look too pleased with the eggs.

This is getting weird, I should say something.

I don’t want to make a girl cry, but I don’t wanna die either.

“So, uh...I don’t think I can-”

“Do you want some cereal?” A look of defeat started to spread across her face.

He continues to look at her, trying to think of any way to keep her from getting bummed out over her failure to cook basic eggs. “That or the number for poison control- it can’t be all that bad, right? Uh, I’ll take a bite if you will?”

“Oh, um. Sure, why not?” She gives him a smile.

“On the count of three. One. Two….Three.” He takes a bite of egg into his mouth and immediately begins to cough- it tastes like he took a bite of the ocean, a very peppery ocean. He couldn’t even see there was pepper on the eggs. He looks to Shelana for her reaction which was pretty much the same as his. “S-Salty!” He coughs some more but can’t help but chuckle how much worse the eggs were than he had even anticipated.

She nods, trying to force the egg down, “I-I’ll get us some cereal.”

Shelana goes to the cabinets, getting a couple of bowls down, “So are you doing anything this summer? Would you maybe, uh, wanna hang out?”

Ryker manages to force the egg in his mouth down, “What, don’t have anything better to do?”

“Do you?” She sets the bowls down, getting the box of corn flakes from on top of the fridge, filling the bowls with the cereal.

“Not really, I guess.” He shifts his position in the stool, as he begins to recount their conversation from last night, “You really want in on that monster thing, huh?”
“Yeah,” She gets skim milk from the fridge, pouring some into the cereal as she tries to think of leverage- she wants to help find out about this monster. Even she knows that her life has been sheltered and boring- this feels like a way out. “I want to help. Remember you said we’re friends now? And, you also kind of owe me- you’re alive because you jumped into my room.” She sets a bowl and spoon in front of him.

“I remember, I was there.” He chuckles and sighs as the cogs in his brain turn. She doesn’t seem too bad, I guess.  “Well, no offense, but I’on’t know your stuff- have you written any before? Like, recording and reporting.”

“No, not really- but I read a lot! That’s got to count for something?”

Ryker takes a moment as he continues to think. Uncharacteristic thoughts begin to rise from his subconscious; all of the words of encouragement from his family and grown friends for him to make friends his own age begin to outweigh his self-developed nature of making enemies out of everyone. And just like that, suddenly, he begins to wonder, Maybe if I just-…try a little bit…and if it fucking sucks- if the worst happens, then I’ll go back… He begins to speak again, “I suppose…Okay, how’s this- I need to do an article on the football team’s summer training and recruiting, they’re supposed to be starting today. What if~ you came with, and I guess, maybe, I can show you how to go about taking proper notes to then write an article with?”

Shelana’s face lights up and she nods so quickly her head about flies off her shoulders, “That would be fun!”

Another unfamiliar feeling, anxiousness looms in the pit of his stomach, “Rad, okay then we can do that. Meet me at the front of the school at 1:45- practice starts at 2.”

“I will! Let me give you my number,” She goes to the fridge, taking a notepad and its accompanying pen off of the top. She writes her number on the corner as she returns, ripping it and giving it to Ryker.

Ryker looks to the piece of paper for a moment before taking it. “Thanks. I should, like, give you my number too? I guess.”

“That’d be good, thanks!” Shelana hands him the pen and pad, an untamable smile on her face.

“I guess if I can’t reach you, I know where ya live, huh?” He looks at her with a slight smile and she lets out a giggle. Setting the pad and pen down, he slides off of the barstool and throws his book bag over his shoulder. “Thanks again, Callahan, for everything.” He slips her phone number into his pocket.

“No worries! And please, call me Shell. We’re friends now, after all.”

“Like, the ocean? Sea shell?”

She gives him a nod, “Yup!”

“Huh. Alright, call me Ryker, then...Not Scott”

She gives him another nod, accompanied by her smile as she begins to show him to the door, “Sure thing! I’ll see you in a while!”

“1:45.” He gives her a salute with his index and middle fingers as he heads out of the house, letting out a sigh of relief once he walks away from the door, “God.” His jumbled bike catches his eye, “God.” He pulls out his camera and takes a photo before stowing it and his camera away in his bag. He then walks into the yard and grabs onto the handlebars and back tire as he begins to make his trek home. He tries his best to stay off of the main road through town so that people don’t see his mangled metal steed.

This is the worst. Summer just started, and lost my fucking bike…I don’t know how I’m going to survive.

He stops for a moment and digs through his bookbag. He finds his ‘emergency-stress-relief’ blunt and puts it in his mouth, lighting it and continuing his walk home. He didn’t think he’d have to smoke it this soon, but God, did he need it.

