Hidden In The Attic: An AJR Fanfiction

Chapter Ten

↤↤↤↤↤ Julie ↦↦↦↦↦

The next morning everything is... odd. We all wake up at roughly nine in the morning and head downstairs to see if the car will start, but Hanna and I find Adam coming back inside, the keys in his hand and annoyance on his face. Looks like we have to stay here, for now. It's right after lunch now and I'm sitting in the living room with Danny and Jack, hanging out as normal. No signs of demon activity so far.
"Jukie," Danny says from his spot on the end of the couch. "What are you drawing?"
I look up from my sketchbook. "Nothing," I reply.
He stretches his back and tries to look at my drawing, as if attempting to see it without actually moving. I flip the page, hiding it from him, to which he yells indignantly.
Jack laughs, distracting us from our bickering. His head is much better today and he's convinced us that his eyes are good enough to watch T.V. The Office is on, of course, and he's laughing at it.
"Haven't you seen this show, like, a hundred times?" I ask him. "And it's still funny?"
He gives a small shrug. "Yeah. I mean, isn't it?"
I look to the screen for a few seconds, not understanding anything that's happening. "Eh," I say, turning back to him with a shrug of my own.
"We can not be friends." He rolls his eyes and smiles slightly to indicate that he's joking as he turns his eyes from me back to the T.V.
I hear footsteps and Jay walks into the room, jumping theatrically onto the big chair closest to him. "Hey," he greets. "I heard The Office and I wanted to watch."
Jack looks at him, then back at me. "Finally, someone with some class."
"Oh, God," Jay says suddenly, staring at the floor.
I follow his gaze. "What— Oh, God," I repeat, seeing the huge bug crawling across the floor that Jay is looking at. I shudder violently.
"What?" asks Danny. "The bug? Just kill it."
"That's gross! You do it," I say, my voice shaking.  I pull my feet off of the ground and onto the chair.
Danny does the same. "That's gross. You do it."
Jack is staring at the bug now, too. "Oh, God, that is gross."
It's some kind of beetle or really fat spider, I think. I'm not looking too closely.
"Someone kill it!" Jay yells. "I don't need that thing loose in the house."
There's a slight pause before Jack speaks again.
"Adam!"
We all start yelling Adam's name and he comes down the stairs briskly before speed-walking into the room, a look of concern on his face. "What?" he asks. "Is Jack okay?"
"Jack's fine," I reply.
"No, I'm not."
"Shut up, Jack." I look back to Adam. "There's a big bug on the ground. Kill it."
Adam looks around the floor. "Where?"
Danny chuckles a bit. "It's climbing up Jay's chair."
Jay jumps and practically launches himself out of the chair with a yell, to Danny's amusement.
"Just kidding," Danny says. He nods in my direction. "It's on Jukie's."
I copy Jay, scrambling out of the chair to see that he's not lying. The bug is on the arm of my chair. In a few more seconds it probably would've touched me.
I let out a whimper,  looking to Adam. "Kill it, kill it, kill it, kill it! For fuck's sake!"
He exhales, quickly grabbing a paper towel from the kitchen counter. The bug picks up its pace when he approaches, but it's no use. Adam picks it up in the tissue and looks back at all of us.
"Is it dead?" I ask.
"No." Adam starts walking towards me and Jay and we both stumble out of the way, desperate to keep the bug far away from us. He laughs, walking past us and to the front door to release it.
Jay sighs. "God, I hate bugs."
Jack laughs. "Really?"
"Yeah. Shut up." He sits gingerly back in his chair, and I do the same. "If I just see breathing the same air as me, I'll lose it."
"Same," I say, picking up my sketchbook from the floor. "They're disgusting. I hate them."
"We're in the middle of a forest," Jack points out. "Did you not expect any bugs? Especially in this super old cabin?"
I cross my legs. "Shut up. Just watch your dumb show."