Shrunken Trust

Chapter 1

    The pair split apart at an intersection. Ari went left as Pax went right. They waved goodbye and went their separate ways. Paxton couldn't stop thinking about what he saw. He needed to do something to get this off his mind.
    Paxton was too busy thinking to take notice of the pole standing in his way. He ran right into it and immediately put his hands to his head as he quietly whined in pain. He walked this route every day and still, he runs into this pole.
    "Stupid pole. They had to put one right in the middle of the walkway." Paxton murmured to himself. He looked to his left to see an abandoned building hidden in the long grass. He passed this place every day and he always wanted to explore it, maybe now is the chance. He had a few hours before his little brothers would get out of school.
    Paxton looked both ways before hopping over the stone wall. He landed on the ground, which was much further down than expected and fell into the mud. He got up and wiped as much mud off as he could before walking in the direction of the building. The tall grass blocked most of the building from view.
    Pax got quite far before hearing a hiss from behind him. He automatically started bolting away from what he thought might have been a snake. He was now mostly to the building when he realized the snake was a soda can he had stepped on. He continued the journey. He didn't think it would be this far.
    Paxton finally got to the building and looked around. There were vines draped over the roof and weeds covered the front. Moss grew in windows and cracks and stained the once-white walls. Paxton stepped towards the door and entered. There was a slight click as the door drew open.
    Inside there was a corridor with doors and vines lining the walls. Cobwebs filled the corners. Paxton cautiously entered and scanned the rooms for any sign of life. There was one room that had a glass box with a lock on it. There was a stairwell that led down very deep. At the end there was one door.
    It led to a massive room. Walkways covered the walls of the circular room. Stairs led up and down to more scaffolding. This was the only entrance and exit. The floor was littered with gray feathers and an air mattress sat on the very top railing. This room had an eerie feeling so Paxton left to inspect the other rooms upstairs.
    Paxton entered the room with the glass box. He noticed a name on the door, '[MX352] Caution Aggressive', before there was nothing in the case so he entered thinking it was safe. This time he took in more of the details. There was a hole in the ceiling letting some vines dangle down, the case had a lock on it and it had a reptile cave inside. In the case he noticed a small secluded area inside with a tiny door on the side, there was also a bottle cap in the corner along with a small plant on the top of the secluded area.
    "Nice setup. Who would leave a pet here?" Paxton said to himself. He went over to the lock and broke it with his hands. It didn't look too old but it did feel like it. Pax sat down in the corner of the room and took out his phone. He popped in some earbuds and listened to some music for hours.
...
    Paxton got home a bit later than he would have liked. His brothers were home and scouring the kitchen for something to eat. The youngest one searched the cabinets for snacks while the older one looked in the pantry.
    "What you boys doin? You can have a snack when Mom gets home. You know this." Paxton told them as he dragged the oldest out of the pantry by the arms. "Especially you Tommy."
    "But we walked all the way over here!" Tommy complained.
    "Yeah we walked!" Jamie, the younger one, agreed.
    "I don't care, just get your work done. Afterwards, I might give you two popsicles." The children's eyes widened at the mention of the sweet treats. They agreed to get the work done and scurried up the stairs to their room.
    Paxton smiled to himself and went to the living room. It had a couch and a couple chairs. There was a table with a hamster cage on top next to the door. Paxton kneeled down to the cage. The hamster was sleeping of course but it was cute seeing it sleep. Tommy taped a paper sign above the cage saying 'Reggie the Destroyer', cute.
    Paxton went over to the couch and slumped down onto it. He clicked the Tv on and watched an hour worth of shows. Afterwards he started his homework and gave the kids their rewards. Their mother arrived late that night so Paxton made them dinner. Their father was home but was busy working until late that night.
    Once Paxton finished his homework he noticed Reggie was up. He put his things away and crouched down next to the cage's entrance. Reggie ran up and started sniffing Paxton's hand.
    "Morning Reggie, you're awfully quiet tonight." Paxton half whispered to the hamster as he gave him a piece of food. He held the hamster around the house for a while. Afterwards he gave Reggie a piece of a treat and went to bed.
   
