The Darkness in Dominion Mall

Chapter 1

“f**k you and your cross-eyed looking ass!” Reggie yelled with immense fury.

“At least I have an ass you skinny little s**t!” Jonathan shot back with a small laugh.

“A lumpy veiny one.”

“Still better than a boney one that’ll stab someone if you sit on ‘em.”

“Why can’t you guys just play nice for once?” Layne asked from the comfort of his bed as he watched four of his friends play Mario Kart.

“Play nice? PLAY NICE!? This is Mario Kart Layne!” Reggie said with a deadly serious tone. “There is no such thing as ‘playin’ nice’ when it comes to this game. It’s a kill or be killed, shell or be shelled, banana peel or be peeled type of game. You can’t afford friendships when you’re in this because they’ll only hold you back from first place, or they’ll betray you when it suits ‘em the most. Usually near first place on the final round. And first place is what defines you as a person, who you’ll be when you’re older. Will you stay in dead last for the rest of your life or will you push forward to claim your prize? Will you allow others to drag you down or keep you from succeeding? Which is it Layne?! Huh, huuuuuuuuuuuh!?”

“You boys and your videogames.” Renae said with a giggle as she scrolled through her phone. From the look of it, she was scrolling through f*******: photos on a meme page and looking for one to satisfy her dark humor. She looked dissatisfied.

“Actually, according to the law, most of us guys are legally speaking men.” Jonathan jokingly corrected her.

“Sorry. You man-children and your games.”

Jonathan, Renae, and Reggie continued to bicker with one another as Layne began to take in the moment. Six of his closest and best friends, some going as far back as elementary school, were huddled into his small and cramped room for one final day of freedom before summer break was finally over. After the day would eventually end, college or their now adult lives would keep them separated for days, weeks, months, or even years in some of their cases. Until the day was over and before the large entity that some called college would creep over the horizon, Layne would cherish his final day with all of his friends. No matter how much bickering or fighting would inevitably ensue.

It was a surprise to him that he even had friends like his. Layne always considered himself to be reclusive or anti-social in a lot of cases. He didn’t hate people, talking to others, or attending the rare social gathering, but he would prefer playing video games and listening to music at home instead. There was a sort of tranquil feeling that he felt when he was alone and had the night all to himself. Like he was who he was, and not something he wasn’t having to pretend to be outside. Besides, random trivia on Star Wars, Japanese animation, or movies wasn’t much of a conversation starter for most people in his hometown of Blue Field, Georgia. Excluding the few in his room that didn’t seem to mind, that is.

“Boy if you don’t…. MMMMMMM!” Reggie screamed to himself after someone knocked into his character, slowing him down some and sending down the leaderboard.

Reggie Brown was one of his oldest friend’s. They met in the 3rd grade after their teacher, Mrs. Carlyle, paired the two up in seats next to each other. Reggie and Layne, mostly Reggie, would make jokes about Mrs. Carlyle’s abnormally shaped butt behind her back. Layne would usually keep his voice down to a whisper when he joked about her, but Reggie had no concept of the word “whisper” and would get himself caught half the time. Now that Layne was thinking about it, Reggie’s mouth often got him into most of his trouble throughout elementary, middle, and high school. It wasn’t unusual to find out that Reggie had gotten into a fight. Most of the time he would get knocked out or lose, but he would occasionally come through with a rare victory. Whether it was teachers, strangers, siblings, or his parents, he would make a joke about them if he felt like it. His jokes were what everyone in the room loved about him. That, and how angry he would get over the smallest things, most of which were caused by them to purposefully get him heated.

“Whoops.” Jonathan said dryly and sarcastically. “Didn’t see you there.”

“Bullshit! You made a B-line towards me.”

