Forum
Chapter 4: Stranger Things
Kieran suddenly found himself in the room stuck with Deanna. "Thanks."
A gunshot erupted from the other side of the door.
"A lot," he added. Kieran leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "So what is it you want to tell me?"
***
Nicodemus dove to the ground. "Y'ALL ARE CRAZED!"
Leslie ducked down, vehemently hissing, "Psychopath! The fuck is wrong with you?!"
Dave decided to step forward, exasperated with this chaos. "What is it you're trying to prove, hm? That you have the power to take away a life? To extinguish what is sacred? IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH?!" Enraged, he threw a table aside. "ENOUGH WITH THESE GAMES! Give up the gun, Miss Lewis! I won't have any more children hurt tonight!"
For Dave had enough of dead children, and would not tolerate another body at his feet.
-Kieran, Leslie and Dave
Deanna pulled over her duffel, looking at her brother.
"Did you honestly think I'd give up my only weapon?" She asked him, opening up a compartment and pulling out two more guns and some ammo. She handed one to him, looking him dead in the eye. "I'm not gonna regret giving you this am I?" She asked him, pressing the gun into his palm as she set hers on top of her duffel.
"And what I wanted to talk about...was why you escaped...I want to know the truth Kieran, would you have killed me along with everyone else?" She asked her brother, her eyes never leaving his as she prepared herself for what was to come next, the truth, whether she liked it or not.
-Deanna
Kieran held his hands to his face, which was scrunched up in immense confusion. "You had three guns?! Where did you get these?! Did you murder a drug dealer while I was in the slammer? Christ!" After cooling down somewhat, he considered taking the gun but withdrew his hand when common sense gave him a left hook. "I can't get my prints on another weapon! I'm suspicious enough as it is."
He looked to Deanna after her question, now even more confused but this time with a healthy dose of anger. "What?! That's a stupid question! Of course not!" Kieran leaned over the table. a mix of feelings rushing through his head. "I told you then, I told you out there, and I'm gonna tell you here. You're good. Oh, wait, no you're not, as you love to remind me. You're not good anymore. Because me being a killer just erased the person I knew for 16 years and now here she is, packing heat to what might as well be summer camp, dating an imbecile who's just your weed bank!" He slammed the table, fuming. "But, y'know what? Psycho-killer Kieran is feeling generous today. He wouldn'ta killed you then and he wouldn'ta killed you now."
Kieran stepped back, wagging his finger at Deanna. "But your brother Kieran...he's tempted to kick your ass for this shit. Is that the answer you wanted?"
Deanna chuckled some, watching her brother's face as she tucked her gun into her waistband. "Actually I like that answer. I can accept it as plausible." She said, shrugging her shoulders as she secured the other gun into the duffel and hid it and the ammo well enough again.
She knew how pissed he was at her, and hell he had a right to be right now, all things considered. "I would feel better if you had a gun though...considering what happened out there. And nobody knows I've got these. I have my secrets big brother." She said, looking at him before pulling out another hoodie and pulling it on to hide her gun from sight. She listened as he ranted and fumed at her, sighing a moment.
"I know that its not ideal....but right now...I can't be the innocent little Deanna you knew growing up, I'm not her....I went through some shit, and hell right now I think I'm one of the only people that wants your ass alive right now. And that's because your my big brother, and not because I have this vendetta against the psycho killer you. But I just...fuck I just want my brother back." She said, sighing as she sat down and looked up at him.
"Secrets," Kieran repeated, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Like where you got three guns. Right."
Calming down just slightly, he simply said, "We're talking in circles. We've been talking in circles since I found you tied to that tree. I know you've changed and I know you're the only one on my side...but wait. Stop and consider that for a second. You're on my side...along with my crazy therapist fresh from Woodstock. You ever think that being on my side is not the smartest idea? Considering what I've done?"
Nat said it herself. She tried to put him down like a dog because, blind as she was, she saw that helping Kieran would be a futile cause.
