For Shits and Giggles [2024]

Chapter 34

Gracie tried to distract herself. She counted from 1 to 1000, then from 1000 back to 1. She tried to remember all of the elements on the periodic table; she listed all of the US states in alphabetical order, then she ranked each major city by population size. She was sure she'd learned all of these things in high school—but then high school brought back memories of her friends, her friends that she may as well never see again. Gracie felt a panic attack brewing deep in her chest, and breathed slowly. In through her nose, out through her mouth. But nothing could distract her from the fact that she was, once again, locked in a chest.

She tried shutting off her brain all together; to sleep, to not think. And for a while it worked. Gracie drifted off into a dark, dreamless slumber.

She was awoken by justling of the chest. How long had it been? Minutes? Days? Her eyes fluttered open as she waited for Camilo to unlock the chest and set her free. But, he never did.

In fact, Gracie heard two voices instead of one. And neither one was Camilo's. She couldn't quite make out what they were saying—quick whispers back and forth, hushed snickering. They shook the chest, kicked it. She heard them struggling to pry the lock open. Each movement made her shoulders ache. Suddenly, the chest was being lifted.

"Help," she croaked out, her voice hoarse and dry. "Help me, please." Gracie licked her cracked lips, her words barely making a sound.

"Holy shit," Scotty let go of the chest. It crashed onto the floor, hard, rattling all of the bones in her body.

"Dude, what the hell," Liam frowned, letting go of his end as it was too heavy for him to carry on his own. That time, a soft yelp escaped.

"Wait, shut up, did you hear that?"

"I heard it..."

They both stared down at the chest, wide eyed.

"Is that..." they glanced at each other. Soon, their surprised expressions turned to sly grins.

"It is."

"Holy shit."

"Holy shit."

Santiago stormed out of his bedroom window into the rainy, night sky.

On nights like this, when he couldn't sleep, a couple of laps around the night sky helped him clear his head. He'd fly from one end of town to the other, he'd hang out on random rooftops or tall trees. But tonight was different. There were hundreds of questions rattling inside his mind–—at the center of each one was Gracie. He wasn't taking a leisurely float around town, he was on a mission.

The lakes.

That's what Paola had said, and that's where he was headed. He didn't know what to think about Paola anymore; about her friendship with Gracie. If you could even call it that anymore. He wasn't sure about a lot of things. But there was one thing he was sure about deep within his bones: Camilo was no good.

Everything about him was off, and it went deeper than petty jealousy. So even if Paola couldn't be trusted, Santiago would at least trust his own gut. And his gut was telling him to check the lakes.

He slowed down, using the moonlight to scan between trees. He dipped down once, twice, flying over cabins that all looked the same. There was a thick blanket of rain obstructing the sky; his wet hair stuck uncomfrtably to his face. He heard raindrops bursting against hundreds of leaves, animals crying and croaking and running for cover. And, in the distance, a low, muffled scuffing against wet dirt.

"Hurry up," Liam grunted, pushing the chest across the ground.

"I'm trying," Scotty groaned, his sneakers skidding against mud. He pulled with both hands, but struggled to gain traction, "It's slippery."

The plan was simple. They knew Dr. Sny would pay the most for Gracie, so he was their first call. With no car and no way to open the chest, there was no practical way to transport it back to the facility. Instead, they decided to drag the chest far enough from the cabin and hide it in the woods until Dr. Sny could come and collect Gracie. He'd have to figure out how to open the chest himself. Their only concern was finding a good hiding spot and collecting their bounty afterward.

Santiago landed right in front of them.

"You two," he snarled. "What are you doing here?"

They stopped moving simultaneously, turning to him like deer in headlights.

"Oh, hey. Funny meeting you here," Liam slowly raised his hands in compliance, glancing at the chest for half a second, then back to Santiago. After a while, Gracie had stopped pleading. Maybe she'd fallen asleep, or gotten tired, or simply just died. They didn't care as long as she remained quiet.

"Talk," Santiago narrowed his eyes, a red glow illumanitng the raindrops in front of his eyes. He looked at the chest.

"Oh, this here," Scotty grinned nervously, "We're just on our way to make some cash."

"What's inside," he asked.

"We don't know," Scotty said, his hands still up.

"We don't know," Liam repeated.

Santiago wasn't convinced.

"It's locked you see," Scotty said as he gestured to the chest with one open palm, his other still in the air. "You can check for yourself."

"Check for yourself," added Liam.

They exchanged anxious glances as Santiago kneeled in front of the chest. They gulped, prayed Gracie stayed quiet. Stayed dead.

But Gracie was not, in fact, dead. She was saving hear breath. She didn't know what Liam and Scotty were planning. But as soon as she heard the heavy rain pattering on top of the chest, she knew she was outside. Outside meant away from the cabin, and away from Camilo. Wherever they were taking her, it had to be better than here. So she relaxed, waited for whatever was coming next. She heard someone pulling on the lock again, then she felt the chest shaking back and forth. Gracie groaned in pain, hadn't they already given up on trying to open it?

"Fine," Santiago acquiesced after confirming that the chest was, indeed, locked. "Who does this belong to?"
"We don't know," said Scotty.

"We don't know," repeated Liam.

"But I'd say if it's locked up like that, whatever is in it must be worth thousands," Scotty continued.

Liam licked his lips, cracking a grin, "Thousands."

"We're going to sell it."

"Sell it."

Santiago stood, looking them up and down, "So... you broke into some stranger's cabin, took this chest, and are going to sell it? All without knowing what's inside?"

They both nodded. They knew Santiago was still suspicious of them, but this was exactly the type of lie that would fool him, a half lie. It was completely in character for them.

"Won't you let it slide," Scotty clasped his hands together, tauntingly.

"Just this once," Liam added, clasping his own hands. They poked out their lower lips, tilted their heads, fluttered their lashes.

Santiago could see right through their irritating charade.

"I don't have time for this," he hissed. "Do whatever you want–"

Suddenly, very, very, extremely faintly, Santiago heard a muffled screaming.

"The wind is so loud, isn't it?" Liam piped up quickly.

"So loud, howling," Scotty added, loudly.

But Santiago recognized that scream anywhere.

He flew passed Liam and Scotty at a speed only light could surpass; next thing they knew, both Santiago and the chest were gone.

"Nuts," sighed Scotty.

"Nuts." Sighed Liam.