Jonathan Driskoll had been a close friend to Layne since the first day of 2nd grade. Because of his large size at such a young age, he was often made fun of relentlessly by a few of the other kids. He became reclusive due to the bullying and would often try and avoid playing with the kids. After meeting and talking one day, Layne knew there was some sort of connection between them. He always figured that since they were both reclusive at the time, their similar personalities just clicked together. They were nearly inseparable in their time from elementary to middle school. During their sophomore year of high school though, he joined the football team and soon became an immovable defensive tackle. Jonathan became quite popular with most of the “cool” cliques and wouldn’t shy away from going party to party some weekends. He never let the popularity go to his head, luckily, but he did lose some personality traits that Layne liked. He wasn’t the shy recluse he was, but he kept his dry and sarcastic wit through the years.

To his right, laying on the bed with him, was Michael Adams. A friend of Reggie’s to begin with, he wasn’t officially part of the group until the spring of 7th grade. His mom and dad, who was running for re-election on a seat of the city council at the time, were going through a nasty divorce around the beginning of freshmen year. The divorce process led to a lot of fighting that involved shouting matches and throwing competitions. Michael would spend as much time away from home as he could, to the point that it was a rare sight to see him in his house. He would even spend the night at Reggie’s or Layne’s home during the weekdays just to escape their fights’. Once everything was finalized with his parents, he didn’t spend the night as much as before but would occasionally go over to someone’s home to not feel as lonely. That’s what thought, at least. The trauma from the fighting left him with this constant look on his face that Layne could only describe as depressive. Although, when he was around everyone, his face seemed to lighten up some and his humor would begin to seep out.

“Damn Reggie, I didn’t know it was possible to be this bad at the game! Even the AI are beating you!” Michael chuckled.

“f**k off!” Reggie yelled “I’m in fourth place now you mop head!”

“Fourth place huh? Must feel terrific to be beating all the AI …….Mop head?”

The joke got a laugh out of everyone, except Reggie that is. He just shook his head and stayed focused on the game. Even Renae let out a small chuckle and snort, although her attention was focused on her phone more than on anything else.

Renae Beck was a relatively new member to the gang, as well as to the town. She was a friend of a friend and he found himself alone with her one day in 8th grade during lunch. Layne’s first impression of her was that she was a snobby, spoiled, and bitchy popular girl that thought about herself more than anything. After all, wearing heavy amounts of makeup, trendy clothes once, and talking with a slight valley girl accent didn’t give him the most optimistic view of her. After talking with her over a couple of lunches, however, he realized that there was a lot more to her than what her outside appearance made her seem. She was unbelievably trustworthy, selfless, and, from what he could figure out, had a small interest in survival training. He figured this out by her talking about how her dad and grandfather were into preparing themselves for the downfall of the government or world and taught her a few things. Once he got to know her more and more after that, he regretted his first impression about her.

“You always snort when you laugh Renae?” Jonathan joked.

“As if! Do you always have to make fun of me!” She yelled as she kicked him in his back. Renae smirked as she knew Jonathan wouldn’t even dare retaliate in the slightest towards her.

“Do I? Of course!” He said in a snarky tone.

“Yes, yes, yes OH! f**k! f**k!” Billie yelled with a small smile.

Billie Ewart, who hadn’t spoken since the match started until he was finally hit by a shell, was too entranced by the game to take notice of the outside world. His father was in the army and so Billie would move from city to city until he finally ended up in Blue Field, Georgia during freshman year. Layne was his first real friend as he had the job of showing any new student around the school when they arrived. Their personalities clicked well together since they shared a lot in common, mainly their love for pop culture and video games. Billie was just as big of a nerd as Layne was, although he didn’t look the part and usually did his best to hide it from anyone outside of their little circle. In his four years of knowing him, Layne and the others still had not been over to his house. Once. There was no telling why he would not let them go over to visit.

“Can’t help but use the shells on only me, CAN’T YOU JILL!” Billie yelled half joking and half frustrated.

“Not my fault you’re in the lead Billie boy.” Jill said with a smile as she leaned close towards the screen.