Kieran stood over his sister, hand on her shoulder. "You want your brother back? Well, I'm sorry for that. Because I completely dashed any hopes of that when I got caught. Maybe if all my friends weren't amateur sleuths, we'd be living happily ever after in our shoebox house. You'd be blissfully ignorant of my murders and I would be satisfied that all my loose ends were tied up and I could live the life I chose." He got to his knee and looked her dead in the eye. "I gave up that right the minute I killed my first victim. I don't deserve that happy ending. You can't have your brother back, and it's on me. So why don't you get off my side so you don't go down with me, and I can just contently accept my fate when they hand me right back to the cops, knowing that I did one thing right: keep you out of my shit. Can you do that?"
"I don't think I can." Deanna told him, being honest with everything as she explained it to him right now. She sighed, reaching up and wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him. "I don't want to lose you...not again." She said, knowing that right now she didn't want to lose the last remaining family that she actually gave a shit about right now.
She had her secrets, her stash of guns and ammo, the drugs and the money. Hell most of it was Smoke's, and he wouldn't even talk to her right now. "My boyfriend hasn't said two words to me since I came back with you...I think he hates me."
She ran a hand through her hair, sniffing a moment before she hugged him a bit tighter right now. She knew that there was so much going on out there, but she needed to know that she wasn't going to lose him right now. "I could get us out of here...if the right moment came. I could get us both out of here...." She whispered, not wanting to let go of this moment, because she might not get another.
Before anyone could do anything, Audrey had snuck up behind Tracy, and without warning had her in a chokehold.
"Drop the damn gun, you fucking Junkie!"
Tracy's eyes went wide, before she reached back and knocked the butt of her gun against the side of Audrey's head.
"Let me go!" She snapped out, shaking her head.
"Someone get it off her!" Audrey yelled.
Without a word, Pedro was in front of Tracy, hands on her gun. He yanked the gun hand towards the back of her forearm, causing her grip to loosen, before he yanked it out of her hands.
"Take care of this."
Teague walked over and gladly took the pistol from Pedro. Stuffing it in the small of his back, he nodded, "Muchas gracias."
"De nada."
Teague looked back to Tracy and said, "You and Miss Wilcox are both expelled."
He walked back to Theodora, and after repeating the process, handed the empty weapon to her, "Take care of this."
Kieran exhaled at the mention of her boyfriend. His sister was already having regrets because of her indecision. And that would be the end of her if she persisted.
"It's not possible, Deanna," he told her, brushing some hair from her face. "Do you really want to be on the run with me? Am I really that worth it?" Kieran took a moment, fishing for his words carefully. "I'm a killer, Dee. Killers aren't worth saving." The more practical side of him begged a different question. "How would you even plan to do it? To get us both out of this place? Because that talk I said about running away to New York? I was gonna die and so were you. Those were nice last words but they're not realistic." He stood up, absolutely confounded. "Where would you get the money? I don't even have cash for a bus ride because I broke out of prison just a few hours ago. How would you comp the ride?"
Deanna looked at him, shaking her head. "Don't worry about the cash...I have enough stashed back home in my room to get us as far away as needed....and it would keep us alive for a while." She admitted, looking at him.
She knew it was stupid, the whole thought of it, and right now it was all she could think about. She knew that they had to get out of here, before someone killed him and took her away to some padded cell. "As it is...I'm no longer a student at this stupid school. So I'm pretty much done here in Lakewood." She told him, leaning back as she looked at him right now. "Your my brother...and I can't just watch you get taken away again." She said, running a hand through her hair as she looked into his eyes. She knew the risks, hell she was ready to take them right now.
Kieran turned around, holding his aching head. "You shouldn't be done. That's the problem." He stared her down now, wanting some answers. "This aloof bullshit isn't doing you any favors, Dee. The cash you have back home, all these guns you have--I wanna know how." He stepped closer, brimming with frustration. "If you think I deserve to just go unpunished and run away with you, I deserve to know how you plan to get us outta here with a US Marine, my angry aunt, and a bunch of people with a vendetta against me on the other side of that door." Kieran clutched both arms of the chair, trapping his sister in a sense. "Where'd you get the money? Where'd you get the guns? Where are are we gonna go? Tell me that." He waited, taking heavy breaths.
"Gladly," said Theodora, accepting the gun and joining it with the others in a kitchen cupboard, which was promptly locked tight.
***
"Audrey!" Howard hurried to his daughter's side, "My God..." he got down beside her, "Are you alright?"
