Sta.sh
The apartment had never seemed so empty before.
So quiet. So big.
No one else. Only me. All alone.
/bUt YoU'rE nOt AlOnE./
Besides Firo, that is. And Littlefoot, but he hadn't spoken in a long time.
The picture of Mercedes and Lacey sat on the arm of my chair. They were in a poorly lit white-washed room, roped to chairs welded to the floor.
That was where Jetty must have taken Johnny and Leah yesterday.
/yOu WaNt To FiNd ThEm, RiGhT?/
"What kind of question is that?" I spat. "Of course I want to find them! But I have no way to, the cops have been next to useless, and I'm all. Alone. How the FUCK am I supposed to be able to do ANYTHING?!!"
I was standing up and yelling my heart out. "I can't fucking DRIVE, I'm terrible at finding ANYTHING, and, oh yeah, I'M TALKING TO A BACK-PACK! How the HELL do you expect me to find FOUR missing people?!?"
{When insanity's the norm/ When your heart feels out of place/ only the insane/ trust your gut/ and deluded survive/ it's the only way to survive.}
Littlefoot's voice sounded faint and whispery, as if from disuse. But he was sounding as cryptic as ever.
"LF, sometimes I wish you'd be just a little bit more straightforward," I said, sitting down again. The chair made a rustling sound, as if there were paper in the cushions. I stood back up and pulled the cushion off.
Underneath it was an envelope.
On said envelope was my name.
In said envelope was a message.
'Hello, there,' it said. You are an observant one, aren't you? Are you enjoying my little game? I didn't mean to leave you out the other day, but when I picked up your two friends, you simply weren't there.'
I ground my teeth together. What did this...bitch of a man...want with me and mine?
'I have nothing against you personally,' it went on to say. but one of your friends...Johnny, if I really have to put a name to It...has done me a great disservice.'
I raised and eyebrow. What could Johnny have done to this guy?
'Being the kind of man that I am, I find it difficult to let such an issue go. I thought about killing It, but that idea dissatisfied and bored me.
But I digress.
The point of this little note it not to divulge and elaborate back-story but to offer a little hint. I feel as though I should give the other players a fair chance, if you can stand me to reuse my game analogy.'
I sat back on my heels. *What is he getting at...?*
'So, if you are reading this, it must be no more than three days after I stole away your friends.'
I nodded. That'd only happened the day before.
'If not, you won't ever have the chance to read this.
But there I go digressing again.
Since this is a game, how about a little riddle?'
I groaned. I suck at riddles.
'Count my letters "Z" to "A"
Add together "The Ocean's Spray"
Do so twice and make them one
Remove a "J" and you're almost done
Hold it to a mirror, and hey!
You've found the house where I've hidden away.'
What. The Hell. Was ANY of that supposed to mean?!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jetty took apart his favourite hand-gun for what had to have been the millionth time. He hoped the girl would find his little clue; it'd been such a pain in the ass to write to just let it go to waste.
"Maybe I should have made it more like a scavenger hunt," he murmured to a spring as he replaced it.
"But that would have taken a long time to set up, I suppose," he added to the barrel.
And as he slid the hammer back into place, he felt the urge to comment: "I hope that dumb riddle won't be too hard. The whole point of it is to have her find us."
He held the re-assembled gun and grinned. For an instant, his reflection in the cold steel seemed to flicker into something else.
But it was gone so quickly that Jetty didn't even register it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johnny was in a bit of a foul mood.
Several hours ago, he had woken up to find himself in a poorly lit white-washed room, tied to a chair apparently welded to the floor.
This was no the main reason for his bad mood.
No, his mood was caused by the whole waking up part.
There were few things in the world he detested more than sleep...but let's not get into that.
At least he hadn't been gagged. Neither had the others.
"This really sucks," muttered Mercedes, still in her hospital gown. "I'm supposed to be in a hospital bed with a tub of ice-cream in my lap and 24/7 T.V. time; what the fuck, man?"
At least being kid-napped had done nothing to dampen her spirits.
