Sorry for posting this late here. Rushed to post on tumblr the other night. My weekend was hectic in a weird sort of way. Hopefully, I haven't pulled a Game of Thrones with the darkness of this episode. It looks different on tumblr. 😅
Episode 13: Kept In The Dark
Episode 13: Kept In The Dark
It was as if the sky had suddenly swallowed up the sun. What was a perfect sunny day had turned into doom and gloom. Literally and figuratively. Lightning streaked across the sky and thunder rattled our already rattled nerves with every strike. While we had escaped the downpour, we couldn’t escape the storm’s wrath. The lights went out leaving us in the dark. A pretty familiar feeling, but still pretty lame.
I stayed at the back door watching the storm rage on. My thoughts solely on Vince. Had he got caught in this? I quickly turned my attention back to Madison. She raced around like a chicken with her head cut off grabbing candle after candle.
“Audrey, can you get me some matches? I think there’s a box of them in the cupboard in the kitchen,” she said arranging some of the candles in holders and lighting them with spare matches. “Take the flashlight. It’s on the fireplace over there.”
“Fireplace?”
“I know. We would get a lot more light like that, but we’re out of wood.”
“Where are the matches again?”
“In the kitchen. The cupboard and if not, it’s in one of the drawers. Thanks in advance.”
I squinted through the now dimly lit room and grabbed it. I then wandered off into the kitchen and quickly found the box of matches. I returned to the dining room to find Lin leaning back in a chair with her feet resting on the table and a gun sitting in front of her. The last time I had seen her she was on the porch just as it began to rain. From the looks of it, she had ventured off the porch as she appeared to be soaking wet. Also incredibly annoyed and Madison didn’t look all that pleased either. The tension between them was palpable.
“What happened? Did you find anything?” I asked looking from one to the other.
“No. No, we haven’t,” Madison sighed. She looked back at Lin. “Lin, can you please put that gun away. I told you, you’re going to get us in trouble. Luther…Mr. Jones will lose it!”
Lin chuckled. “The old buzzer can’t even see it to lose it and he didn’t say we couldn’t have them at all.”
“But he can hear quite fine. I’m sure he heard those shots earlier. Put it away before he accuses us of it.”
“We can’t have weapons here?” I perplexed placing the flashlight on the table.
Madison sighed. “Yes, we can have weapons. Just not guns. Mr. Jones asked us not to shoot on or near the property. Said it attracts the attention of the dead and the living.”
“Oh…”
“So you’re Audrey? I met your friend, Vince last night,” Lin said sitting up looking me over. “Guess he’s out with the boys today, huh? Figures the new guy gets to go out and us woman are stuck here playing house.”
“Well, I’m sorry, but I’m no housewife. Maybe I’m just a bit jaded. He does like to take his favorite lady out on his adventures. Guess fucking him has his advantages, huh?”
Madison dropped what she doing and suddenly rushed over to her in a fit of anger. Her fist balled up. I jumped out the way fully expecting her to clock her, but she stopped in front of her pointing her finger in her face. “Don’t! Just don’t!”
I stood back unsure what to do, but then a portly man with weird facial hair came downstairs into the room. He stared at the two of them nervously. “Guess it’s a bad time to ask for some of those finger sandwiches y'all made the other night. I’ll come back.”
Lin raised to her feet and grabbed the kitchen knife resting on the table. She smirked and pointed it at the man’s neck. “Do I look like the maid to you?”
“Um…uh…no?”
She then laughed and ran up the stairs. The man stood there frozen and Madison glared at her lighting up the last candle. She shook her head and took the knife from the man. She then placed the flashlight in his hand and handed him a candle to hold in the other. She looked over at me as I continued to stare up at the strange man.
“Oh and Audrey. This is Wade. I doubt you’ve met. Don’t worry. He’s harmless. Just along he’s not saying something stupid. Then he’s just an asshole, but still harmless.”
“Excuse me?” the man drawled. “I can introduce myself.”
