Crossfire - Book 1 - S.H.

Chapter 5: The flea and the acrobat

"You heard him?" Jonathan asked, his hands gripping the steering wheel as he drove himself and Shelley back home after finding her in the brink of a panic attack at the entrance of the school.

It had taken the girl a little while to calm down enough to even start explaining what had triggered her like that, but, once she did, Jonathan was suddenly worried for his own mental sanity.

"Through the radio." Shelley nodded, her thumb still trapped between her teeth as she worried it, refusing to look at her brother as she shakily explained everything to him. "I heard him, I swear. He was... God, Johnny, he was so scared and he sounded... I mean, there was... Something with him and I... I don't know, it didn't sound... Human. But it didn't sound like an animal either it just... Fuck, I know... I know it sounds bizarre, but... But I swear I... I just..."

"I believe you." Jonathan said, his words shocking Shelley as she snapped her head in his direction and mumbled a quiet what? "I believe you because... Because whatever was there with Will... I think I saw it."

"You did?" Shelley asked, shifting in the passenger seat to twist her body toward her brother. "Where?"

"In the picture. The picture I took of Barb, remember?" He asked, as Shelley nodded quickly. "Yeah, well, when I first showed it to Nancy, she could barely look at it, but after... She said she took another look. And she saw it. A... Shape in the corner of the picture. So she came looking for me and we worked on it and... I mean... It's in the glove compartment. The enhanced picture. Take a look."

Shelley hesitated for a second, but, once Jonathan sent her a nod, she sighed, reaching for the glove compartment and picked up the picture. She turned on the light above her, squinting her eyes as she took a look at it only to see, in fact, a weird-shaped thing that looked almost human but... With no face.

"I think this might be the same thing that mom said she saw. Coming out of the wall." Jonathan said. "And this might be what took Will. And Barb."

"Maybe." Shelley nodded. "And that's probably what I heard from the radio."

At her words, Jonathan hummed, his eyes glued to the road in front of him as he tried to think about how exactly to say what he wanted to say next.

"So this is it?" Jonathan asked. "We... We think Will might be alive?"

"I... God, I don't know." Shelley admitted. "I mean, it still sounds insane, you know? But the boys... And Nancy... If they think so too... Maybe... Maybe it's not just us trying to cope. Right?"

"Right." Jonathan nodded in spite of his uncertainty still. "So, yeah... Maybe we should... Maybe we should talk to mom?"

"Maybe." Shelley nodded too, letting out a sigh as soon as Jonathan parked the car outside their house, but frowning when she saw another car beside their mom's. "Whose car is that?"

And, when she turned to look at Jonathan, she noticed how his face went rigid and his usually calm presence suddenly felt very tense.

"Dad's."

"Dad's?" Shelley repeated, absolutely shocked as she took a second to look back at the car. "Wait, but what is dad... Wait, Jonathan! Jonathan!"

Shelley practically stumbled out of the car when she noticed her brother was already marching up to their door and, once she reached him, Jonathan was already unlocking the door, revealing, in their living room, their dad sitting on the couch with his arm draped over their very distressed-looking mother.

"Hey, kiddos." Lonnie smiled awkwardly, as Shelley frowned, promptly ignoring the man as she turned to look at her mom instead.

"What's going on?" She asked.