The Hollow

Chapter 1: The Skillings

One Year Later

October 31st: 8:04am

"Jonah! Hey! Jonah, you better get out there," Zander called from the door, standing on his tiptoes to see through the peephole.

"They'll figure it out," Jonah groaned, rolling over in bed to face the wall.

He didn't know what was going on and he didn't care. He had found his bed just a few hours prior, The Mayor keeping him up late to discuss tonight's festivities. That man was far too paranoid, constantly worrying about shit spilling out into the streets of his precious city. As if they hadn't been doing this for decades with most of the inhabitants none the wiser. Jonah had spent half the meeting reassuring him that he could handle The Festival, that he had been in charge of it for years even though it was his Father who actually ran things.

"Jonah," Zander called out again and Jonah huffed.

"Zero, I swear I will put you in a fucking home," he snapped.

Zander rolled his eyes knowing it was an empty threat. Jonah would never do that to him. It was only by the grace of The Mayor that Zander hadn't spent any time in foster care after their parents died. He rushed the legalities to make Jonah Zanders guardian and waved all home checks.

"Well, Billy has a knife," Zander mumbled.

"What?" Jonah finally rolled off his bed, moving to look through the peephole, "That little shit."

His door slammed against the wall as he threw it open, making Billy jump. Lily and Cade turned to look at Jonah but Billy's eyes stayed on the smaller girl in front of him.

"Morning Jonah," Lily sang out.

"Sleep well?" Cade asked with an innocent looking grin.

"Who do you belong to?" Jonah asked the girl Billy had cornered, ignoring the Bogue kids.

"S-Salem," the little one stuttered out, their eyes never leaving the switchblade in Billy's hand.

"Well, run back to Salem, little witch," Jonah said, placing a firm hand on Billy's shoulder and spinning him around as the young one took off down the hallway, "What the fuck are you doing?"

"She stole from me," Billy whined.

"We don't like thieves," Lily said.

"They are rotting," Cade added.

"And what did she steal?" Jonah snapped.

"His heart," Lily teased with a cackle.

"Didn't want it though," Cade added, flicking at Billy's ear.

"Shut up!" Billy snapped at them.

"You ever pull something like that again just because a girl doesn't like you and I'll carve you up myself," Jonah said, shoving Billy against the wall, "Where's your dad?"

"Probably sleeping," Lily said.

"With his whores," Billy spat out.

"Didn't come home last night," Cade said.

"This is mine now," Jonah said, snatching the knife from Billy, "Go find Ogden and leave everyone else be."

The kids ran off down the hallway, bickering and shoving each other as they went. The Bogue twins and Cade were little monsters but Jonah couldn't fully blame them. Ogden Bogue was a horrible human so it's no real surprise that his kids would be terrorists and no one even knew who Cade actually belonged to. It was rumored he was Ogden's from one of his whores but no one was brave enough to actually ask. The kid just showed up one day and never left. Jonah ran his hand down his face and sighed. He'd have to talk to Ogden about getting them under control. He brushed past Zander as he made his way back into the living room, dropping the knife on the table before falling back into bed.

"The next time you wake me someone better be dead," he told Zander, who just laughed as he flipped the switchblade open and closed.

Zander watched his brother until his breaths evened out again and he knew he was asleep. Pocketing the switchblade and pulling the curtain that hid Jonah's bed from the room, he wandered back to his bedroom and dug out the box that he kept some of his parents' pictures and belongings in. Sometimes he felt bad about how much he missed his Mom and Dad, even though Jonah reassured him that it was normal and he missed them too. Zander just didn't want Jonah to feel like he wasn't doing enough, his brother was already overburdened with taking up their Fathers title as the Pumpkin King and he had been prepared for that, knowing it would happen one day. Jonah hadn't been prepared to be a father.

It wasn't that he was doing a bad job, Zander thought as he flipped through the pictures of his parents, it was that sometimes it felt like he had lost Jonah too. Zanders' gaze lingered on a picture of the four of them from last year's Festival. It was the last picture they had taken as a family, his parents having been found dead the next morning, but looking at Jonah felt like he was looking at a ghost. Jonah had seemed so light back then, always cracking jokes, teasing, thinking up mischief. Their Mom used to always compare him to the Fae, but that Jonah had died along with his parents. Jonah still had his moments of fun but they were few and far between now. He was like a candle whose flame had recently been blown out, still smoking, the wick still glowing at the tip and occasionally a gust of wind would light it up for a few seconds. There was a hardness to him now, the same type of hardness that their Father had always held. To the Outsiders they were all cold, hard, mean but even to the people of The Hollow, Jonah was. His only soft spot being Zander.

Zander heard a soft knock on the door and rushed over to answer it before the noise woke Jonah. It didn't matter, however, since it was The Mayor. He knew The Mayor wasn't here to see him but he still tried to stall, hoping the man would just leave. He never really liked The Mayor, he acted too much like the Outsiders even though he was technically a part of The Hollow. He could never quite put his finger on why he never seemed to warm up to him, maybe it was his smell, too much cologne, like he was trying to cover up the stench The Hollow left on him. Maybe he was.

"Hello Zero!" The Mayor said brightly once Zander opened the door. Zander had never seen the man in a neutral mood, he was always far too chipper or extremely paranoid. It was probably all the cocaine, "Is Jonah home?"

"He's sleeping."

"Oh," The Mayor sighed with disappointment, "Would you mind waking him? I wanted to go over some things for tonight."

"Fine but he's not going to be happy. He said not to wake him unless someone was dead," Zander shrugged, disappearing behind the curtain that hid Jonah's bed from the rest of the room.

"Well, tonight is a terribly important night so he should understand," The Mayor muttered, wringing his hands.

"Jonah!" Zander yelled, kicking the edge of the bed causing Jonah to startle awake.

"Who's fucking dead?" he growled at him.

"It's The Mayor," Zander told him.

"The Mayor's dead?" Jonah asked, eyes going wide.

"No, he's in the kitchen," Zander deadpanned.

"Oh for fucks sake," Jonah grumbled, pushing through the curtain into the room at large, "What?"

The Mayor jumped slightly at Jonah's tone, stuttering out an apology to him. Jonah just rolled his eyes, waiting for the man to find his composure and get to the point. He was exhausted and knew he wasn't going to be getting any sleep tonight. A fact that The Mayor reminded him of as he insisted Jonah be there early so some VIPs could meet him privately. Finally, after reassuring The Mayor for the hundredth time that yes, his costume was ready and yes, it has the same effect on him that it used to have on his Father and yes, he tested it and yes, Vlad had security drilled and trained and yes, Salem had The Apothecary well stocked, he all but shoved the older man out the door and fell back onto his bed, chasing peace only sleep could bring.