The bike lets out a scraping metal sound as its corpse is drug against the road while Ryker makes the trek back to his house. He turns on Slope Street to start the uphill walk that takes him to the long dirt road home. As he feels his mind relax, it returns to Shell. The anxiety returns to his gut, but he is able to begin to tame it as he thinks, She seemed pretty excited to hang out with me. Or maybe she’s just excited for a friend- Callahan doesn’t have any. I guess that’s weird, she has never really been mean to anyone, she’s just too quiet. But still- why does she want to be friends with me? Does she think I’m an easy target since I don’t have-...That can’t be, she knows I’ve been ignoring her all year. Why does she want to be around me…

He spends more time lost in thought than he realizes, when he returns to Mother Earth he stands at the foot of the door steps. He drops his bike off to the side and snubs the blunt, storing it in his pocket as he heads inside where his mother greets him from the couch.

“Hey, Baby!” Valeriya closes the book she was reading as she sits up, “Where were you last night?”

Ryker slips out of his shoes as he trudges the handful of feet to the couch where he subsequently collapses and buries his face in her lap, “I was at Callahan’s,” his voice muffled.

“What?” She smiles more, “So like- wait- what?!” She sits him up, “Did you actually make a friend?”

He shrugs as he looks to her, “Sort of…I kind of ran into her room through her window. Something was chasing me on my way home last night and fucked up my bike,”

Her face turns from excited joy to confusion, “Wha~t?”

“On my way home from the arcade- something big tried to attack me and it fucked up my bike- I ducked into her window because it was open, and I stayed there all night. But, like, we are maybe sort of might could be friends,” He shrugs a little, “We’re going to hang out later,”

Valeriya has always appreciated the honesty she got from Ryker. When it comes to her, he is an absolute open book. He trusts her with every fiber of his being, and knows his mother will always love him, unconditionally. Valeriya trusts everything Ryker tells her- he’s never lied, and he never wants to- not to her. But sometimes, she wonders how life would be different if Ryker just…kept some things to himself, “Wh- I-...Ryker, are you okay?” She begins to look him over.

“I am, but my bike isn’t,” He shrugs, “I wanna look into whatever this thing is. And Shelana was wanting to help me,”

“Baby, that’s dangerous- if it tried to mangle you, how do you even plan to investigate it?” She knows once her baby gets his mind set on something, his will to follow through is unrelenting. He gets that from his father. The least she can do is try to make sure the light of her life doesn’t get himself and some poor girl killed.

“I’m not sure yet but I will figure it out. I’m going to start looking around town first- I’ve never encountered this thing in the day, like, ever, and neither has anyone else to my knowledge, so, I’ll just make sure to be home before nightfall, I promise.”

They look into each other’s eyes as he speaks. She gives him a quiet nod, “You better. Seriously, Ryker. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I will, Mommy- I promise I’ll be careful,”

She nods again as she brushes his hair out of his face, planting a kiss on his forehead, “So, tell me about Shelana,”

Ryker nods and returns to resting his head back on Valeriya’s lap. He begins to go over his time at her house- making the survival of her breakfast a very flourished part of the story. Valeriya snickers and laughs as she listens. Her chest begins to feel airy as it settles in- whether Ryker fully accepts it or not, he has a friend.

⊹⊹⊹⊹

1:45PM

Ryker yawns as he walks to the front of the school, not at all surprised that Shell got there before he did. She catches sight of him and her face lights up again before she quickly composes herself, “Hi, Ryker!”

“Hey, Callahan,” He isn’t sure what to expect from this. The pit in his stomach begins to return- it’s just the two of them, and there’s no monster bird to spark the conversation.

“Shell,”

“Hey, Shell,”

“So~ do we go to the field?”

He nods, “Yeah,” He begins to walk with her towards the track and field across the street, “So! I know you’re awesome at note-taking given your incredible nerd-capabilities, so you’ve got that going for you.” She snickers at his comment. “But you need to do more than record what you see, you need to record what you feel, and what others feel. Reporting on events is like capturing a moment in time, you need to be able to draw the readers into the story as opposed to just telling them what happened. Does that make sense?”

“It does,” She nods, “I never quite thought of it that way…I will say, though, I have always enjoyed reading what you write for the paper. I suppose I feel a little intimidated, I’ve never done anything like this,”

Ryker smiles a bit more at the flattery, he starts to feel comfortable- safe in a conversation about what he loves to do, “I think you can do it. You’re smart and a fast learner, you’ll get it in no time,”

“O-Oh, thank you…”

“One thing that really helps is writing in notehand- I can practically write down everything someone says while they’re speaking it,” They get to the bleachers, he  gestures for her to go ahead of him.