He looked side-along to Tracy, unable to keep disdain from his eyes. This was wrong, he knew, but... It had been his daughter. And again, he could do nothing but stand by and watch.
***
"Now that that circus is concluded," Theodora returned to the room, "There are several things I feel we all ought to go over. If anybody else has a pistol, revolver, blunderbuss or rocket launcher on their persons, kindly divulge it before somebody or other has a heart attack."
This done, she continued, "The phones, as you all have by now noticed, have been scrambled, and the landline phone here has been cut, leaving us no way to contact the outside. We've locked all the doors, as a precaution, though I now see I ought to have locked some of you out for good measure.
"Be that as it may. There are more pressing concerns to hand. As you are all by now quite familiar, three people have turned up dead tonight. Arienne Atler, Maggie Duval..." her eyes rested briefly on poor, quiet, still Emma, "And your classmate Micah Hendricks."
She next turned her eyes to where Phyllis was sitting, dead to all, appearing not to have stirred once in all the chaos.
"You will also be aware that...Kieran Wilcox is among us, having broken out of prison," she nodded helpfully to Nicodemus, "That individual in the dressing gown is his psychiatrist. Kindly, treat him with all the respect he deserves."
She let that hang there for a moment.
"This man se llama Pedro Sanchez," she smiled a smile which hurt her face, indicating the stranger, "We have every reason to believe he is some sort of criminal, but his English isn't very good and I suppose we're stuck with him. None of you try talking to him. For God's sake.
"Now, there are certainly bound to be reports of what happened tonight. You all had your own...unfortunate situations, many of you saw things, others heard. As we're unable to contact the police, I think it's best for our own safety that we conduct an inquiry of our own, the better to determine whether these killings truly were the work of Wilcox," she steeled herself, "Or if somebody else was responsible."
-Theodora and Howard
"I'll live," Audrey took a deep breath. That blow had hurt.
"Dad, we need to talk,before something else happens."
***
Pedro raised his hand and walked over to Theodora and Teague.
In a whisper, he said, "Besides my pistola and machete, I have extra firepower in my shack."
Deanna looked up at her brother, "It's the money Smoke has me stash from him selling." she answered about the cash she had hidden away. "As for the guns...I got one of them from you after the whole affair with Clarke. I got one from being with Carl, and Smoke got me my third gun. I have a few more stashed around the house too...just because I sort of gained an avid fascination for all things with bullets." She told him, her voice calm and collected the entire time. When he asked how they would go, and where they would go she had an answer for that as well. "Well obviously we would need to ditch the duffel, so taking out the guns and ammo, and the cash and drugs I've got stashed in there, than we'd wait for the chance to get out of this room. Maybe suggest to your hippie doc man that you and I should be kept separate from the rest of the class. Good idea to get us out of the same room with them, than we'd find some means of transportation, no doubt there is something around here with wheels that I can hotwire. Than we'd head home to Lakewood, gather the rest of my stuff from my room, get you some new clothes and some other things, and than we'd take the truck that's sitting in the driveway and head to New York or something. Maybe somewhere else, I don't give a fuck where we go. Just as long as its away from everyone who hates me. Who hates us. And you heard the principal, I'm expelled from school anyways. So there is nothing left for me in Lakewood." She took a few breaths, looking up at her brother. "Does that answer your questions? Are you satisfied with that?"
***
Aleks shifted, clinging to Zach's arm as if the whole world was going under right now.
She could tell her own breathing had started to go wonky.
Slowly she released her hold on Zach, dropping down to her knees and placing her head in her hands.
Breathing techniques, that was what she needed to do.
***
Emma had just stood there, and when everything happened she blanked.
For a moment she wanted to scream, but than she saw Aleks and she knelt down by the girl.
"Just breath...slow and steady, its alright Aleks."
She said, placing a hand on the girls back as she looked up at Brooke and the others.
"Guys...I think we should see about getting away from the guns for a while. I don't think its doing any of us any good." She whispered, while she continued to rub Aleks' back trying to calm the girl down the best she could.
***
Tracy sat there after everything, before standing up and brushing past everyone.
"Well since I'm expelled, no need for me to stay here with this sorry lot."
She flipped her hair over her shoulders, before moving towards the door.
