For Shits and Giggles [2024]

Chapter 16

"I only requested Gracie," Dr. Sny said, exiting the Café. Gracie followed closely behind, and Paola was right with them.

"I said I'm going," she insisted, locking up the Café doors before following Dr. Sny and Gracie into the black SUV parked outside. The windows were tinted dark and it was impossible to see anything on the inside.

"If you insist," Dr. Sny sighed, bored. He let himself into the passenger seat. Gracie got into the backseat first, then Paola. Finally, they could see the driver. It was Sheriff Lotto.

He turned to look at them, and they could see their reflections in his sunglasses—which was odd, given the gray clouds.

"Hiya, girls."

"Sheriff?" Gracie smiled, confused.

"Where are we going," Paola asked, a subtle sense of relief washing over her now that she saw the Sheriff. Still, why was the Sheriff here? Dr. Sny's vagueness was worrying, and she reached over to hold Gracie's hand.

"I'm told you and Felix are close," Dr. Sny said plainly. Sheriff Lotto turned the key in the ignition and pulled off.

"Felix? Of course not," Paola scoffed, sinking back into her seat.

"Not... you," Dr. Sny finally looked up from his clipboard, annoyed, making eye contact with Gracie through the rearview mirror.

Lotto peaked up through his sunglasses. There was a bruise on his left eye.

"Yes, Felix and I are friends. Is he alright?" Gracie asked.

No one answered her. They drove for a long time in silence.

Gracie watched the town fade away until there were just trees and skies flying by the car window. The road transitioned from asphalt to dirt, and eventually, they were driving across a barren field. Soon after, they reached a windowless brick building—it was wider than it was tall and unmarked. Gracie and Paola glanced at eachother, frightened and skeptical of this building in the middle of nowhere.

"Where are we," Paola asked as Dr. Sny exited the car first. Lotto exited next, opening the door for Gracie from the outside. She stepped out. Paola waited for a giant cloud of dirt to roll by before stepping out carefully, not wanting her shoes to kick anything up. She considered staying inside the car, clean and protected from the outside—but she couldn't let Gracie go in that building by herself.

"I have a bad feeling about this," she had whispered when the car came to a stop.

"He knows something," was all Gracie had said.

Paola followed them anxiously, pulling her gloves higher onto her wrists and pulling her shirt over her mouth and nose.

"This way," Dr. Sny walked toward the building. Lotto waited for Gracie and Paola to walk in front of him.

The door was wide but short, and made of thick iron. Dr. Sny grabbed at the lanyard around his neck, pulling a badge from inside his collared shirt. He held it to the security pad on the outside wall until several loud beeps rang out. A small, red light flashed green and the door began to slide open on its own, kicking up more dirt and dust.

Gracie coughed, and Paola held her breath (trying hard not to panic). They shuffled into the building as Lotto urged them inside, motion-censored lights flickering on as the door closed again behind them. Cells lining the concrete walls lit up one by one. Some were empty, others not so much.

There was one cell with two young men chained up to the wall by their wrists, their legs dangling loose. Paola and Gracie recognized them immediately: twins Liam and Scotty. They were asleep, drugged, or dead, but their bodies hung limply against the concrete wall, heads lobbed forward, unconscious. They looked much skinnier than Gracie remembered.