She begins to head up the steps, “Like a stenographer? That’s cool!”

“A what-ographer?” He follows her.

“A court reporter..?” She heads towards the middle of the bleachers, heading a few feet down the aisle before sitting down, Ryker sitting a foot apart from her.

“Right, yeah, like that. It’s also great because no one bullies me for notes and shit because I just do it all in notehand,” he chuckles.

“Oh~, I like that!”

The team begins to walk out onto the field with coach Tim Taylor, and Ryker has a realization.

They didn’t get to beat his ass yesterday.

If they see him, which, they will see him- they’ll want to do all the things they didn’t get to do. Maybe even worse things…Unless- maybe they won’t with Coach Taylor around, so long as he isn’t distracted buttering up the cheerleaders...If Ryker plays his cards right, maybe~ he can make it out unscathed.

“Hey, let’s be sure to head out before tryouts wrap up, ‘kay?”
She nods, “Scared they’ll pound you?”

“A bit. Are you not? I guess they don’t really beat up chicks.”

“No~, they mostly ignore me. Except for at the pool, Ram would stare at me weird and do that catcalling stuff.”

He chuckles, “Ah~...I wouldn’t want anyone telling me how ‘cute’ my ass looks in a swimsuit,” He watches the players as practice begins, “Well…Maybe I would,” Ryker snickers as he looks to Shell, “For me, it’s just the typical swirlies, wedgies, and beatings. I’ve had to replace my glasses three times this year,”

“Oh wow, that sounds expensive,”

“Yeah, it was quite a bit of green,” He yawns and covers his mouth as he looks back to the field, a particular boy catching his eyes. He’s rather fit, and his dirty blonde hair catches the sun as he stretches, “Is that-...Palmer? Since when did he look good without a shirt on?”

Shell follows Ryker’s eyes as she looks out to Rick. Her face begins to blush, “O-Oh…Wow,” She continues to look over the players. Her eyes land on a boy with caramel brown skin and dark curly hair that is quickly obscured by the helmet he dawns, “Mh, Matthew Thompson…He was in the math class before us.”

“Oh, Thompson? Yeah, he’s already part of the team. Palmer’s trying out, though. I haven’t seen Palmer in a while, come to think of it? He was in English with me, and I’m pretty sure in math with the both of us…I never talked with Matthew, though- not personally, he usually just beats my ass with his buddies, you know the ones…” Ryker opens his notebook as he starts to scribble some things down.

She nods and continues to watch Matthew, “I think he wanted me to tutor him, but I couldn’t tell if he was being serious so I~…never showed up to where he wanted to meet after school.”

Ryker scoffs as he lets out a laugh, “Look at you, Callahan! Standing up a football player- nice!” He chuckles as he continues, “But he was probably being serious- he looks like he’s pretty stupid, if I’m being honest,”

“Hey, that’s not nice~!..Though,” She speaks quietly, “with how frequently his head gets hit? Maybe you’re not…wrong.”

Ryker lets out another laugh, “Right- yeah, that’s true,” He relaxes back, another yawn finding its way out of him, “Well- let’s do what we actually came here to do…”

Shell gives an enthusiastic nod and begins to get to work, and Ryker takes this time to relax under the sun. Its rays blankets his skin softly- the heat washes over him in waves. It lulles him to sleep as the terrible sleep the night before finally catches up to him.

Shell takes to writing notes silently when she notices him asleep. He misses most of the tryouts.

The coach and assistant coach head towards the breakroom and office to discuss who is making it on the team.

Letting his guard down was a bad move.

Ryker is reminded of this simple fact as he’s abruptly awoken by the loud bang of a football hitting the bleachers above his head.

“Scott! Are you gonna take our pictures or are you here to get a tan?” Kurtz sounds as agro as ever as a slight smirk grows on his face. He knows they’ve got him.

“Tan, actually!” Ryker lies back down and picks up the football beside him, holding it to his chest like a stuffed animal. This prompts a chuckle from Rick, whose eyes quickly connect with Shell’s and he gives her a smile.

Shell blushes a bit as she smiles more, giving Rick a slight wave, “Ryker- I think…maybe we should go now,”

Kurtz barks back, “Why don’t you bag your face, Scott, and just take our fucking pictures!”

Ryker shoots up on the bench, “Bite me, you bogus mung!” All he knows how to do is fight back with words.

“Ryker-”

Kurtz begins to look angrier as he grumbles, “You’re lucky there’s a chick with you right now,”

“Ryker, let’s go, I already took a couple pictures with your camera while you were sleeping, come on-”

He glances to her. For a moment he forgets about everything- she touched his camera? No one needs to be doing that. Though- he did fall asleep. His attention returns to the matter at hand and he nods slightly, “Sure, yeah, let’s blow this popsicle stand,” He stands with the football and puts on his bag before securing his camera around his body.