He spun around to face me and open his mouth to speak, but he quickly shut it turning beet red. He glared back at Madison and huffed, “Well, now you messed it up. She already knows my name.”
“Wade, go upstairs.”
“But…”
“Go upstairs!”
Wade ascended the stairs without putting up much of a fuss mumbling to himself. I sat down at the table and Madison leaned in the doorway watching the front door. Both waiting for the guys to return.
“Is Lin always like that?” I asked breaking up the silence and tension. “Do you two not get along?”
“We get along. She’s not like that all the time. Once she gets into one of her moods, she picks on everyone. It probably keeps her from crying. Sometimes sadness doesn’t always come out the way it should. Emotions are a funny thing.”
She exhaled and continued to look at the door. I remained quiet listening to the rain and thinking about what she said. Several minutes went by in peaceful silence and then we heard a knock on the back door behind us. Both of us jumped. We then look back to see all four guys standing outside waiting to be let in. Madison opened the door and the four spilled in soaking wet from the rain.
The four of them looked at each other and Madison’s beau spoke first. He bluntly said, “No. We’re fine.”
Madison narrowed her eyes at him. “Then why the backdoor? The front was open.”
His eyes darted back and forth. “We found a shortcut.”
“Matthew. Don’t lie to me.”
“Nothing happened. Just a tiny little hiccup, but we’re all in one piece. That’s what matters right?” he said smiling. He went in for a hug, but she pushed him away.
“Vince. What happened? What hiccup?”
Vince looked like a deer in headlights. He cut his eye at Matthew and gulped. “Well, we didn’t get the gas. Someone took it and we found the whole place trashed. That’s… that’s all.”
“That’s all? That’s all?!” she fumed. “We have no gas and someone obviously trashed it on purpose. That’s not a tiny little hiccup!”
“But we’re here and that’s all…”
“Matt. Shut the hell up!” she spat. She looked over back at Vince. “What else?”
Vince’s eyes widened and he immediately looked down at the floor. He mumbled, “Nothing.”
Vince! Was it Jade? Tell me!“
“I told you. Ani’t nothing else happened. Just messed up the place a little. Ani’t like they signed their name or anything!”
DJ?“
"Um…just… nothing really.”
“I’m not even going ask you, Nate,” she scoffed as the remaining man cowered in the corner. “You’re just going say nothing like the rest of your merry men of assholes here.”
“Then we had a small little hiccup here then. Nothing serious. Just some gunshots nearby. No big deal!”
“What?!”
She sat down folding her arms. Then she flashed me a small smile. “Audrey, go upstairs and rest up. Be up in a second with something to eat. As for the boys, they can make their own dinner.”
I hurried up the stairs. I knew this was a nice way of Madison telling me to get out the way before she exploded. I looked back once to see Vince staring back at me as if he wanted to follow, but Madison seemed to read his mind.
“No, Vince. You stay. I’m not done with any of you,” I heard her say loudly sounding as if she meant business.
Once upstairs, I went into my room. Beads of sweat forming on my face. I felt weird suddenly. I laid on the bed feeling dizzy. I closed my eyes for a moment. I don’t know how long I laid there like that, but I must have fallen asleep. A glass of water, two plates, two cans of tuna fish, and some crackers sat on the table next to me now. I smiled and ate one of the crackers. They were a little stale, but still pretty tasty. I sat for a moment hearing the muffled sounds of voices. I swore I had heard Madison and immediately got up to check. I peeked out the door to see an empty hallway. Then I heard Vince’s voice coming from the stairs. I ran over to the staircase and looked down to see the guys crowded around at the bottom. They talked in low tones. I listened.
“But we can’t lie. That’s not right!”
“He’s right,” DJ agreed.
“We can and we will. We can’t tell anyone what we saw. Not yet. Not about the walker on the stake or message. We talked about this!”
“But I can’t lie to Audrey and you shouldn’t lie to Madison! They need to know! Everyone needs to know,” Vince insisted growing increasingly loud again.
“They don’t need to know. Not right now and they won’t know along as you keep your mouths’ shut!”
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