The Cliche Gone Wrong

Chapter Forty-four

"Are they always like this?" I yell over the immense noise coming the back seats.

"Only when they're conscious," Killer laughs, although her words intermingle with roar of the engine and the screeching of the demons in the back.

Both of the twins are screaming at the tops of their lungs, with no regard for the eardrums of anyone else in the car. But the weird thing is that Killer and her other brother in the back seem oblivious to the noise. The boy has both of his headphones in, staring out the window as he pretends none of us exist. And Killer is singing along quietly to the radio, although I can't hear any of the music over the screeching behind me. I turn to face Killer, the beginnings a faint headache starting to throb at my temples.

"How are you singing through all of this noise?" I yell at her, hoping she can hear me over the nonsensical babbling in the background. "How can you even hear the radio?"

Killer looks over and smiles at me briefly before she turns her attention back to the road, not answering my question. Maybe she didn't hear me?

I consider asking again but figure its best to just leave it alone until we get back to her house. The rest of the car ride is just as hectic and noisy as it was since we picked up the kids from afterschool care. But thankfully we're only in the car for another ten minutes before we pull up to her house. The older boy jumps out of the car before Killer's even come to a full stop, and is barreling up to the house with little regard for any of us. The twins aren't able to escape so quickly, since they're both still struggling to unbuckle their booster seats.

Killer reaches back to help the both of them, unclicking the seatbelts strapped across their chests before they too barrel out of the car and into the house, whose door now stands open.

"Well let's go," Killer smiles as she grabs her backpack from the hump behind the center console. "The longer we leave the alone the more we'll have to clean later."

I watch her as she gets out of the car and walks around the hood, talking sure steps up the front path as she doesn't even spare me a glance back. It takes a few seconds for me to get the will to follow her inside, hesitantly walking down the path and stepping through the front door.

The twins are still yelling. Bug is crying on the couch, high pitched wails echoing throughout the entire downstairs, as Bear yells from the opposite side of the room, his nose pushed far into the corner as he apparently stands in time out.

"Keep yelling like that and imma do more than just make you stand in the corner little boy!" Killer yells as she plops onto the couch.

I look around the room in pure confusion, seeing the mess of toys, pillows and clothes that are already on the floor. It's even louder in here than it was in the fucking van!

"I was gone for, like, 30 seconds." I say, my mouth gaping open. "What the hell happened?"

"Watch your language! And I told you a lot of stuff could happen in this house in the time it takes us to walk from the car to the door," Killer almost scolds me as she pulls the little girl into her lap, gently stroking the gigantic curly puff on top of Bug's hair. "You should have believed me."

I try to focus on what she's saying, but the yelling from the little boy keeps forcing my eyes to flicker to the corner. "And why is he yelling?"

"He always does that whenever gets put in the corner." She explains. "Don't worry, he'll probably pass out in a minute or two."

It takes me more than a few seconds to process exactly what she just said. My entire head whips over to stare at Killer, taking in the nonchalant smile on her face as she continues to calm the little girl. "Did you just say pas—"