Ram chirps in with the taunting, “Aw~, where are you two going~?”

“To pay a visit to your mom, where else would I be going? I’m already running late thanks to you,” He begins to scale down the bleachers as he shoots a glare towards the boys.

“The Hell did you just say?!” Ram’s face begins to get red with anger.

“You heard me,” He starts to back away along the bleachers. Shell is quick to follow, trying to make herself small in the process.

This only pisses Ram off more as he starts for Ryker, who responds by throwing the ball at him once he’s too close for comfort. He only meant to throw the ball as a distraction, maybe a mild speedbump. He didn’t aim, let alone plan on having it strike Ram in the face- but that’s exactly where it hit. He grabs at his nose as he lets out a sharp groan, followed by expletives.

“Oh shit- run-” He turns to high-tail it. Shell follows but she isn’t exactly fast. She’s probably fine anyway, they don’t hit girls.

Kurtz’s angry voice breaks through the sound of running on the grass, “Hey-!”

Ryker doesn’t want to look behind him. For a second he feels like last night is repeating itself- running for your life from a situation your choices put you in.

Except this time he knows the threat.

Kurtis Carter is a linebacker.

Despite the cigarettes and the teenage alcoholism- he’s in the prime of his life. He’s bound to get a scholarship to college, get alcohol poisoning at a frat party, and probably lose it all.

Kurtis Carter has anger issues.

As the only child, the son of the Chief of Police, he’s well-loved by the town along with his father, King Carter, and his mother, Elaine Carter. He can do no wrong. He’s pretty well-behaved towards the people on his level- people whose opinions matter to the rest of town society. Ryker Scott is not one of them.

Kurtis Carter hates Ryker Scott.

The next feeling Ryker recognizes is the feeling of a 170lbs, 5’10” guy tackling him down by his lower back and legs. Then being crushed by that same guy.

Rick calls out, “Hey, Kurtz, lay off’m, man!” He sounds like a cowboy with his thick Southern accent, he puts the rest of the South to shame.

“Shut up, Palmer-! You’re not even a part of this team, you can’t tell me shit!” Kurtz flips Ryker onto his back as Shell’s squeaky voice cuts in,

“K-Kurtis! Get off of him! Please!”

He grumbles as he glances at her, his rage beginning to bubble, “Who are you, again?”

Ryker takes this moment to knee Kurtz in the crotch. Another bad choice. His knee is met with a cup, and his eyes are met with an even angrier Kurtis.

“...Hey~! Kurtis~!”

Kurtz smirks a bit as he speedily cocks his fist, nailing it down straight into Ryker’s jaw.

Out of all of the places he’s been punched by this guy, Ryker hates strikes in the jaw most of all. His teeth clack and scrape against one another as his jaw fights to stay connected to his skull. The stars begin to clear as he hears Coach Taylor’s voice,

“Carter! Get off of Scott and join the boys,”

The daze wears off as he looks to Kurtz- Ryker has the upper hand once again and he’s quick to relish in it, despite eating a mouthful of bone seconds ago, “Be a good boy now, Kurtis-! Gotta listen to your coach~!” It pains him to speak, but he can hurt later.

Kurtz growls and grumbles as he shoves off of Ryker, driving his knee into his gut as he does so, prompting a stifled wheeze out of Ryker, “Keep your eyes open, Scott, we’ve got all~ summer.” He towers over Ryker, his shadow covering his head.

He coughs, “Well that doesn’t sound eerie,”

“Carter!”

Kurtz grimmaces, “See ya ‘round, Scott,” He turns to rejoin the group.

Shell quickly kneels beside Ryker, “Are you okay?! Are you actually insane?” She begins to help him sit up carefully.

“Maybe a little,” He rubs his jaw, “Ow…”

She sighs as she relaxes her shoulders, “...Do you want to go get lunch? Maybe some ice for your face..?”
“Oh, most defo,” He slowly gets to his feet as he puts everything that just happened out of his mind, “I’m feelin’ pizza,”

“Oh, a salad sounds good right now,”

“Gross.”

⊹⊹⊹⊹

Ryker sighs as he sits at a table outside. Shell joins him from the restaurant with a bag of ice, “Here you go~”

“Thanks,” He takes the ice, putting it to his face, “Just what I need- my beautiful, money-making, iconic face being damaged,”

“If school is any indication, I’d say your face being bruised is a common feature…”

He stares at her.

“Anyway…” She sits down, “Did you want to look over the notes I took?”

