ADOLESCENCE - The Unfortunate Disappearance of Autumn Usher

Chapter Ten

    Tate and Benji heard Fabian walk through the creaky, narrow door and close it behind them, but they wouldn't dare turn around to see. The inside of the Nest was far too unsettling to remove their eyes from. Not necessarily the garage itself, but more specifically the disturbing characters that crawled in and out of the Nest's many rooms, and that had set up their domain in the large mechanic's carport.

    A woman with mangled, matted, and horrendously braided platinum blonde hair sat with her legs crossed on the hood of a 1964 Dodge Challenger, with skintight and thigh-high black heeled boots. She wore a mesh, long sleeved top with exaggerated, puffy shoulders, and a deep crimson was painted on her lips. A black crow perched on her right shoulder, hunched and squawking at the two strangers who had penetrated its territory. To the left, a hulking able-bodied man emerged from the back hallway. He wore a stretched out, ribbed undershirt, and a pair of jeans with stains that Tate didn't even want to think about. But when he turned to face the two of them, it was revealed that he was missing his right arm. Giggles from the far back of the garage echoed through the carport. The origin being from a teen lying on her stomach with her toes in the air, shrieking with laughter. He hair was dyed a hot pink, with dozens of dazzled hair clips scattered across her scalp. The rest was gathered up in two messy space buns. Her lime green frilly mini skirt was being smushed underneath her, which Benji could see something with a glint of black underneath. A firearm. She was watching a cartoon on an old TV set where a character was being chased with a stick of dynamite, who eventually got caught and blown up. Eye liner and glittery eye shadow ran down her face from laughing so hard.

    "Oh, and who are these?" the woman in all black said to Fabian, with a deep, smooth voice.

    The eery girl with the pink hair rolled over onto her back and stood up. She skipped over to Tate, Benji, and Fabian.

    "How rude of you," she said to the woman in all black, with her hands on her hips in a squeaky tone. "You didn't even acknowledge that Fabian was back," she said with a pouty face. She walked her long, acrylic fingernails up his arm, over his shoulder and to his neck. "Poor thing," she whispered.

    "Alright," Fabian said, brushing her off. "Just because Lilith isn't here doesn't mean you get to talk to me like that, Poppy."

    "My point exactly," she said smiling. "She isn't here," she whispered.

    "I could care less about Fabian," said the woman in black. Her crow let out a ear-piercing squawk. "Who are these two, why are they here?"

    "Ugh," Poppy pouted as she rolled her eyes. "Well if I cant mess with Fabian, ooo! This one's cute!" She said skipping over to Benji. His heart pounded as he avoided eye contact and stood perfectly still. "He could work on his arms a little bit," she observed, "But still cute! Can I keep him Fabian? Please? Pleaseeee!" Tate took offense. Benji didn't have to work on anything. He was perfect the way he was.

    "No, you can't keep this one, not this time," Fabian answered. "To answer your question, Sashah," he said to the woman in black, "They were asking too many questions concerning—ahem—previous endeavors, sooo I'm gonna keep 'em here for a while till they learn to pipe down."

   Sashah nodded slowly. She uncrossed her legs and recrossed them the other way. The crow ruffled its feathers and scrunched its neck. Shivers ran down Tate's spine as she observed the subtle but sickening body language that Sashah adopted.

"Oh, don't be frightened," Sashah said in a tantalizing voice, noticing Tate's discomfort. "This is Azrael," she said, removing the bird from her shoulder and placing it on her forearm. She stroked its jet black feathers and caressed its beak. The crow's beady eyes pierced Tate with a threatening gaze. "She's very friendly," Sashah whispered, with a glint in her eye.

"Alright, alright," Fabian said, forcefully shoving Tate and Benji forward. Tate lost her footing and fell to the ground. She quickly regained composure and brushed the filth off her hands. Fabian rolled his eyes.

"Poppy, take these two to the back. I don't want to see them again today."

"You got it boss!" she answered cheerfully. "Follow me kids!" she said, twirling like a ballerina before grabbing the two of them by their arms and forcing them to walk in front of her. They walked towards an entrance to what looked like a network of hallways towards the back of the Nest, which presumably used to be used for offices and such. "Don't mind that," Poppy said, pointing to a man slumped over in the back left corner of the garage area. The right side of his face was an ugly blue-black color, and blood dripped from his nose. He was muttering some indecipherable gibberish and his head twitched as they passed by him. "That's Sam. He was my last pet," Poppy whispered. Benji's stomach turned in and he felt light headed. Tate squeezed his arm to get him to stop looking.

They entered a horizontal dimly lit hallway, and Poppy guided them to the right, down past many closed doors.

"Hmmm," Poppy said while wiping her nose with her arm. "Which to choose," she muttered, running her left hand across the doors as they passed them. "Here we go!" she announced loudly, throwing open the door. Benji flinched. "Room 199!" she said. "You cuties are gonna be in here for a while, but don't worry! You'll be in good company!"

Poppy whipped out a pair of handcuffs from her shirt, and quickly cuffed Tate's right wrist to Benji's left wrist. "Ow!" Tate cried.

"Oh, shut your pie hole," Poppy said to Tate. "You're fine, its not even making you bleed! ...Yet."

Poppy suddenly shoved Tate and Benji into the poorly lit, cruddy room. "Have fun!" she screeched, before slamming the door behind them. They stayed silent as they listened through the door to Poppy singing to herself, and getting farther and farther away.

Benji slowly slid down the door until he was sitting on the floor, and the pain of the handcuffs dragged Tate down with him. They huddled next to each other in silence.

"Is your wrist okay?" Benji said eventually.

"Yeah," Tate responded through the lump in her throat. "It's fine."

"Tate?"

"Yes, Benji."

"Do you think we're gonna make it out of here alive?"

"I... certainly hope so," she responded quietly.

"Tate?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think we'll have the same fate as Sam?"

"I... don't know, Benji. But if we go down..."

"Yeah?"

Tate wiped a tear from Benji's face.

"We go down together."