Little Red House

Chapter 5 - Discovered

Chapter Five

I came home to find Michael gone which wasn't much of a surprise. Exhausted from such an unusual day, I decided to go to sleep. My thoughts wondered to the hooded guy and the deepness of his azure eyes. He was so out of place in this little forgotten town where nothing special occurred. His behavior was definitely weird, not the same as the guys I know his age. But what had puzzled me the most was his statement of warning me of someone named Steve. And the fact that he thought it was strange that I called Ricky like that. Ricky was short for Derrick but many people knew him as Rick or Ricky. Why did this guy find that strange? Maybe he mixed Ricky with someone else… but there weren't many red headed young men in Fellow Gil. Who was Steve, anyway? One of Ricky’s buddies, perhaps? But Ricky had said he didn't know of anyone named Steve. 

All this pressure of unanswered questions tugged and pulled at the corners of my mind, stretching the possibilities. I shook my head as if trying to shake all the confusion away. I walked to my bedroom and lazily pushed the door open with my shoulder. I flipped the light switch on and gasped. I stumbled back in utter surprise and banged my head against the door frame. I rubbed the sore spot and winced.

“What in the universe of human beings are you doing here?! Almost killed me again. That’s twice in one day, you know, I can call the police.”

“Please, don’t do that,” the same guy in the grey sweater spoke quietly.

“Uh, I was joking,” I eyed him as I dropped my backpack at the foot of my bed, “What brings you to my humble home?” I rolled my eyes.

“It’s Steve-”

“About that, can you please explain? You don’t make a whole lot of sense.”

“Steve, he is out there. You need to see,” he leaned over, all the playfulness gone from his eyes.

“Listen, I don’t know who you are, or who this Steve guy is. And I’m sure ain't going anywhere with you, okay?” I opened my bedroom door wide open inviting him to leave, “You can leave through the front door. Speaking of, how did you get in here anyway?”

“The window. But please, you need to come with me. You can trust me, I mean now harm.”

I placed my lips together in a thin line and narrowed my eyes at the guy in front of me. He sounded upset and desperate to get me to see something. Was Ricky involved in all this gibberish the guy was talking about?

“Who are you, anyway?”

“A friend. My name is Colin,” he stretched out his hand in greeting.

“Nice to meet you, friend,” I stretched each word in sarcasm, rejecting his handshake.

“Will you come?”

“Will you stop following me if I do? If not, I’ll call the cops.”

He pulled my to the front door without letting my finish my sentence. I grabbed my  jacket and keys on the way. Soon we were driving as Colin directed the way to The Blood Box, whatever that was. I gulped the gathered spit at my cheeks as I drove to a familiar place. We passed the gas station, a few shops and Colin told me to park a block away from our destination. This was the town where I ran out of gas last night. 

Colin begun to quickly walk down the road and I followed. A house came into view. The Blood Box? It was old, worn but it’s paint was bright red. It didn't look occupied. A maple tree grew at its side, wrapping the roof with strong branches. I uncomfortable feeling crawled up my throat. It was the little red house from last night. The grass in the yard was overgrown and it was hard to see but Colin seemed to know exactly where to go.

“You were here, when my car broke down,” I stated.

“Yes, I was,” he smirked, “Scared you pretty bad, huh?” 

“You were inside the house weren't you?” 

“No, in your car, remember?” Like that made it any better. 

“But I saw you in the house, you were-”

“Shh,” he placed his hand on my arm and nodded towards the house. That's when I noticed slight movement near the back deck. A few dark shadows lingered at the edge of the forest. We crept closer, not close enough to hear but close enough for me to widen my eyes in disbelief. There were three men; an older looking with a beard, a bigger man next to him with some sort of tattoo on his arm and across from them was Ricky. The moonlight marked the orange in his hair which was messy. He wore his thin coat and black gloves. They spoke in hushed tones and Ricky handed over a small package. The moonlight alighted enough for me to see that the package was wrapped in a plastic grocery bag. I didn't understand, what was Ricky doing? Who were those men? What was in the package? Did he lie to me when he said he was tired? So he did have other plans. Why didn't he tell me? Oh my, was he involved in something illegal? Drugs? My heart boomed in a quick beat and I felt an urge to rush over. Colin pulled me back by my arm.

"You can't go," he whispered staring at the group ahead.

"B-but it's Ricky!" I hissed back.

"We have to get out of here," he pulled me as I struggled to turn around for a last glance of Ricky. What if the moonlight played a practically joke on me? What if it's all an illusion, a trick to break me? It couldn't be Ricky! He would never get involved in anything illegal! 

By the time we got to my truck I was out of breath, and my vision blurred with conclusions and emotion. I was too quick, I was wrong, there must be an explanation to all this. I am overreacting, yes, just overreacting. I calmed myself down and glanced at Colin as I drove.

"I'm driving you home. And we never met, okay?"

"But we did meet," his eyebrows came together and he frowned.

"What I met is you will not come to see me, or scare me, ever again."

"I won't scare you, I promise," Colin winked.

"Where do you want me to take you?"

"Here will be good."

"Here? We are in the middle of nowhere. Are you playing with me?" I slowed own the car.

"Here is fine, I live not far from here," he assured. I was too tired to argue. As he climbed out of the truck I asked,

"Colin, why did you want me to see...that?"

"So you would know that, uh, Richie, is involved with something dangerous."

"It's Ricky. And I promise you, there is an explanation. There was no reason to take me out here, Ricky would never be involved in drugs."

"Drugs? I never said it was drugs." With that he slammed the door and hitchhiked back to the town we came from. I sighed. This guy was definitely strange. I forced myself to calm down the wild thoughts and images in my head. Ricky would explain, he always explained.  I prayed the rest of the night would be peaceful.