"I'd appreciate my gun back, since I plan on leaving this stupid retreat and making my way back to Lakewood. So give me my gun, and let me out of this stupid hall." She demanded, eyeing the so called principal with narrowed eyes.
Death wish, perhaps, but she knew her odds better than anyone right now.
And actually, she had half a mind to text a certain someone and let them know just how many weapons were in the hall and what not. Perhaps she would, when she got out of this stupid area and away from these idiots.
-Deanna, Aleks, Emma, Tracy
"Aleks?" Zach turned to her, suddenly aware of her...well, distress. And distressed by it himself.
Okay...this was bad.
But he'd been here. He knew what to do.
"Aleks, it's...it's okay," he told her, getting down on one knee before her, putting both hands gently on her shoulders, "Look at me. Or...or anybody. Well, maybe not..." he looked around, "Most of the people. At me," he smiled, "You're gonna be fine. And..." he nodded, "It's okay to be scared."
***
"Em, believe me, I would love to be as far from the guns, the crazy bitch and your murderer ex-boyfriend, but..." she gestured at the sturdy walls, barred windows and locked doors, "We'd appear to be penned up. Though I'm starting to doubt whether or not we'd be safer out there," she sniffed in Tracy's direction.
***
Theodora turned to Teague, "I'll handle this."
Who knows? Perhaps Tracy Lewis would give her a stroke and she'd be spared having to deal with another minute of this threescore farce.
"Tracy," this girl would probably sooner call her worse than her first name if she had the chance, so why bother with the Victorian-era pleasantries at this point? Really.
"When I said nobody leaves, I did, in fact, mean nobody. Student, teacher, parent, whatever he is..." she nodded to Sanchez, "...or recently expelled neurotic. You are not getting that gun back, and you are not leaving this room, and if you try, so help me God, I will actually attempt to put a four week correspondence course in Brazilian arts to good use, and then I fear we'll both end up in pieces!"
She leaned forward, "Now sit down and, for the love of all that is holy and good in this world, shut up."
-Zach, Brooke and Theodora
Aleks looked up and into Zach's eyes, trying her best to calm her breathing.
"Z-Zach..."
Okay not the best way to end up, granted all the guns and shit was making her crazy.
She continued to try and breath, taking slow deep breaths as she tried to calm herself down. Right now she was definitely not the best of company, but at least she had a few people here that actually cared.
***
Emma stood up, moving to hug Brooke and sigh. "Brooke...this is the worst retreat ever." She mumbled, shaking her head as she tried her best to keep herself relaxed and composed right now. She didn't know what to expect next.
***
Tracy grumbled, throwing her hands up in the air.
"This is the worst school ever...I'm missing boarding school."
She commented, turning around and walking back towards where Drew was seated. She took her seat, before she pulled out one of the pills stashed in her bra, taking it and leaning against the table a moment while she tried to figure a way out of the stupid place.
-Aleks, Emma, Tracy
"Anyone an asthmatic? Like...with an inhaler?" Zach asked in a general sense, "Not that I think she's...doing badly or anything, but I'm afraid she'll pass out."
He paused, "Again."
He turned back to Aleks, "That wasn't supposed to scare you. Sorry if it did."
***
"Honey," Brooke turned to her, "We've had worse weekends."
She remembered Maggie's corpse.
"I've had worse weekends," she squeezed Emma's hand, "We'll muddle through somehow. We always do. Eventually."
Usually after a dozen or so corpses.
She shut that little voice up quick enough.
"Where is my dashing boyfriend?" she asked in a general sense, "I, for one, would like to hear the thrilling campfire story about how he kicked a ghost's ass tonight. It's the most novel thing he's done since we went steady."
***
"They surely don't miss you!" Theodora called after Tracy, immaturely or not, she was past caring.
This done, she turned to Teague, "Now...you've never served on one of those court martials, have you? It would help if we had somewhere hear good at asking questions. I mean to go through everybody, get a decent picture of what happened tonight. And then...well, somebody ought to hear Kieran Wilcox's story."
So far, he hadn't said a word about the three corpses, not to them at any rate. He'd neither claimed them nor denied them, which was passing strange for many reasons.
