Wind

• • F O U R T E E N • •

"Have you seen him in here at all?" I asked. Jeremey nudged me with his elbow, but I ignored him.

"Yeah, a couple of times I guess."

"He's a pretty weird dude, right?" I continued.

"He seemed nice enough to me," Vee said. "Just quiet."

"Did he buy anything weird while he was here?" I continued.

She sighed heavily. "I don't know, Harper. Not really. Just typical stuff you'd use if you were fixing up an old shit-hole of a house. Two-by-fours, screws, bolts. Crap like that. A bunch of eight-foot metal rods."

"He told me he was doing beekeeping," I offered. "What do you think of that?"

"Not much," Vee replied. "Guess someone's gotta do it. Sounds like a shitty job, although I guess it's more interesting than working at a hardware store or a gas station."

I laughed. "Guess so."

"All right, well we gotta get going, Vee, see you around." Jeremey dragged me towards the exit.

"Good luck with your... yard work," Vee called after us. We stepped outside, and the wind slammed the door to the shop behind us.

"What the hell was that all about, Harper?" Jeremey hissed. The wind roared past my ears, practically taking his words away before they reached me.

"I remembered Joshua asking about where he could find a hardware store the first time I saw him at the gas station," I said. "I thought it might be useful to know what he was buying."

"Yeah, maybe," Jeremey replied. He hit the unlock button for the car and it beeped once. "But you do realize you are the least subtle person ever, don't you?"

"Whatever." I got into the passenger side of the car. Jeremey got in to the driver's side, slamming the door behind himself. "It's just Vee," I continued, once safe and sealed from the raging wind. "She doesn't care."

"Yeah, I guess," Jeremey sighed. He started the car. "But still..."

"So what do you think he's doing with the metal rods?" I asked as Jeremey backed out of the parking lot.

"No idea," Jeremey said.

I sat quietly as we pulled out to the edge of the lot. "I have one," I finally said lowly.

Jeremey stopped the car and looked at me.

"I think he's making something," I began. "Some sort of metal cage." I paused, letting Jeremey think about it for a second. "Only question is, for what?"

Jeremey was quiet for a second. "For the girl," he finally whispered.

"It could be," I offered. "But for some reason, I get the feeling it's for something else. A locked basement can hold a girl. A cage... that's something different."

Jeremey started the car again, avoiding acknowledging what I had said.

"We need to have a plan for this," I told him as we stopped at a red light.

"Yeah," Jeremey sighed, glancing at the clock on the dashboard. The light turned green and he stepped on the gas. "It's almost six now," he finally began. "Sun doesn't go down for another hour and a half. How about this, we grab something to eat, then once it gets dark, we park the car on Breeker Road, about a mile and a half from the farm house. We can walk down to the woods by the house, hide out there and stake it out. See what he's up to."

The light at the next intersection turned red, and we stopped.

"If he leaves," Jeremey continued, "We head over to the house and see if we can cut that lock on the cellar door with the bolt cutters."

"And if he doesn't, we wait 'til he goes to sleep?" I asked.

"Yeah," Jeremey said, pulling into the parking lot of the Burger King and parking in the nearest spot. "No, wait."

"What?" I asked.

"Shit, I forgot about the dogs. If they're outside..."

I winced. We'd wake them up for sure. And with Joshua knowing about us sneaking around before, there was no way they wouldn't be outside. "We'll have to be really quiet," I said. My hands shook just thinking about the dogs. "Maybe we could bring a bat or something, just in case."

"Fuck, if they start barking though..."

"We'll have to take our chances," I said. "He has someone locked up down there. We can't do nothing."

"Okay," Jeremey said. "You're right. I think I have an old baseball bat at my place. We can use it as a threat, and if it comes to it..." he paused. "I don't like the idea, but I don't have any better ones."

I nodded, and then we both got out of the car. The screaming wind was the only noise in the air as we headed into the restaurant, but thoughts raged through my mind like a storm. All I could think about was Joshua, and the girl, and the dogs, and now the cage.

I didn't even want to consider what sort of horror he'd constructed it to contain.