The Things We Fear

The cursed day definitely seemed to get better after seeing his dad. It was just Marcus, his mother, brother, and Theo for tea, but they ordered Chinese and he got to indulge in some chicken and cheese rolls, so Marcus had been happy enough. He and Theo had spent most of the evening playing games and messing with his new laptop. Until Theo had the bright idea to go investigate the crime scene.

It was getting dark. Normally Marcus would heavily protest going out any time after ten, even when all the street lights were lit. There was just something about nighttime in a sleepy town. He wanted to move to LA or San Diego when he got older. The lights were bright there. Bright enough to block out the stars. Bright enough to block out the shadows. He’d entertained the thought of New York, but it was too far away and ridiculously expensive. Plus, he heard horror stories about blackouts there, definitely not worth the risk.

Anyway, Theo had suggested they go look at where Rod had been found and Marcus, like an idiot, didn’t want to let his best friend go by himself. Driving down the road as the sun was starting to set had his hands sweating against the steering wheel. The heat of the day was still leaving a foggy grip over the world. He’d brought a spray water bottle with him, spraying them in the car with the air-con still at full blast. At least he would be able to blame the inevitable beads of fear trailing down his back on the heat and spray. Eternally glad his best friend did not have supernatural senses.

“The police will have left by now, right?” Theo asked from the passenger side.

He shrugged, “Maybe, it’s not like we have a high death count here, so everyone will likely have been involved, but it also means if they needed any specialist equipment or tests they’d have to go further afield or call people in from elsewhere, which would mean keeping the scene secure for longer.”

“Do you think that’s what happened?”

“Dunno. If they think he drowned it’ll be an open and shut case. The coroner will confirm it or not. In theory, it should still be cordoned off, but then I’ve snuck on to scene before where they just had a cop in a car outside to sneak past.”

“Shouldn’t it be both?”

He shrugged again, saying “Small town,” like it explained everything, because in a way it did.

“How many others do you think will try and sneak a peak?”

Because that was the issue, wasn’t it? It was why they were here. This was a small town. It was boring. Death was the most exciting to have happened in months, maybe years here. There was no way they would be the only ones trying to catch a look at the scene. The nosy grannies and neighbours would have gone in the day, but the teens, they liked to use the cover of night. Just like Theo. he wouldn’t be surprised if they ran into more than one person on this little excursion.

They parked two streets away, opting to go through the wooded area around the back of the house. He had his phone out and torch on before they had even reached the trees. Wishing he had brought a real flashlight. Maybe a floodlight. The closer they drew to the house, the more nature sounds took over from the low humming of the streets nearby. The chirping and rustling of the woods would have been soothing if this had been the middle of the day. In low light it had his eyes flitting from side to side and constantly checking nothing was about to jump out and have them for dinner.

His dad would drag him back from the afterlife if Marcus was dumb enough to die out in the woods. He wished he’d brought his gun, but there had been no way to sneak it out of the safe with Theo there. There was no way his best friend wouldn’t have asked a thousand questions if he’d seen Marcus arming himself to go to what (as far as the other was aware) was the scene of an accidental drowning. He’d managed to grab his pouch with herbs, ash and salts. It would keep a variety of supernatural creatures at bay, but it would not be as effective as a bullet through the brain.

The gate screeched as Theo opened the back entrance to the house causing them both to wince and pause in place, hoping no one was about to hear. At least the pool area was still lit. the yellow tape went from the door, around the pool and back to the house. It was weird. Why not just stick it across the whole house? As though hearing his thoughts Theo commented on the same thing.

“Do you think they ran out of yellow tape?”

“Do you think the grannies were already standing around and refused to be moved whilst they were putting it up?”

It was probably in bad taste to be snickering at a crime scene, but they both knew it was quite possible that was exact;y what happened.

“I bet old Gladdis brought her own chair and watched the whole thing.”

“I bed old man Roadie leant against the wall with his cigar telling them they were doing it all wrong.”

“I bet Agatha baked scones and brought tea for all the officers, hoping to get them to tell her everything.”

After another bout of giggles, the two slowly walked forward. Marcus was conscious of not leaving footprints behind. The scene had likely been checked and it wouldn’t be an issue, but if his dad found out they’d been here, Marcus would get the lecturing of his life.

“Don’t go near the water, it’ll probably be drained or tested if it turns out this wasn’t a simple drowning. I do not want my dad to find out we were here by being implicated as potential suspects.”

Theo took a notable step away from the edge of the water, throwing him an apologetic look. Marcus continued looking around the back garden. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for. Everything looked normal. There were no broken pieces of furniture or destroyed shrubbery to indicate a struggle. There were no splotches of blood or clear evidence of poison to suggest foul play. Without the yellow tape, he wouldn’t have even known this was the house Rod had been found at.

The pool looked as clear as any other in the neighbourhood. A leaf or two had fallen in, and a couple of bugs on top, but unless you had the pool cleaner in almost daily, that was normal. He would not have thought someone had died in it. It almost made the blue surface appear more ominous, the way it innocently rippled in the evening breeze, as though it had not recently held a dead body.

