𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 - 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧

05. the flea and the acrobat

DIRECTLY FROM LAST CHAPTER

Jonathan and Aubrey dropped Nancy off at her house after they devised their plan to find Will and Barb.

"We've gotta tell mom." Aubrey said as they walked up to their house, not even noticing the gaping hole in the front of their home. "Screw that funeral, if Will's alive we need to-" She stopped as they walked inside and saw Lonnie on the couch with their mother.

"Hey, kid." He said, "Aubrey." He sat up, Aubrey was already confused, but even more confused in the way he addressed her now. She remembered what he had said to her then back at his house.

"What's going on?" Jonathan asked.

"Your dad's, uh, gonna stay here tonight. On the couch." Their mom told them, patting the couch.

"Yeah, I'm here as long as you need me, okay?" He said, "How are you two holding up?" He asked Aubrey and Jonathan then.

Jonathan ignored him, walking over to the tarp on the wall, moving it and finally seeing the hole, "What happened?" He asked.

"Don't worry about that." Lonnie replied, Aubrey's stomach sank.

"Mom, that thing you saw before, did it come back?" Jonathan asked her.

"Jonathan, that's enough." Lonnie stopped him.

"No, no, mom, did it come back?" Aubrey asked her again, ignoring Lonnie.

"Stop it." he told her.

She sighed, shaking her head as she looked at him.

"Can we talk? Alone?" Jonathan asked him, which was exactly what Aubrey was going to ask him as well.

They walked back to Jonathan's room with Lonnie.

"You need to leave." Jonathan told him.

"Look, I know you're upset. We all are." Lonnie replied, "But you need to listen to me." He said, then looked at Aubrey too, "The both of you need to. Your mother is sick. Really sick."

Aubrey scoffed, "No she's not." Lonnie scowled at her, but before he could respond to her, Jonathan spoke again.

"You being here, you're just making things worse, like always." He told him.

"Worse?"

"Yeah!"

"She took down that wall with an axe." He told us, "She said that Will was inside of it and that he's talking to her."

"Yeah. Maybe he was." Jonathan said.

"I'm going to talk to her, alone." Aubrey turned to walk out until Lonnie grabbed her arm, "Let go of me!" She yelled at him.

"This isn't some kind of joke!" He told the two of them, "Your mom was half frozen to death when I got here. Trembling, scared out of her mind." He went on, "You two come in here and you start feeding into her hallucinations or whatever you want to call it, you're gonna push her right over the edge." He said, "You hear me?"

Jonathan and Aubrey were both equally pissed off, "Look, I'm on your side." Lonnie sighed, "I'm here to help. I'm gonna make things better around here for all of us."

Jonathan scoffed, "Thank God you're here." He stepped away.

"Yeah, seriously." Aubrey shook her head.

"Do me a favor. At the funeral tomorrow, just behave." He said to them, "If not for me, for your mother." He looked at us then at a poster on Jonathan's wall, "Take that down. It's inappropriate." He pointed to Jonathan's Evil Dead poster and then walked away.