STRANGE AND UNSEEN

Chapter 9

Chris and Austin takes Tim inside while Avi, Adam and Chance digs through the ruins of his apartment for anything they could find.

"Avi? Are you alright?" A voice asks, causing Avi to stop what he was doing to look up at the voice.

"Kevin?" Avi replies as he sees his friends from school standing on the sidewalk. "What are ya'll doing here?"

"We heard the tornado touched down in this neighborhood and we knew you lived here." Kevin answers as he looks at what is left of the apartment.

"Well, to answer your question, I'm fine. I wasn't at home. Thankfully." Avi says as he notices Mitch eyeing the house next door.

"I see the haunted house is still standing. It was barely touched." Mitch comments.

Chance and Adam stop and look up. Both knew he was referring to their home.

"So what's your point?" Chance asks as he stares at Mitch.

"Probably some kind of evil voodoo protecting it." Mitch answers not noticing the glare he was getting from Chance and Adam.

"Mitch, now's not the time." Avi says, shaking his head.

"Hey Buddy." Chance says as he steps over some debris towards Mitch. "That haunted house, you call it, happens to be our home. And it possibly saved your friend's life."

"Oh my God, Avi. You went in there?" Mitch asks, snarling his nose in disgust.

"Listen here, you pompous ass little..." Chance says taking a step forward only to have his arm grabbed by Adam.

"Chance, no." Adam says quietly. "He's not worth it."

"Excuse me?" Mitch says, putting his hands on his hips.

"Come on, Mitch. Knock it off." Kevin says.

"So what are you going to do, Avi?" Kirstie asks.

"As a matter of fact, I'm going to be staying with them." Avi says gesturing toward Chance and Adam.

"You're going to be staying there?" Scott asks pointing toward the old house.

"Yea, imagine that." Chance says angrily.

"Uh, Chance? Let's go see if Chris needs help with Tim." Adam says as he pulls Chance by the arm. "Avi? I'm going inside. Uh, Do you know who Medusa is?"

"Yea, why?" Avi asks, puzzled.

"That's what I see when I look at that Mitch guy." Adam whispers. "With the snakes? The black guy and the girl aren't really that bad. The tall blond is only trying to impress Mitch. Mitch, on the other hand, has an ugly personality. He's not very nice."

"I know." Avi says in a quiet voice and rubs Adam on the arm. "I'll be in, in a minute."

Avi watches Adam and Chance go into the house before he turns his attention back to his friends.

They were staring at him with questionable expressions.

"So?" Kirstie speaks up.

"So? What?" Avi asks.

"You were in there when the tornado hit? Why?" Kirstie asks.

"Because they happen to be my friends." Avi says and then tries to explain. "Chris, the owner of the house and also the oldest had to run some errands and to take Austin, the youngest, to therapy. Tim, who is Chris's boyfriend, is in a wheel chair and has OCD. So Chris didn't want to leave him and Adam alone in case something happened."

"Wait... therapy?" Mitch asks. "Therapy for what?"

"Well, I'm not sure exactly." Avi smiles.

"So are they nice?" Kevin asks.

"They are very nice." Avi nods. "Chris opened his home to me when I lost mine."

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!!??" Scott says loudly, pointing to the house.

Avi turns around and chuckles as he sees Austin and Mr. Biggles looking out one of the upstairs windows.

"Uh, that's Austin and uh, Mr. Biggles." Avi says as he bites his bottom lip.

Austin takes Mr. Biggles arm and makes him wave at Avi.

Avi smiles up at Austin slowly raising his hand to wave back.

"Now I see why he has therapy." Mitch says as he stares at the weird looking toy. "He's freaking nuts."

"He's not crazy. He....Uh....He just has a wild imagination." Avi smiles nervously.

"What's wrong with it?" Scott asks.

"Austin always wanted to be a doctor growing up. Soooo, he does surgery on Mr. Biggles." Avi says and then shakes his head, knowing how crazy that sounded.

A car quickly pulls into the drive way and Rob hops out.

"Avi? Is everyone alright?" He asks as he rushes over to them. He nods quickly at the strangers but turns his attention to Avi.

"Yea, we're all fine. Just a little shaken up." Avi answers.

"Are you crazy too?" Mitch asks.

"Mitch!" Kirstie scolds.

"Uh, No. Not that I know of. Why? Am I suppose to be?" Rob asks as he straightens his glasses.

"Chris said I could stay with ya'll. If that's alright?" Avi says, jumping in to prevent another argument.

"Absolutely. You know you're more than welcome." Rob says with a nod and pats Avi on the back. I'm so sorry about your apartment. I'm just thankful you weren't in it."

"Me too. We probably wouldn't be having this conversation right now, if I had been." Avi smiles.

"Well, I'm going to go check on Tim and Adam. They're probably freaking out, especially Tim." Rob says.

"Uh, yea. There was a little incident a few minutes ago that involved Tim and a very rude neighbor. Chris will tell you about it." Avi says with a frown.

Rob rolls his eyes as he starts walking quickly toward the house.

"He seems pretty normal." Kirstie says with a smile.

"That was Rob. He's vice-president at the bank. He's a sweetheart." Avi says.

Chris comes out to help Avi bring in the clothes they managed to find. The clothes were all wet and needed washing.

"How's Tim?" Avi asks.

Chris shoots the others a not too friendly look. Apparently he had already talked to Chance.

"He's still pretty upset. He's taking a bath right now. Chance is keeping an eye on him." Chris answers, picking up an arm load of clothes.

Avi stoops down and also picks up some of his clothes.

"Uh, Avi? Could you help us board up those broken windows in Adam and Chance's rooms?" Chris asks politely.

"Sure. I seen some boards in the basement earlier that will work." Avi says.

"You know we can't let any of our evil spirits escape." Chris says before walking off.

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