Lacey was much calmer, having been stuck here for longer.
"He said he won't do anything to us until we're all 'assembled'," she said, spitting at the last word. "Knowing how slippery Laura can be, that could take weeks."
Then she sighed. "But also knowing how Laura can be, she might just go bat-shit crazy and tear up the town looking for us."
Leah mumbled something indiscernible in her drugged sleep.
"Is there anything we can do?" Asked Mercedes. Lacey shrugged.
"Not that I know of, and I've been down here a week. This guy doesn't budge or take any chances."
Then she turned to look at Johnny. "He keeps saying that you're the one to blame for this," she said icily. "Do you have any inkling of a clue as to why that is?"
Johnny shrugged as best he could with his hands tied behind him. "Not that I'm aware of," he replied. "He seems vaguely familiar, though..."
"You didn't insult him or anything, did you? He seems to be the kind of person that'd shoot you for just looking at him funny."
*Ha. Now that would be ironic.*
"As far as I know, I've never intentionally done anything to harm or insult this guy, directly or indirectly." And that was the truth. If he had done something, he truly did not remember it.
But that didn't explain why the man that'd kidnapped them seemed so damn familiar...
Lacey was narrowing her eyes skeptically at him, but she seemed to accept his response.
Leah mumble something again.
"This place freaks me out," Mercedes said. "I normally like dark places like this, but this place freaks the crap outta me. I guess being tied up and shit doesn't help."
Leah groaned and sat up straight. "Agh, my head..." she muttered. She opened her eyes slowly and looked at the others. "Lacey..." she murmured. "Johnny...and Mercedes." She blinked.
"Where the Hell are we, and why the Hell are we all tied to chairs?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hate riddles. I really do.
But I think I've got this one figured out.
/aRe We ThErE yEt?/ Whined Firo.
I let a smile creep over my face for the first time in nine days.
I must have looked terrifying just then.
"Not quite, my friend," I replied.
/Do YoU eVeN kNoW wHeRe We'Re GoInG?/
I chuckled. "Once you figure out what that first line was saying, the rest was easy."
I was walking as I talked, ignoring the looks of passerby.
"It's almost like when I did my codes; 'Count my letters "Z" to "A"'; that's just assigning a number 1 through 26 to each letter, starting from "Z". Take that and add up the letters in the phrase 'The Ocean's Spray', and you get the number 209."
/sO wE'rE gOiNg To HoUsE 209?/
I shook my head. "Let me finish, bud."
My breath misted out in front of my as I spoke. "It said 'do so twice', as in do the problem twice, then 'make them one', ore add them together. That got me 418."
/wHaT's ThAt SuPpOsEd To MeAn, ThOuGh?/
"Hold a sec, I'm getting there. It then said 'remove a "J". "J" was the number 17, so I just subtracted the number 17 from 418. That gave me 401. The mirror thing was a reference to reversing the numbers, so 401 becomes 104. 'The house where I've hidden away' is house 104."
/BuT wHaT iF hE's NoT aT tHaT hOuSe?/
I shrugged and checked the house numbers. Still in the 300's...
"I thought about that," I admitted. "But the only other answer I got was house 33. I dunno. Either way, we'll find out soon enough."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He took aim.
Pulled the trigger.
BANG
Ah, shit. He'd forgotten the damn silencer...Oh well.
He'd hit the 200 yard target.
He sighed. Unmoving target were such a bore...
Nothing what like shooting at the girls...and It...had been like.
Oh, no. That had been fun.
He sighed and made his way back home.
*Maybe that girl will finally be there...*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I hope that Laura finds us soon..." murmured Mercedes.
Johnny cocked his head to the side. "What makes you think she'll find us at all?" He asked.
He received a trio of withering stares.
*What did I say?*
"Okay, everyone knows Laura's a procrastinator to the extreme, right?" Asked Lacey. Everyone nodded.
"And we all know how psycho-bitchy she can get, right?"
Leah chuckled and Mercedes let out a "Hellz yeah," but Johnny just responded with a blank stare.
