Ranidaphobia

Chapter 1

Trailer parks always had a special place in Allen Marsh's heart. He couldn't quite describe it, perhaps it was the fact that he grew up in one, familiar neighborhood dynamics always making him smile with well-worn memories. Or maybe it was because as an investigator, no matter what, trailer parks seemed to house the easiest to solve crimes.

Everyone knows everyone in a trailer park, Allen had experienced it firsthand.

Finding the truth was always at least 2 neighbors away.

But this place, well, this place was very different.

"What the hell..." Allen looked at his map, "Are you kidding me? Why did they assign us to a swamp?!"

"Suspected murder. Some cult activity. Y'know, the fun stuff," Spenser said, twisting the keys out of the ignition.

"I hate this case already," Allen groaned, throwing his hands to his face and trying to drag his thoughts back into his brain. The only thoughts that returned were angry ones.

"How many fucking times are they going to assign me to a case that has a swamp location. When we get back I'm gonna tear Holdson's fucking head off."

Spenser paused for a moment, staring at Allen like he was going mad. To be quite honest, Allen felt like he was going crazy too. All this workup for absolutely nothing, for heaven's sake, he hadn't even seen the swamp in question. But still. His brain was racked.

Swamps and anything water-based was not his forte, never were, and never will be. For some unknown reason, his coworkers and managers could not get that through their thick skulls. It was incredibly frustrating and stressful. But you don't bite the hand that feeds you, you just take it and hold your tongue.

It was becoming more and more difficult to hold back teeth.

"OH! Right- I forgot..." Spenser snapped his fingers, "You hate frogs, right?"

Allen glared, "Congrats genius, you figured it out."

Spenser hopped out of the car, beckoning for Allen to follow. He stayed seated, not moving a muscle towards the door.

"C'mon, I bet it'll be fine..."

"I doubt it."

"Marsh.... C'mon man... I'll pay your tab at Ollie's if you actually manage to make it through the whole investigation..." Spenser buttery smoothness laced through his offer.

While Allen would love to tell him to go away and do the investigation on his own, he couldn't resist having Spenser Murrel (of all people) pay his tab at Ollie's. It was an offer he couldn't refuse. And Spenser knew that.

Allen mumbled a quiet, "I hate you..."

"Same," Spenser smiled, closing the car door and walking towards the small concrete path to the front of the park. Allen was close behind, shivering and holding back vomit when he gazed upon the place.

It was awful.

There was only 3 concrete paths, homing 6 rows of trailers. There had to be at least 40 trailers in total, each with its own little quirks and mossy water-stained glamour. Worse yet, a pond sat not even a few feet away from the car, and algae-polluted water started to flood the concrete street. Frogs littered the area, called forth by the rainwater and large fly population.

Spenser placed his hands on his hips, "what's the matter, Marsh? Think you can't do it?"

The smug look on his partner's face narrowly sent Allen into a feral frenzy. Alas, he kept his teeth and nails to himself, satiny wearing insanely thin.

"I'm getting my tab paid," A frog hopped closer forcing Allen backward into the hood of the car. Once he was a good enough distance from the amphibian, he let out a relieved sigh, "No matter how many heart-attacks I'm gonna have."

"You sure about that?"

"Very Sure," He sneered.

Spenser shrugged, walking into the trailer park, "Whatever... Just don't take all day."

The frog closest to Allen croaked, a pitiful yelp escaping his vocal cords. Embarrassment riddled Allen's face. He held up a pointed hand, using his wavering voice to demand the slimy creature to move. It outright refused, jumping just the slightest bit closer. 

Spenser snickered from the entrance of the trailer park, holding his phone up.

"Don't you dare record this!" Allen whined, trying to step down but flinching at the sight of another frog coming closer.

Spenser rolled his eyes, holding his phone steady.

"Can you at least help me!?"

"Nah. You seem to be handling this pretty well," Spenser smiled, "Hey! Don't dent the car!"

Allen roared in distress, sitting up on the hood and scooting away from the ground.

"Then come get the frogs!"

"No. Just come on, you can do it, just walk around them"

"NO! Don't you see Spenser?!" Allen pointed to the evil creatures, "They smell fear. They'll jump onto me"

Spenser sighed, tapping his phone and walking to Allen's aid, "Alright, Alright... I'll help ya... I've had my fun."

"You thought this was fun?!" Allen whimpered, "You monster..."

Spenser snorted, "Yes. I'm so awful. I'm a terrible, terrible person."

He leaned down, scooping the frog gently, lifting it up towards Allen's face. Allen growled in response, using his foot to kick Spenser away. His muddy shoe print could be seen on Spenser's freshly pressed uniform, dirty water staining the button up.

"Aw man- you ruined my shirt!"

"You ruined my fucking week!" Allen yelped.

"It's just a frog!"

"And it's just my fear! Good god man, how can you not understand that?!"

Spenser placed the frog back into the pond, the thing swimming away quickly. He tried to wipe the slime off his hands, the stuff staining his pants. Sighing, Spenser gave up and just went back to Allen, motioning for them to continue. Allen rolled his eyes, but followed suite, slipping off the hood of the car.

"Sorry about your shirt," He said, picking off a chunk of mud from the suit.

"Eh. It'll wash off. I hope."

Allen bit the insides of his cheek, a little sorry for the damage he'd done. Spenser took such pride in being professional. Shame he'd have to cart his hot-headed ass around to solve cases.

Spenser elbowed him in his side, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Hey. Don't be so worry about it, alright?" He gestured to the trailer park in front of them, "I guarantee a bit of mud will not be the worst of it."

He glanced up towards the park, pulling his arms around himself. The shiver of remembrance crossed his entire self, the urge to vomit returned. Mud, if the rumors and concerns were true, would absolutely be the least of their problems.

"I'm hoping you're wrong."