Rattlebones (bxbxb)

Darcy Makes a Call

I close the lid to the tiny toilet in the motel bathroom and I sit down, phone pressed to my ear. Eugene had destroyed mine when he threw it, so I was using Iggy's to call my parents, the door closed to the room so that I could have some peace and quiet. 

The phone rings for a second before I hear a click, and then my mother's voice. "Hello?"

I exhale as if I had been holding my breath all this time. "Mom? It's Darcy, your only son."

There's a bit of fumbling on the other side and then a gasp. "Baby!? What happened?" She demands. "Your mother and I saw the fire on television. It was all over the news! Are you okay?"

 She's talking so fast that I can't even get a word in, so my mouth kind of just hangs there open and I make these little huffing noises each time I try to speak.

"Did you get into the wrong crowd?" She questions, sounding frantic. "Is it drugs?"

"Mother! Please!" I interrupt her, and I shoot a glance towards the door. "It's not drugs or peer pressure. I'm hiding out in a crack-whore motel with Iggy and Eugene. Something happened, I can't come home until I take care of the problem. I don't even recognize myself at this point, so I doubt that you will, too."

My mother begins to sob ugly sobs. She really was handling this better than I thought she would. "Darcy?" She weeps. "I know we haven't been the best parents. Maybe we let you have too much freedom. But sweetheart? Both of us love you so much. We just wanted you to be happy."

"I am..." My eye holes begin to well with tears that aren't there, "I'm happy, mom. Maybe not right now at this exact moment, but I will be, eventually." 

"Does that mean you'll come home?" She questions, sounding hopeful.

"I don't know. But if I die, float me in the river on a bed of red roses." I wipe my eye sockets and then I lower the phone, staring down at it for a second before I hang up on her. 

The second call I make is to Eugene's stepmom and uncle. 

They pick up on the second ring and Eugene's stepmother's voice sickly sweet when she speaks. "This is Mrs. Wilder speaking!" She chirps. "May I ask who's calling?"

I stare at myself in the mirror. At my glowing eyes and toothy smile. 

"I have your money," I tell her in my deepest, raspiest Liam Neeson voice. "And I have Eugene Wilder. He's alive, I know what you did to him."

Eugene's stepmom is silent, most likely shocked at what I'm telling her.

"Who is this?" She finally demands.

"This can go two ways," I say before she can say more. "Either I go to the cops with your money and Eugene and tell them what happened, or you come here and we--" 

I hesitate.

Fuck. I hadn't thought that far ahead as to what we would do once she and Eugene's Uncle actually came here. A deal, maybe? A tradeoff? 

"Just come get your worthless money!" I shout into the phone. "I'm at The Hills Motel! Come and get the Death-Bringer, bitch!"

I hang up the phone with a click and then I throw it into the shower before leaving the bathroom. Iggy and Eugene are still where I left them, fast asleep and curled up together. 

My heart couldn't take it. If this went wrong and they ended up dying because of me, what would I do? they deserved to be happy, together. Even if I wasn't there with them. 

I head outside after fumbling with the lock to wait for Eugene's relatives, figuring that I would wait a short distance away for them to come and then make my move. Zapping them into the spirit realm seemed fairly easy, all I needed to do was get angry enough to open up a portal to hell, right? 

I go over to a vending machine up against the brick wall and I stare in at the candy and snacks, remembering a simpler time, 

Like when I actually had skin and flesh to be able to consume substandard refreshments.

I'm standing there for at least ten minutes when one of the hotel room doors next to ours flies open and a boy of about seventeen or eighteen comes flying out, clad in nothing but a pair of sneakers and socks. 

Had he been the prostitute in the room moaning earlier?

I recognize him vaguely, his shiny black hair and small stature. But before I can recall his name, he goes running past me, and the largest boy that I had ever seen comes out of the room behind him. "Fuck you, Finch!" The boy bellows. "You can't just ditch me! I thought we had something!"

I turn to look at the boy as he darts into a nearby car and turns it on, skidding out of the parking lot and burning rubber as he pulls away in a hurry.

Unfortunately, I have much bigger concerns, and I see a fancy SUV come prowling up the parking lot. 

Eugene's relatives. They're here. 

Eugene's uncle gets out of the van first, and then his blonde girlfriend next. They literally make me ill looking at them and I pull up my hood to conceal my face from view.

"Where the fuck is he?!" Eugene's uncle demands. "I thought you said he'd be here with the money! We both know who it is. It's that little shit, Darcy Brown!"

"He said he'd be here!" The Wicked Witch replies. 

"Darcy!?" I hear Iggy call from the room, and then the door opens and he and Eugene come out.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Where the hell did he go?" Eugene demands, unaware of his gawking relatives as they stare at their long-dead nephew until he turns around and spots them.

I can fix this, though. I'm the one with the power.

I jump out from behind a large vehicle and I hold out my arms, "Peasants! I've come for your souls!" I shout as loudly as I can. "Surrender now or I'll melt your faces off!"

Eugene's uncle takes one look at me, and then he laughs harder than I can describe and pulls out a rather intimidating gun. "Do you really think I'm afraid of you?" He demands, and then he aims the pistol at Eugene Wilder.

This is it. This is where it all goes to shit.