“If he died in the pool, shouldn’t there be–” Theo made a strange movement with his arms, like Marcus might somehow guess this weird game of charades.

“I might be your best friend, Theo, but I don’t speak mime,” he said flatly.

“Eurgh. Dead bodies. Everyone knows what happens to them.”

He continued looking at the other with a blank stare.

“The defecate, right? Something about the bowels clearing out. Shouldn’t there be some evidence of that?”

“Err. I honestly have no idea. I heard they do that, yeah, but I don’t know if it’s true. Could be one of those weird things everyone thinks is true but isn’t?”

“Maybe search it?”

“No way, man. I don’t want the FBI or NSA thinking I’m a freaking serial killer or something. You do it.”

“No, not with some of the things I search.”

He raised an eyebrow at his friend.

“I’m a curious guy, alright? On their own they’re all innocent searches, but put together, they might make me look a little,” he paused, “unstable.”

He couldn’t help chuffing at that. “Google synonyms, they’ll just think you’re a writer.”

“Dude, if I was a serial killer, maybe don’t give me ideas.”

Marcus let out a small laugh, “If a sunshine boy like you turns out to be a serial killer, we’re all screwed.”

“Hey! I could be,” as though realising what he was protesting Theo waved his hands in front of himself in protest, “Not that I’d want to be, of course, but I could be. They say anyone could be with the right leverage.”

“Maybe let’s not discuss you’re potential serial killer-hood at a crime scene?” Marcus suggested, wanting to get away from this conversation.

“And I’ll ask my dad when he gets home.”

Theo looked at him in confusion, so he pointed toward the water.

“Oh right, he’s probably seen loads of dead bodies, he would definitely know. Good idea, dude.”

Marcus wanted to protest the ’loads of dead bodies’ part of the sentence but decided it was not worth the effort to correct his friend.

“It looks normal?”

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“I don’t know what I was expecting.”

“A person we know died here. I’m not sure what we’re supposed to expect, but for everything to look the same as it did at the beginning of summer when we came for that BBQ probably wasn’t it.”

“Yeah. I wonder how his parents are doing. Or that girl, Alicia was it, the one he was dating.”

“I thought he was with Steph now? But likely not good. I don’t think anyone could be. I didn’t exactly know the guy well, and it sucks to know he’s gone. I can’t even imagine what it would feel like if it was you or my family.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

They stood in silence for several moments. Looking at the water. Everything did look normal. Nothing was out of place. With his eyes, he could see nothing wrong. If he had been perfectly ordinary, he would not have been able to sense just how off this place was. How, despite the heat, it felt like he was walking over a graveyard. How despite how well-kept and aesthetically pleasing the area looked, it was as though there was a dark blanket lying over every surface. How, even though the flowers were in bloom, they felt like the shrivelled death of winter.

As much as he preferred to ignore them, the shadows were almost shouting with how excited they were. Had they been a part of the physical plane, Marcus had no doubt they would have been bouncing up and down. Trying to coax the foreign energies into playing with them. Like a young puppy meeting an old dog. The thing here felt like the middle of the forest. With trees that had stood for centuries. Old, in a way Marcus’ young mind could barely begin to grasp.

He wanted to leave. Seeing Theo was shivering too, he decided it was time to head home. The last of the sun’s rays were fading, and Marcus did not want to be standing out here in the dark.

“We should go,” he said, taking Theo’s arm and pulling it gently.

It took the other a moment, but slowly he began to follow. As Marcus reached the gate, he heard a shout from behind him. Swivelling in place, it surprised him to see Theo ducking with his arms raised as he hit at something in the air. It took his eyes a moment to find the bat, repeatedly flying at his friend.

It could have just been a normal bat, but this was Breckon Heights. Add to that how they were currently at a crime scene, where for certain creatures, the scent of death was a lure hard to deny, without another second of hesitation, he pulled the concoction from his pouch and threw it over Theo and the creature.

An earthly cry came from the brown ball as it flew away so fast it became a blur.

“What the fuck was that? And what did you throw at me to make it stop? Is it poisonous? Do I need to dive into the water and wash it off,” he looked to the pool as though he was internally debating doing exactly that.

Grabbing his friend before he could follow through, he pulled Theo closer to check in case he had wounds.

“It’s herbs and salt. It stinks to most animals. Works as a deterrent. Unless you’re allergic to anything other than the dairy and shellfish I already know about, you should be fine.”

Seeing the blobs of red on his friend’s arm, “We should get those scrapes cleaned, you might need a tetanus shot as well.”

He didn’t mention how Marcus also planned to force-feed him plenty of garlic the next few days, just in case, maybe a load of vitamin C as well. Anything anti-oxidant that might fight any potential infections, supernatural or otherwise.

He was too busy inspecting his friends to notice the four bodies that had suddenly emerged through the gate until the fifth opened it wider and the screech had them both turning to see who else had arrived.