-Zach, Brooke and Theodora
Aleks narrowed her eyes at him, lightly smacking his arm.
"Yeah...good pep talk..."
She said, slowing her breathing down as she continued to look directly at him. She knew that he was safe right now, he wasn't going anywhere and he wasn't dead, which was more than she could say for three people they knew.
***
Emma sighed, running a hand through her hair as she looked at Brooke than the rest of their friends right now.
"Brooke, we'll make it through this right now."
She knew that her friend was right, they had to stay positive through this.
I'll miss you mom, I don't know what to do.
She quickly shook the thoughts from her mind, looking around before focusing on the door that Kieran and Deanna had gone through. She wondered what those two were doing, and whether or not it was safe for them to be together in there.
"A ghost, really? Well now I've heard everything."
-Aleks, Emma
"Court Martials weren't really my specialty," admitted Teague.
At the words, Pedro walked over and declared, "I can get answers out of that Puta."
He nodded to the room Kieran was in.
Stavo walked over from where Eli had been over to his girlfriend.
"You rang?"
Kieran stepped back, eyes narrowed. "Satisfied." He looked to the door behind them, cautious if anybody was eavesdropping. "I'll talk with Nicodemus. He'll make sure I'm well-taken care of, shelter me somewhere. I'll break out of wherever somewhere is the way I broke out of prison, and sneak my way back to you here. You stay here, got that?" He emphasized his orders, motioning both hands to her. "These people are right about something. It's the only safe place here. You stay in this room, until I come back for you. Don't answer for anybody. You're good at that, I know."
Kieran paused, looking his sister in the eye. "Can you do that for me?"
***
Dave, clearly affected by this whole business, sat himself down next to Sawyer, for once feeling a righteous indignation swell within him. "Life is a precious and fleeting thing, and that girl was willing to squander it for a false sense of power o-of taking it away from others." He wagged his finger at the girl, cautiously warning her, "Never allow petty things like pride and anger dominate your soul. It'll bring out the worst in you, as it did in her."
Sighing, he proceeded to lighter matters. "Here," Dave withdrew a folded piece of paper from his jacket and handed it to Sawyer.
***
Leslie shook her head, exasperated with these antics. "I almost strangled her to death," she told Carl, though she didn't know why. "Almost wish I had."
Shaking her head, she turned to the Wiz-Kid, confused. "What was I talking about?"
-Kieran, Dave and Leslie
"About my Uncle...and Micah," answered Carl.
He wiped some tears away.
"He doesn't know...just how bad my homelife is. He thinks I still live with them."
Deanna looked at him, nodding her head. "Will you at least take a gun with you?" She asked him, pulling her duffel over and placing it on her lap. She knew the risks, but he could keep himself well concealed and ensure that nobody got close to him. At least that much she knew her brother capable of, and if they did make it out of this alive, well than all the better for them both. "But don't go taking too long....I'd rather not be stuck in here with the whole class out there wanting my head on a pike." She declared, shaking her head as she tried to figure out what to do next.
"I can keep myself barricaded in here long enough, just hurry up." She said, looking at her brother.
-Deanna
"You misunderstand us," said Theodora, turning to Pedro, "We've brought you in, but I'm afraid I'm not about to loose you on the rest of them. Not even him. Not that I doubt your capabilities," she let that linger there, "Quite the opposite."
She shrugged, "And anyway, there are questions to be put to you as well. But in time, in time..."
This was a peculiar thing. Unnerving, yet weirdly exciting. Almost like presiding over a court of law, as she'd once pretended as a girl. Of course, this was considerably more dire than The Case of the Captured Cookies.
"We've heard all I want to hear from Nicodemus Langley for now, I think," she told Teague, "The man was nothing if not forthcoming. There's this...business with the ghost of Terrance Smith," she looked across the room to the solitary figure of Drew Watson, "It might mean nothing, but damn it all, I'm curious. And I think it happened at least ahead of all the other madness, so there's some semblance of continuity there."
***
"We were just talking about your feat of bravery against Not-Terrance," Brooke declared, "Good to see you found a use for that energy outside of beating up a 14-year-old."
-Theodora and Brooke
"Well...I could question him, I suppose," replied Teague, "But I won't do it alone."
He didn't trust himself to be alone with Kieran.