    Paxton woke up early the next morning to Jamie shaking him awake. Through his drowsy eyes he saw Tommy in the doorway grinning. It seemed like Jamie wouldn't stop soon so Paxton sat up and stretched.
    "Pax, Pax guess what happened! . . . Dad made pancakes! He left some for you too!" Jamie practically screamed into Paxton's ear.
    "Cool, cool. Hey, Tom, what time is it?" Paxton croaked.
    "Just about nine thirty." Tommy replied. Paxton laid his head back onto his pillow. This was way too early to Pax.
    Jamie got off and ran down the hall. Tommy was still leaning on the doorway. Paxton got up and passed Tommy.
    "Where do you think you're goin?" Tommy asked.
    "Where do you think? I'm getting some pancakes." Pax replied.
    "Anyways, Dad wants to see you after breakfast. Something about 'father and son bonding time'." Tommy rolled his eyes. Paxton sighed and headed to the kitchen.
    Paxton's father was cleaning the kitchen, there was a plate on the counter with a pancake and a half. Jamie giggled in the seat next to it. Paxton rolled his eyes.
    "Mornin Pax, how was your sleep?" Paxton's dad asked.
    "Ok, I could have had a better time waking up though." Pax glared at Jamie who ran off soon after. 
    "I was thinkin', what if we did something' today?" His Father turned to look at Paxton.
    "What did you have in mind?" Pax said through a mouth full of pancakes.
    "I don't know... maybe a walk or something." His dad rubbed the back of his neck in thought.
    "Well, I have something to do later today but maybe after that we could maybe build something. Sounds good?" Pax asked.
    "Sure, see you then." Paxton's father agreed as he finished the last of the cleaning. Pax got up from the seat and went to the shed out back.
    He grabbed a small bag and began stuffing things in it. He added a hammer, metal polish, and a few other things. After that he grabbed his bike and rode off. It was kinda soothing riding this morning. The wind had a soft crisp feeling to it today.
    Paxton made it to the school and went to the field. He headed to the bleacher that he had dented and began fixing the damage.
    It took him an hour or so, and he decided that he would visit the abandoned building again. He rode over to the wall and chained the bike on the annoying pole, after that he leaped over and walked toward the building. It was calmer than yesterday.
    The door clicked open as Paxton entered the building. Like yesterday, he explored the rooms, but this time he looked through the large one and the one with the glass box. The large one had a slight but noticeable yellow hue. Paxton thought it was a trick of the light and went back up the walkways and stairs up to the other room.
    Paxton took notice that the stuff in the box had moved. The cave was now up against the glass wall and the bottle cap was moved closer to the secluded area. Paxton tilted his head in confusion. Strange. He sat back down in the spot he was at yesterday and took out a book he had brought. He shuffled in his seat and started reading.
    About half an hour in, a crow fluttered to the ground next to him. It hopped around a bit and looked at Paxton with a 'give me food' look in its eyes.
    "Shoo! I don't have anything, well at least nothing that you can have." Paxton yelled at the crow. It looked at the glass cage and tilted its head. It flew over to it and started pecking at the glass.
    Paxton tried to resume his book but quickly got annoyed by the scraping and scratching from the bird. He got up and scared the bird away, all of a sudden he got this weird feeling like someone was watching him. He went over to his bag and pulled out a bag of crackers that he had prepared that morning. Paxton went over to the glass cage and opened it. He gently placed a cracker on the concrete floor and went back to reading.
    Paxton must have dozed off at some point and had woken up to that same crow squawking loudly inside of the cage. It flapped its wings wildly as if trying to flip something over or blow it away. Paxton immediately got up and tried to get the bird out of the cage. He got scratched by its talons and resorted to yelling at it to leave. This seemed to work and the crow flew off, screeching at the top of its lungs.
    "Finally." Something said.
    It sounded like someone whispered it across a hall. Paxton looked around in panic. No one. He looked out in the hall, no one was there. Odd. Pax went back to the glass box. The cave was moved a bit and the water was sprayed everywhere inside the case.
    "Anyone there?" Paxton called out. He waited for a reply. "No." he said to himself in a quieter voice, as if someone had replied. "Of course there isn't anyone. That crow sure went crazy though." Paxton went back to the corner and read a little bit longer.
    Paxton must have been out of the house for about four or five hours by the time he got home. He went over to the kitchen to where his dad was. He was surprised to see his older sister sitting across from his father at the dining table.
    "Hi Pax, long time no see." She smiled at him.
    "Clare! I didn't know college got out, how have you been?" Paxton spoke muffled in the tight hug she gave him.
    "Good. I hear you've gotten into some trouble while I've been gone." Clare said as she pushed Pax out of the hug and held him by the shoulders. She smirked at him.
    "You know, accidents. The ones where you dent a bleacher." Pax said, a bit embarrassed.
    "Hold up, you dented a bleacher! That's something you don't hear everyday." She spoke. All Paxton replied with was a 'please dont be mad' face. His dad was also surprised to hear about this. "Anyway, let's  go shall we?"
    "Where are we going?" Pax asked.
    "It's a secret silly!" She said, Clare grabbed Paxton's arm and pulled him into the car. Their dad hopped in and started blasting his music.