Jilly McNamara, or Jill as most people would call her, was Layne’s dearest and final friend in the small room. They met in first grade and were in the same classes for all of elementary, middle, and most of high school. She moved to Blue Field with her parents after they left Ireland to become citizens in the United States. Jill spent enough time in Ireland to still have her accent, but years of practice had helped her to kept it down for long periods of time. Still it would easily seep out if she spoke for too long, wasn’t focused enough on keeping it in, when she was around her mom and dad, scared, or if she talked about something she liked or fancied. In a lot of ways, she was the exact opposite of him. She was a people person, talkative, hilarious, and an all-around mood lightener. Maybe that was the reason he had a crush on her since he first talked to her all those years ago? He wouldn’t call her “hot” but he would definitely say that with her short size, petite build, curly red hair, and dazzling blue eyes, she was the textbook definition of beautiful.

“OH! OH!” Reggie yelled as he stood up. He was gaining speed in the game and slowly passing everyone. “THIRD!….SECOND!….FIRST! ALMOST THERE BABY!”

The go carts rounded the final corner of the track on the final lap to see the finish line. Victory was near for Reggie. Or so it seemed. While he was focused on the finish line and nothing else, Layne took notice to the others mischievous smirks and could see what made them do so. Billie, Jonathan, and Jill each had a shell in their inventory, ready to release them on Reggie.

Jill led the way by firing hers first and sending Reggies go cart into the air. He screamed in protest but was too late. Both Jonathan and Billie shot their shells to hit Reggie, sending him spinning into in the air back down to fourth place. Their laughter grew louder and more intense when the AI began to follow their example by either sending their shells at Reggie, or ramming his go cart to the side as they passed him.

“NOOOO! OH MY GOD YOU GUYS SUCK!” Reggie yelled as he left the room, slamming the door behind him.

“Crybaby.” Michael laughed.

Jill did a celebratory dance as she came in first, followed by Jonathan, then Billie, and Reggie in dead last because he didn’t bother to cross the finish line.

“Come play Michael!” Jill insisted with a smile. “You too Renae, you can take my spot! I need to rest after last round.”

“Okay. Must be hard being a pro Mario Kart racer?” Michael said as he unenthusiastically got up from the bed and took Reggie’s unoccupied controller. He wasn’t too into games but was interested enough to know the controls for most of the games they played.

“You betcha. You wanna play Renae?” She laughed.

Renae had a look of disinterest that matched her tone. “I don’t know. Video games kinda bore me more than football.”

“I’m Renae.” Billie said in a mocking tone with his tongue extended out. “I hate having fun with my friends’ in real life because my personality is about as interesting as a walnut! Football sucks. Video games suck. Everything sucks. Except for me! ME ME Me me….” He stopped as soon as he met Renae’s cold gaze.

“……If I beat you, you have to buy me a dinner every day for the next week.”

“Yes ma’am”

“Good. Now, which one of these makes the car go? This button?” She said with a confused look and tone as she took Jill’s controller and sat in her spot.

Jill, with her usual bubbly personality, fell backwards onto Layne’s bed and made it shake with more force than he’d expect from someone so small. He actually feared the bed would collapse through the floor itself or get pushed into the wall behind him. Even as Renae, Billie, Jonathan, and Michael began to make a ruckus as they raced, they became drowned out by Jill’s voice.

“Hey Layne.” She said with a smile.

“Hey Jill.” He smiled back.

“How’s your day been so far?”

He shrugged his shoulders to tease her. “I’m surrounded by my best friends’ and playing video games. Could be better I suppose.”

“Screw you.” She said with a chuckle as she turned to the side to face him. He found the act to be cute and somewhat nerve-racking at the same time. “So, is everything in here going with you in the morning to the college?”

“Mostly. The furniture and most of my books are staying here. Why? Wanna borrow one more book and keep it for years on end before I leave?”

“That only happened one time! And maybe, we’ll see. Does that mean you’re taking your Star Wars posters with you as well?” She said as she looked up behind them.