“Maybe a little later, I’m not really in the mood to think of footballers”

“Fair enough. So~ what is your home life like?”

He chuckles, speaking playfully, “I don’t know- that sort of question so soon in our relationship? Are we moving too fast?” Despite starting to feel comfortable around her, a part of him doesn’t feel entirely ready to open up.

She snickers and shrugs, “I didn’t think so…”

“Well- how about yours? I know your mother is the great Victoria Callahan- fashion designer extraordinaire, and your dad is Allistair Callahan- the~ financial adviser, also, extraordinaire. Your parents make good money and are pretty well-known and respected. Life must be nice.”

Shell nods, “Yeah…I can’t complain, life is pretty comfortable.” She looks down to her hands.

“Then why are you so awkward?”

She quickly looks at him, “H-Hey! That’s not nice-” She should know better about Ryker Scott than to expect him to be ‘nice’.

He chuckles, “I mean, like, why aren’t you more popular? Your life fits the equation for it.”

“...I suppose you’re right.” She shrugs a little, taking a small breath as she sighs, giving her extra time to process her thoughts, “I don’t know…My mom puts a lot of pressure on me to be academically successful, I guess- I never really focused on needing to be…socially successful…”

An employee brings out a bowl of salad, a couple slices of pizza on a plate, a soda, and a water out on a tray. He sets them down, telling them to enjoy the meal before receiving a ‘thank you’ and returning inside.

Ryker stacks one slice onto the other as he takes a bite of both at the same time. He continues to speak, “Well- I guess that makes sense- I always thought your mom was a bit of a hardass,” He swallows his food, “That sucks though.”

She shrugs again as she starts to poke at her salad, “I guess- but we’re friends now, so it’s not all bad,”

“Friends with a social pariah- you certainly are moving up in the world!” He snickers, and she smiles again.

He gets a chuckle out of her before she continues, “So~ what about you? You’re kind of a mystery.”

He put the poor girl through enough for the time being. He decides fair is fair, and opens up, just a tad, “Well, I live with my mom and uncle, she’s an assistant to some lawyer, and he’s a software developer.”

“And your dad?”

“He’s been dead since I was 5,” He takes another bite, “I don’t remember him much, but my mom said I’m a lot like him,”

“Oh, I’m sorry,”

“What for? Like I said, I hardly remember him. Anyway, my uncle~ ...he doesn’t really like going out into public, and my mom works out of town for work, so, that’s probably why you’ve not seen them much before.”

She continues to poke at the lettuce before taking a bite and resuming poking it, “Oh. Well, I’m sure they’re nice,”

“Totally! We’re all super close-” He thinks about inviting her over, and even telling her of Bridget - Adrik’s raccoon child. That factoid feels to be one level below the fact that they live in a trailer; taking them from trailer-dweller status to trailer-trash status. He decides against telling her and he takes another bite of his double-stacked pizza.

“That must be nice!” She thinks about telling him that she isn’t that close with her mother. Victoria is more than a hardass, and Shelana doesn’t want to admit it. She’s demanding, and micromanages every aspect of her life. She doesn’t want to seem like a total pushover, so she decides against telling him.

“It is. So~ what do you usually do with your summers?”

“I typically read or draw. I also like to wander around town or sit by the river. Basically anything that doesn’t involve a screen. Sometimes I go to the cinema, though, just not a lot.”

“What?! That sounds miserable- why can’t you, like, watch stuff?”

“Mom says it rots young brains out.”

“Lame.”

“Well what do you do?”

“I like to wander, take photos, develop said photos, watch videos and TV with my family, and~ I spend a lot of time at the arcade,” He chuckles.

The thought speaks from the back row of her mind, Maybe Mom was right about digital media rotting the brains of youth.

“Have you ever even been to the arcade?”

“No~ my mom said video games turn your brain into mush.”

“Mega lame.” He takes a big bite of his double-decker pizza, “We should go- you’d like it!”

“Um~” She ruffles a green or two with her fork, “I don’t know~”

“Okay, hear me out- you have never been to the arcade before, so~ how do you know it’ll do that to you? Why not~ just spend a bit of time there with me today and then see how you feel after- see if you feel stupider or something.”

She sits silently as she thinks, nibbling on a slice of carrot. She then gives him a nod, “Okay…Okay, sure, and if I do feel- more stupid, then I just won’t go back.”

“That’s the spirit! Now eat up, you’re gonna want some energy-” He wastes no time in stuffing his face with the rest of his pizza. Shell is content with a few more bites before counting herself finished. They pay their bill and off they go, down the street, around a few corners, over the bridge, and around another block.