"I've only ever seen her go manic once or twice," he said. "I don't think I've ever seen her go 'psycho-bitchy'."
The girls exchanged a knowing look.
"Johnny, remember me on my birthday?" Piped up Mercedes.
He had a momentary flash-back of Mercedes chasing Laura around the apartment.
"Multiply that by how many of us are here, then add, oh, just a dash of hellish fury."
Johnny thought about it. "I have to admit, that sounds fucking scary. But how does that help her find us?"
"One thing about Laura is that she's reliable," said Leah in that quiet voice of hers. "Whether it's remembering even the minute details of something or her annoying tendency to show up at least half and hour early to anywhere. She's the annoying brat to put your money on. And you can trust her."
Mercedes snorted. "She's kinda like a puppy that just doesn't stop following you around, but rarely fails to make you laugh. Normally, at her own expense."
"And she can be a bitch," continued Lacey. "But she's and honest bitch. And back to my whole 'procrastinating psycho-bitch' thing: though Laura is a lazy ass and sometimes needs a good smack up the head to stay focused, give her some motivation and she'll fly at the problem like a bat outta Hell. Try dangling a Batman or X-men toy in front of her sometime; it's freakin' hilarious."
That actually did sound amusing. He'd have to try it sometime.
"But how would she find us?" he asked.
This garnered a collective shrug.
"She'll figure it out somehow," said Leah.
Johnny sighed through his nose. "You guys have a lot of faith in her, don't you?"
Lacey smirked. "Spend another month or so around her, and you'll wonder why you ever doubted us. That girl is like a leech that just won't come off."
"If you can be friends with a leech," added Mercedes.
This started up a round of chuckling.
Johnny shrugged.
Maybe he'd try to have a little faith in Laura, too.
It was certainly doing the others a world of good.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jetty wondered at how calm they all were acting; why, they were even joking around!
The creature twitched, rather unhappy with this odd turn of events.
But he just shrugged it off.
"Let them laugh," he told it. "I suppose they're allowed a little light in they're lives before they die."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
House 104.
This had to be it.
I took a deep breath.
"Well, here goes...something, I guess."
Then, like the impulsive creature that I am and always will be, I opened the door
and stepped inside.
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Laura is the shortest, about 5'1". She has longish black hair with silver and blue streaks. Her eyes are dark brown, almost black, and she's rather pale. She wears lots of black clothes. Most of her shirts have dragons on them, she wears her hair in a pony-tail, and she wears oval thin-framed glasses.
She likes black-and-white striped socks and sometimes wears a fedora. Also, she has this orange hoodie that's an XL, so it's a tent on her. She normally wears it around her waist. Moderately pale, and she wears black eye-liner a lot.
Mercedes is a SKINNY little brat. She's about three inches taller than Laura, has light brown eyes, and her brown hair is down to her mid-back. She wears skinny jeans and flip-flops, and always seems to be wearing a black baseball cap and grey sweater. She is SUPER pale. She wears a crap load of black eyeliner.
Lacey is about an inch taller than Mercedes and has a HUGE rack. No joke. Wears lotsa black clothes and her hair is also about mid-back. Her eyes are light brown. She has it dyed black, purple, and green. She likes to wear baggy pants, fingerless black gloves, and black shirts with gothy-cute designs, like baby zombie animals. She has a mild tan, but in winter gets rather pale. She wears a simple silver necklace.
Leah is about the same height as Johnny (5'9") and has short dark blonde to light brown hair, leaning more towards to blonde (it's normally just above her shoulders). She wears blue, green, yellow, or white tank-tops and normally wears blue or white shorts with flip-flops. She has green-blue eyes. In colder weather, she wears a forest green hoodie and sweat-pants.
*Whew* that's all I got! Oh, and ranging from age (youngest to oldest): Mercedes, Laura, Leah, Lacey. Lacey is actually almost a full year older than Laura, and Mercedes is only 17!
Height (tall to short): Leah, Lacey, Mercedes, and Laura.