Layne’s dad had original prints of “A New Hope”, “The Empire Strikes Back”, and the very rare “Revenge of the Jedi” poster before it was changed to “Return of the Jedi”. Since Layne loved the original trilogy, as it was a huge part of his childhood, he thought that it would be best for the posters to be framed in his room instead of being stuck in a box in the dark attic.

“I dunno, they aren’t the sort of thing to get the ladies panties droppin’, if you know what I mean.” He joked.

“Hmhm.” She laughed to herself. “Maybe not with the popular ones, but definitely with the nerdy girls. Right Renae?”

“Huh? Uh yeah, sure.” Renae said blankly as she was too involved in the game she never had any intention of playing.

“See!” Jill exclaimed. She moved close to Layne for a moment to whisper something in his ear. “The nerdier in the streets, the freakier in the sheets.” She retreated back to her original position with a giggle. “That’s what my mom says anyway.”

‘What kind of conversations are you and your mom having together!?’ He thought to himself.

Jill wasn’t the type to not make a s****l joke every now and then. Lately though, she was making them at a rate that he had never known her to make. He was about ninety percent sure that she was trying to hint at something. It wasn’t new for her to drop hints instead of just out right saying something that was on her mind. Layne wanted to know more, but that ten percent of him was filled with doubts, enough to keep him from asking her. Maybe it’s just a weird coincidence and nothing more? That’s what he thought. All he could do was laugh at her joke before asking her some questions.

“What about you? Have you decided what you’re gonna do?”

“Yeah. I think I’m just gonna stay here and take over dad’s business once he retires.”

“No college?”

“Maybe a Technical one, but I’m still thinkin’ about it. Might not need to go if the shop takes off and I get loaded.”

“So you know how to run a small independent business?” Layne asked sarcastically.

“Not exactly, but dad’s been teaching me the ropes for the easy stuff; how to pay the taxes, checking the inventory, ordering inventory, throwing away inventory, dealing with customers. Those kinds of things. It’s like riding a bike after the training wheels get taken off. You’ll either stay up straight or tumble to the ground.” She said with her adorable Irish accent.

“Yeah and the bike is one of those nineteenth century bikes with the one big wheel and little one in the back. The kind where you don’t fall over when you mess up, you collapse and break a neck.” He smiled.

“Yes!” Jill laughed “You better come by and visit once I’ve got everythin’ down and up and runnin’. And you’ll be dead meat if I find out you shopped anywhere else in town!”

“Anytime I’m on break, I’ll make it my sole mission to visit every day. Maybe you’ll be in charge of the store before long.” He said as he turned his gaze from the television to meet Jill’s.

Jill already had her head turned and looking at Layne before he turned to face her. Her blue eyes seemed to have an agenda all of their own, but he didn’t know what. “I hope so. You better buy everything in the store.” She said jokingly but with a softer tone than before.

“I’ll spend every penny of my tuition on it.”

Layne noticed that their heads had been inching closer and closer with each passing second. His heart began to beat like a drum as he realized what was happening. Years of anticipating this moment had not prepared him properly and his body wanted to pull back out of fear. He pushed himself though and kept inching closer and closer to meet her in the middle. The feeling of her breath on his upper lips was as far as he got when they were interrupted.

“FIRST PLACE BITCHES!” Billie shouted as he stood up and danced.

Layne and Jill pulled back and acted like nothing was out of the ordinary as they stared at the ceiling. The red on his face would most likely give them away. The game, to his luck, drew away the others’ attentions away from them.

“I wasn’t even trying.” Renae shrugged. It was obvious to Layne that she was lying to herself.

“Bullshit! You were so into the game, everyone could tell. I bet you want to play another round!”

“…..Maybe.” She said as she sat back in the chair and crossed her arms. “Not now though. I kinda wanna get out of this room for a bit before I beat you the next round. Do you guys wanna, like, go out somewhere?”

“Where?” Michael asked. “We have all sorts of worlds to visit in the virtual world.”