They walk up to a building with glass doors and only windows on the front face. The neon lights of the Starbomb arcade illuminate in all of their effervesce, even through the daylight. “You’re gonna like Adam- he’s super~ rad,” Ryker chuckles as he holds the door open for her.

She heads inside, “Adam? I don’t think I know anyone at school with that name,”

“Probably because he’s a grown man? Dude, he owns the place,”

“O-Oh!” It feels odd. She can’t exactly envision herself being friends with a grown up, let alone a grown man.

Adam greets Ryker from the counter as they come in, his nose in a People magazine, “Hey, Ryker. Took you long enough to come back, I figured you must have really taken your failure to save Daphne to heart. Maybe even cried about it.”

“Daphne..? Who’s-?”

Ryker waves her off, “Adam~! I have a newbie with me, don’t be tarnishing my reputation like that! Of course I didn’t cry,”

Adam drops the magazine and proceeds to look utterly dumbfounded, “...” He looks to Ryker and starts to smile, “So like…A newbie~ friend?”

He starts to blush and scratch at the back of his hand, “Yeah, sure, sorta- y-yeah, we are- Adam, this is Shelana Callahan, Shell, this is Adam Locke,”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Locke,” Shell smiles politely to him.

“You too, Shelana,” He chuckles, “It’s great that Ryker finally has a friend his age- you know, he’s been kicking it with me for about-”

“SHE’S- never played~ arcade games before, can I get a couple of your sodas and we’re gonna get down to business,”

Adam rolls his eyes, “Sure, but the least you could do is say ‘please’, I already give you this shit for free,” He turns to fill a couple of colorful cups with grapefruit soda.

Shell seems a bit confused by their interaction.

Adam hands them the drinks and looks to Shell with a smile, “Grapefruit. I make the syrup myself,”

“Oh, wow, that’s fun, thank you,” She drinks some. It’s tart, sweet, bubbly, and quite refreshing, “That’s very tasty! Thank you-,”

Ryker snags his drink and begins to pull Shell along deeper into the arcade, “Yes, yes, thank the nice man- we’ll be back eventually, thanks, Adam~!”

“You’re welcome~,” Adam relaxes on his stool once more, cracking his magazine back open.

“Why the rush? I hardly got to talk with him, how am I supposed to like him if I don’t get to do that?”

“Well, you can go talk to him in a bit or whatever, he was just- like- being a bit embarrassing.” He goes to a PacMan machine, taking off his bookbag and fishing quarters out of it.

She smiles, “Aw~ is it because I’m your first friend~?”

He starts to blush, “I- wh- you know what, let’s just move on- you know PacMan, right?”

She giggles, “I do~”

“Okay! Then we’ll start there, let me show you how to play and then~ you’ll try,” He slips a quarter into the machine, triggering the beginning of level one and the chiming music to accompany it. He begins to explain how to play the game while he plays, though eventually his speaking dies down as he focuses more on the game.

Shell watches rather intently before shifting her focus to Ryker as he gets to the higher levels. I can’t tell if he’s taking this seriously or just having fun. Maybe a bit of both? He looks to be enjoying himself, though. Shell smiles more and looks back to the screen. Soon enough, he loses, and switches places with her, putting a quarter in and letting her play, “You got this, Callahan,” He pats her shoulder.

Oddly enough, she feels excited to play. It’s more straight-forward than she had thought. She clears a few levels, becoming more engaged with it as she progresses. Despite this, she dies a couple levels later, “Aw.”

“Hey! That was pretty good for someone who, like, never plays anything! C’mon, I think you’ll like Tetris,” Ryker takes her arm as he leads her to another cabinet, drinking his soda.

“O-Oh! Okay-!” She chuckles, snatching her soda before being dragged out of reach.

They continue to play; Ryker giving her a playful hard time and smart remarks here and there, and Shell giggling and playing along. Shell doesn’t learn too much more about Ryker as she would have liked to, but she was getting a better grasp on something she recognized would be important- discerning when and when not to take comments of his seriously. Ryker seems like a nice kid underneath his extrinsic jackass persona. She starts to wonder why he acts the way he does, but sweeps the idea out of her mind as they continue to joke around and play. Even if her brain is being rotted out, this is the most fun she has had in a very long time- so she decides to just let it happen.

Perhaps she let too much fun happen. The sun sets behind the mountains. Soon after, there’s no sunlight left in the sky. Eventually kids filter out of the arcade one by two by three, until they’re the last two there.

Ryker goes up front for an umpteenth refill of his drink, “Fill ‘er up, please~” He sets the cup down as he looks out the windows.

“Sure thing,” Adam takes his cup and begins to get him another drink, this time putting more ice in.

