FIGHTER ; Robin Arellano

7

Song: Little dark age- MGMT

Billy *Paperboy* Showalter

PERIODICALLY THROUGHOUT THE DAY.. Jade and Finney continuously dug deeper into the hole Bruce Yamada had directed them too.

Just as before, they slept, woke up, ate their eggs and sprite, and dug some more. Under Jade's fingernails were brown from dirt.

She stood up from the hole, sighing from exhaustion. She wiped the dirt on her hands onto her bell bottoms.

She walked over to the mattress, slumping down on it. Finney followed her. "C'mon, we have to keep going."

Jade rubbed her head, which still throbbed from some sort of injury. "Finney.. I can't keep doing this— I'm tired."

"..I give up."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "You give up so easily."

He paused, looking as his hopeless sister. "No one's coming to save you, so get up."

But she stood up anyway, as the door opened with a loud creaking noise. Finney turned around too, the grabber holding their tray of food.

"I made you some breakfast," he said calmly.

Jade looked down at her feet, shaking slightly. This man terrified her. He was horrifying in fact. Not just because of his appearance, but his relaxed mood as well. Creepy.

"What'd you put in that?" Finney asked him, clenching his fists. Jade stared at her red converse. One shoe lace was untied, but she hadn't noticed until now.

She stared at her appearance. The jacket Robin gave her, the brown leather and cotton dirtied and stinking from her time in the basement. Underneath, a striped cropped tanktop, color scheme being red, yellow, green and black.

Dark blue bell bottoms and a bulky brown belt— which matched her shoes.

She looked back up. Jade would beg for a shower, but she was awfully afraid he'd hit her.

The Grabber stared at Finney. "Salt and pepper." He giggled, looking down at the food. He set it down on the ground with a loud, exaggerated sigh.

"Eat it!.. don't eat it," he looked back up at the twins much more seriously. His voice darkened as he spoke. "You're already down here. What do I need to drug you for?"

Jade's jaw tightened as she watches him return to the door frame. He closed the door— but, made a mistake. Jade seen he hadn't closed it entirely. It was cracked open.

Finney and Jade walked forward at once. Finney went to open the loud door, but the phone rang again.

Jade ran over as Finney left it cracked. Her voice cracked as she answered. "Hello?"

"Don't go upstairs."

The voice was different, much different then Bruce's. Who was this? Another one of.. The Grabber's victims? But who..

"Why not?

The voice told her it was a trap. She knew it wasn't Bruce, so she thought for a second. She knew all the victim's names.. so, who was this? Not Vance Hopper, or Robin..

"This isn't Bruce. Who is this," she demanded.

"Who's Bruce," he questioned, the loud breathing becoming static on the other end of the line.

Jade shifted in her stance. "I was just talking to Bruce.."

He mentioned he didn't know any Bruce. That would leave Billy Showalter and Griffin Stagg. But.. Jade didn't know either. So she couldn't recognize the voice.

"Griffin Stagg? Billy Showalter?" She breathed.

The boy stayed silence. Jade looked up from the ground at her brother. He stood there awkwardly, lifting his heels off the floor every couple of seconds.

"Who are you?" She repeated.

"I don't remember."

Jade thought to herself. She didn't know the boys well enough to ask what was this one's hobby, so she asked things she did know.

"Did you play.. basketball? Football? Soccer?"

He huffed a breath before replying. "I delivered newspapers."

Jade gulped. Billy Showalter. She barely knew him, but only as a stranger. A familiar name, as well as Griffin Stagg, who she had known from somewhere else.

"Billy!.. You're Billy Showalter!" Jade exclaimed with an expression of relief and fright.

He answered with a maybe, which made Jade want to rethink her assumption— but she knew it was him. "No.. you're Billy!."

He repeated what he had said before. "Do.."

"Not," Billy paused within each word. "Go.. upstairs."

Jade stayed silent. "What is he doing?" She finally asked.

"He's waiting. On the other side with that fucking belt."

Jade closed her eyes at his anger. "He didn't say you could leave— or Finney. So if either of you try, he'll punish you."

"He'll beat you with that belt until you pass out. It hurts kid. It hurts real bad. You cry, you beg him to stop— we all did. But he just keeps beating you.."

The phone hung up.

Finney had drawn closer, listening to the phone call with a near emotionless expression.

Jade put the phone back, staring at the door in front of her. She ignored Billy— walking over to the door and pulling it open with all her strength.

"Jade.. don't."

She turned around for Finney to grab her wrist. "He said not to."

But Jade had enough. She pulled her hand away. "It's not real. Those calls, are. Not. Real. They're dead boys Finney, just like we will be either way. So I mind as well.. try."

She watched her brother's eyebrows turn into sadness. "I'll come back if he tries to hurt me. Promise."

She held up her pinky. Finney interlocked it with hers. Jade turned back around and headed up the stairs.