“Will I still be in this room?”

“Technically yes.”

“Then technically no.”

“There’s nothing to do in town that we haven’t already done a hundred times.” Jonathan said with an exhale.

No one answered as everyone, even Layne himself, began to succumb to the ever-growing mass of boredom that was sweeping through the room. Four hours of non-stop Mario Kart was now starting to reach its limits of fun. Suddenly, Reggie burst through the door with a loud bang that startled everyone.

“DID SOMEBODY SAY THERE’S NOTHING TO DO IN TOWN?!” He asked with the look of a mad man.

“Yeah, I-I did.” Jonathan said in a confused tone.

“Well my friend, you are right about one thing. There’s nothing to do in Blue Field. Outside of Blue Field is where we need to go! And I know just the perfect place for us to go. Somewhere only a handful of people know exist! Probably.”

“Where?” Layne asked with both reluctance and intrigue.

Reggie usually either had the best or worst ideas for the group to do. It was a fifty-fifty shot at being one of the two, and Layne bet the group would take those odds. Even if it was a bad place, Reggie could at least lighten the mood. The guy could make a funeral feel like a rave if he put his mind and body into it.

“About twenty or twenty-five minutes from us, near the highway, apparently there’s an abandoned mall that’s been shut down since the 80s. Not that many people know about it for some weird reason. So, that makes it a lot more special in my book.”

“An abandoned mall? Like no one would be able to hear our screams on the outside type of abandoned?”

“Yeah!” The joke flew over Reggie’s head. “If we leave now and bring a f**k ton of flashlights with us, we can be back before dinner’s ready.”

Billie scratched his neck before he spoke. “I dunno, I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to explore abandoned places. And by ‘pretty sure,’ I mean it’s definitely illegal.”

“Yes! Which is why we won’t get caught. We’ll have to be quick to get in. We’ll also need to hide the minivan in the woods or somewhere nearby, so no one will see it.”

“M-Minivan?” Layne stuttered. “My minivan?” He patted his chest.

“Yeah. I figured since your van can hold all of us easier that it’d be best to take it. The cops only do one loop every so often around the place and don’t even look in the woods. So I’ve been told. Besides, who goes to break into a place with a minivan?”

“A fair point I guess. How do you know all this?”

“Lucas told me everything I needed to know the last time I went to visit him. Would he ever lie to me?”

“If the voices told him to, yeah……”

Reggie grew a defeated look on his face as he knew that Layne would keep trying to protest to his plan. Layne wouldn’t take any chances with Reggies new plan. There were too many risks involved with it. However, Reggie made one final push to convince everyone.

“…..Look y’all. This is the last day we have to be free, to be truly free. We don’t have to worry about anythin’ and we can do whatever the hell we want. Let’s make the most of every second of today and do stuff that’ll make us look back on and laugh at how fuckin’ stupid we were. We might not ever get this sort of chance for years, maybe even ever again. Do y’all just want to sit in a small cramped room and play Mario Kart all day, no offense Layne, or do y’all want to do something risky and stupid? Something that’ll get our blood flowing? Something that you can tell your grandkids ‘No yeah, I did that. I went to an abandoned mall with six of my bestest friends in the whole wide world. Especially that Reggie, boy was he so handsome and intelligent!’ If we do get caught, which we won’t, but in the worst possible case that we do, I’ll take full responsibility for whatever happens after it. Okay? What do y’all say?”

It was quiet for half a minute. Everyone had a look of contemplation on their faces. It was worrying Layne that they would even have to think the stupid plan over. Finally, and sadly, they began to speak up.

“I guess if you’ll be taking the blame, I’ll go.” Jonathan said with a grin.

“If the big guy’s going, I’ll tag along.” Renae said as she patted Jonathan’s back.

“I’ll go I guess.” Michael grumbled and shrugged his shoulders.

“What the hell, why not? I’d hate to hear you guys talking about it if I wasn’t there.” Billie shrugged.