***
"The asshole deserved it. Especially since Micah is...well."
"With all the people I've killed without a gun, does it look I need one?" Kieran reasoned, heading for the door. "Alright, but I'm gonna be a while. Sit tight. till then, won't ya?" And so he left the room, closing the door behind him.
Nicodemus's eyes widened as his wounded soul finally left the room. "Kieran! What's up with you?"
Kieran didn't stop walking, forcing his therapist to keep up. "Just my sister being her moody self. She's really sour about the guns."
"Well, sometimes we use objects as extensions of the self..."
"Yeah, that's nice," Kieran stopped in his tracks, sticking close to the wall as he finally faced Nicodemus. "Look, these people hate me."
Nicodemus held up his hands. "Now 'hate' is just 'love' on a Monday morning, man."
Kieran ignored that proverb. "They don't want to see me and I don't want to see them."
"But why? Seeing each other is half of communicatin' with each other, man."
"These people don't want to communicate with me. They want to feed me to the lions." Kieran said slowly so Nicodemus would understand. "I just want to be locked away somewhere and wait this thing out."
"Like your cell?"
Kieran sighed. "Like my cell."
Nicodemus smiled and patted Kieran on the back. "This is a big step for you, Kieran. From the sound of it, you want to go back to prison."
"A part of me wishes," Kieran replied, before giving his condition. "But I need to talk to someone first. In private. Part of letting out..."
In unison. "...the negative energy." Nicodemus only, "You have been listening."
"You bet, brother," Kieran looked to the other adults. "They'll be touchy about me talking to a student, though. You understand what I have to do, though. Right?"
"Uh, right."
"So you'll just tell them you got me quarantined in the men's room. Got it?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I follow!" Nicodemus paused. "What if a fella wants to use the facilities?"
Kieran was already on his way. "It's already gone Lord of the Flies around here. They can adapt."
Nicodemus nodded, appreciating Kieran's open-minded approach to their situation, and went to his new colleagues. "Great news, gang!"
***
Kieran took Smoke by the collar and pulled him towards the men's room. "C'mon, G. I got words with you." Pushing through the door, he took him to the nearest stall and sent him to his knees. "Hi, Smokey. You're dating my sister. We talked on the phone for a bit." Kieran looked him over. "Nice to meet you in person."
***
"That...that sucks," Leslie commented, not sure what to say really.
Well, one thing came to mind.
"I'm...I'm sorry you have to go through that shit," she spoke up. "Like, you had nobody to talk to living with those monsters, not even your uncle." Leslie looked off, a shade of sadness overcoming her. "Except...Micah." She paused. "I called him an idiot for believing the best in you. He has a habit of clinging onto shady people and looking for the good in them. I figured you put him in danger, you'd take advantage of him. I wanted to protect him..."
Leslie shook her head remorsefully. "But you're a victim of a shitty situation. Micah understood that because...because he had compassion." She sighed, feeling shame. "Something I guess I'm still working on."
-Kieran, Nicodemus and Leslie
"Look man...all that talk on the phone...I was stoned out of my mind," began Lance, hands raised in the air.
"Yeah. You...could use some work on that," Carl swallowed, "And... I want justice."
Kieran nodded. "Oh, I bet. You'd have to be 'not all there' to talk like that to serial killer." He took Smoke by the neck and held him over the toilet bowl. "Now I like to think I'm reformed. And I like to think you wouldn't want to drown in a shit-stained toilet. It's shallow but it's possible. Which means it'll be long, painful and embarrassing. Trust me, there are a million better ways to go than that. So watch yourself."
With the terms and conditions out of the way, he withdrew the formalities. "First off, Smoke, you're an idiot. Old news to you, but I digress. Second, you're a superb idiot because you dealt drugs to my manic-depressive, moody sister. You saw an opportunity to make a buck and you took it, not giving two shits about her. Unless..." He took a knee and whispered into his ear. "You're actually in love with her. Please, tell me, Casanova, why did you shack up with Deanna? And remember," he was quick to add, lowering Smoke's head ever so slightly. "Honest answers only."
***
Leslie looked Carl dead in the eye, her face stone-cold and solemn. "For once...I think we agree on something."
-Kieran and Leslie