The cogs in Ryker’s brain turn. Outside must feel nice right now. It’s dark out. The air must feel cool and humid. It’s dark out. I bet the walk home will feel super good. It’s dark out. I wonder what phase the moon is in, it was pretty bright last night. It’s dark out. Last night when that- thing-...It’s dark out. His head snaps to Adam, “I need to use your phone, like- now,”

Adam gestures to the phone on the counter. Ryker quickly leans onto and over the counter and dials home, his leg anxiously kicking in the air.

The phone quickly answers, “Ryker, is that you?!”

He feels like he committed a sin, “Hi, Mommy- yeah! I’m sorry, I’m at the arcade with Shell- it’s my fault, we lost track of time- Adam can drive me home, it won’t happen again, I promise-!” The words pour out of his mouth like a dam letting loose, “Can- Shell stay over, maybe?” Why would I ask that?

Adam speaks up, “I’m what now?”

“I- ah- Ryker- slow down-” Valeriya sighs, “Listen, yes at this point Adam needs to drive you home. This cannot happen again- we made an agreement, remember?”

“I do, I’m sorry, I-”

“Baby, I forgive you. I just want you home safe…And, yes, she can stay…” She never thought she would live the day where she would allow a sleepover. As her anxiousness lessens, a small excitement grows. “Call me when you're on your way, okay?”

“Okay, I will- I promise, I love you,”

“I love you too, sweetheart,”

The line clicks. Ryker looks to Shell as she wanders up to the counter, having died in the most recent game she was sucked into, “So~ I was thinking-”

“Why am I taking you home?”

He snaps his attention to Adam, “Cuz~! There's a creepy monster thing that tried to eat me!”

Adam looks unamused. “Okay…Wha~tever,” He picks his magazine back up.

“What were you thinking?”

“Wanna stay over and plan monster investigation stuff?”

“Oh!” Yay! “Oh?” Wait, stay over over? “Uh…” But…he’s a boy. “I~ don't think my mom would be okay with that…I left a note saying I was going to the library and it’s-” her eye links with the window, then the outside world. Unlike Ryker’s, the gears in her brain are well-oiled, and instantly jump to the conclusion that she is unbelievably grounded, that is, if the night monster doesn't kill her first. “...closed.”

“That’s fine! You can just say you~ lost track of time while hanging out with~ Nancy Walker! Because you're practicing cheer shit at her place! And she wants you to stay over to practice more, she can't get mad at that can she?”

“Mh, I guess not…maybe…”

“Well~ let’s find out!” He slides the phone to her as he takes a blunt out of his pocket.

“Okay, I guess,” She picks up the phone, dialing home.

“Adam, you can play Mr. Walker, got it?”

“What? Why me? I don’t want to be a part of your little scheme,”

“But you sound like a grown old guy! I don’t-!”

“You should have thought of that sooner, Ryker,”

“Aw, c’mon-!”

“G-Guys, wait- what am I-?!”

The phone is answered, “Hello, Callahan residence.”

“H-Hey, Mama!”

A heavy huffing sigh can be heard through the phone, “Shelana, thank God! Do you know how late it is?! Where are you?”

Adam and Ryker begin to bicker quietly while Shell tries her best to do something she’s never done before- lie to her mother.

      “Dude, c’mon, just do it!”

      “No!”

      “Why not?!”

      “Because you called
      me old, you jackass,”

      “But you are!”

      “35 is NOT fucking OLD,”

      “C’mon!”

      “Fine! What do I get out
      of it?”
      “My respect and
      admiration?”

      “I don’t give a shit about
      that, give me your weed.”

      “What?! I don’t got any!”

      “You literally have it in
      your hand, and if it
      doesn’t go into mine
      then I’m not helping.”

      “Ugghhrn- FINE just
      fucking HELP!”

“I met a friend at the library...and lost track of time because I was invited for dinner...and I was wondering about staying over here since it's so la-” 

Victoria interrupts her.

“At someone else's house? I would rather meet her parents first- I’ll come retrieve you and we can talk about this,”

“O-Oh, no-no! It’s okay, you don’t have to-!”

“I think I do, I don’t want you at some stranger’s house- what if they have bedbugs?”

Adam takes the phone, “Mrs. Callahan? This is Albert Walker, Nancy’s father. I’m terribly sorry I lost track of the time! I was busy with my writing, and the girls were just having so much fun practicing cheer, I would feel awful stopping them. Anyway, it is rather late, we’d be more than happy to have Shelana stay over, she’s such a polite and lovely child.” He gives a smirk and a wink to Ryker, who seems utterly ecstatic. Shelana twirls her hair in her index, ring, and thumb as she awaits to hear the verdict.

“...Cheer, you say?”

“Why, yes, Nancy was helping Shelana prepare for tryouts,”

Victoria loves to micromanage Shelana’s image. Despite her best efforts, Shelana lacks the social abilities to be a successful and popular young woman. Cheerleading has, since the dawn of the sport, been a surefire ticket to being above everyone else- to be popular, and get a handsome, athletic boyfriend. Victoria needs her daughter to be outstanding in every way possible, no matter what. “Well…I suppose it would be alright for her to stay- seeing as it is late. And, as long as you really are okay with it?

“We’d definitely be glad to have her stay over, I assure you,”

“Mh, alright then. I’ll allow it. Good evening, Mr. Walker, if you could please put my daughter back on the phone,”

“Certainly, good evening, Mrs. Callahan,” He hands the phone out to Shell, and an open hand out to Ryker.

Shell takes the phone and quickly puts it to her ear, Ryker high fives his blunt into Adam’s hand.

“I want you back by 11 tomorrow, okay? No later. We will talk when you get home.”

Shell shrinks again. She will never be acclimated to Victoria’s sudden switches from neutral dismissiveness to attentive disappointment, “O-Okay…Good night, Mama, I love you.”

“I love you too, dear. Good night.”

The line clicks.

“Did we do it? Are we mission-go?” Ryker stares at Shell excitedly, “Adam was a pretty convincing dad~!”

Shell smiles some, “He was- and we are- I just have to be home by 11 tomorrow morning.” She tries to become excited for her first sleepover since diapers, but the lingering disappointment from her mother’s tone lingers in the front of her mind.

“Radical! See, Adam, I knew you could do it!”

“Yeah, yeah- now help me get this place closed up and I can take you home.” He sets his magazine down onto a small pile of other magazines and the newspaper.

“You know you should just hire me already,” Ryker pushes off of the counter as he goes to begin the nightly routine of closing down the arcade, retrieving the window cleaner from behind the counter.

“And pay you to play games? I don’t think so,” He heads for the back storage closet to get a vacuum.

“I’ll ask again later when you’ll say yes.”

Shell cheeps in, “What can I do..?”

Adam returns with a duster, handing it off to Shell, “You can dust the cabinets,”

“Oh, okay, I can do that!” She takes the duster and begins to clean the cabinets one by one in a pleasing, fulfilling orderly fashion.

Adam begins to vacuum and pick up trash, unplugging cabinets as he maneuvers through the arcade.

Ryker cleans the windows. His mind quickly wanders as he stares outside at the forest…

As determined as he is to investigate whatever this creature is- a piece of him begins to grow more worried, and intimidated. He’s never done anything like this- is looking into it going to be the same as writing a paper about weekly happenings, except, this could actually kill him?

Simultaneously, he begins to grow thankful that he isn’t going to be doing this alone. The thought catches him off guard once he recognizes it. He decides to sit in it, as his mind wanders to Shell. He doesn’t know why he invited her over, but he has, and there’s no changing it. What is she going to think of him? Of his family? Knowing hers, his definitely seems…trashy. He wouldn’t want to change them for anything, but what if Shell finds him weird and decides to cut her losses while she’s ahead- then he’d definitely be doing this investigation alone. Just like he wanted. Or, he thought he wanted.

Ryker continues to clean the same spot on the window as he stares out at the woods. That’s when he notices them. Two translucent orbs just barely cut through the darkness of the tree canopy, catching and reflecting the moonlight every now and then. His blood runs cold as he seemingly can’t look away. He narrows his eyes, trying to see, hoping for these lights to be anything- anything but the monster…But it can’t be anything else. His gaze continues to be locked with the eyes in the forest. He can’t help but note…

Something about this feels…personal.

He decides then and there. It doesn’t matter what Shell thinks of him. She wants to help, and he wants it. They need to stop whatever this is before it kills someone, if it hasn’t already.

“Wow, that spot is- very clean.” Adam chuckles, “I’ll clean the rest tomorrow, c’mon I want to get home.”

Ryker quickly looks to Adam, “Huh? Oh,” He looks back out to the trees. He’s unable to find the lights. “...Yeah, okay, sorry about that,” He hands the cleaner to Adam.

He takes it, going to return it to the floor behind the counter, “You alright?”

“Just tired is all, thanks again for taking us to my place,” He follows him to the counter, picking up the phone and dialing home.

Shell returns to them, yawning into her hand.

“No problem. Well, it was when you elected me, but now it’s no problem, you know, now that I don’t have a choice.” Adam heads to the door, opening it for Shell, heading out with her and holding it open as he waits for Ryker.

“Hey, Mommy…Yeah, we’re on our way back now…See you in a bit, I love you…”

⊹⊹⊹⊹