“Sweet!” Reggie said excitedly. “Layne? Jill? Y’all comin’ too?”

Layne would have to decline his friends offer. In his eighteen years of life, he had seen a countless number of horror movies that spanned decades and genres to know one thing was for certain; Visiting any sort of building that had the adjective “abandoned” attached to it meant certain doom for the main characters, or anyone involved in the story. He might be okay since he was a virgin. Although, the more he thought about it, the virgin surviving usually only applied to women. Male virgins died all the time. Still though, he didn’t immediately say no and instead turned his focus to Jill to hear her answer.

She was looking down and stroking her hair in contemplation.

‘I trust Jill and her judgment. I know she’ll see the logic in why we shouldn’t go.’

She thought it over for a second before giving her answer. “I’ll go too!” She said happily.

‘FUUUUUHUHUHUUUCK!’ Layne cried to himself.

“What about you Layne?” Jill asked with her big blue eyes that seemed to try and pry out an affirmative answer out of him. Looking into her eyes was like staring into the eyes of a begging puppy. There was nothing he could do to look away. “You’re going too, right?”

“…...Sssuuurrreee.” Layne said with gritted teeth and a forced smile. He tried to resist Jill’s angelic eyes and tell her what he really wanted to do instead, but he was too weak to resist her charm. “But, if I say that we need to leave, we leave. No questions asked.” He told Reggie.

“Yes Masta!” Reggie bowed “To the Layne-mobile!” Reggie took off down the stairs while singing the classic Batman tv series theme song. The gang followed behind him either laughing or rolling their eyes at him. Except Layne and Jill.

Layne made sure all of the game systems and lights were properly turned off. Jill waited for him and kept him company, like usual. It wasn’t special for her to do so. She always waited for anyone that was last, in the back of the group, or off on their own. He always assumed that she did so because she didn’t want anyone to feel lonely and left out. Since they were both the only children in each of their families, Layne knew how it felt.

He thought about the kiss that they were about to have moments before. Had he just been imagining it? Maybe she was just being nice to him and not pulling away out of kindness? Each were both plausible and probably factual in Laynes head. Since she didn’t bring it up in any way, neither did he.

They left the room once every electronic and light was off. As they made their way off the stairs, Layne turned away from the front door to head towards the kitchen.

“Start the van for me Jill?” He said as he handed her the keys.

“Sure, what’re you gonna do?” She said as she was walking out the front door.

“Telling mom that we’re going out and not to hurry with dinner.”

He entered the kitchen to see his gray-haired mom cooking something over the stove. Marsha Parish. His mom and dad both went to the same high school, dated their sophomore year, got married after college, and had been together ever since. She was supposed to be cooking her famous spaghetti for dinner, but it looked like she was making a hamburger instead. It was probably for his dad since his mom wasn’t the biggest fan of hamburgers.

“Hey ma?” Layne asked

“Oh! You scared me! What is it Laynnie?” She said with a surprised look on her face.

“Me and the guys are going to go drive around town and look for somethin’ to do.”

“Okay, do you have enough gas in the car? If not, I can give you some money.”

“No, it’s still pretty full. I’ve got plenty of money just in case. What time do you think dinner will be ready?”

“Hmmmm, I’d say maybe six or seven. Around the time your father gets home. So, don’t be late!”

“I won’t, love you!” He yelled as he left the kitchen.

“Love you too baby!” He heard his mom yell.

He felt bad for somewhat lying to his mom about their true intentions. What she didn’t know wouldn’t kill her though. Especially if everything would go as good as Reggie said would, then she wouldn’t have to worry about a thing.

The van was seemingly full, and the radio was blaring “Stuck in the middle with you” by Stealers Wheel on the radio. Both the driver’s door and the sliding door behind it were open. He knew that Jill most likely left the driver’s door open for Layne to easily get in, but he didn’t know why the other was open until he saw the empty seat.

“Took you long enough!” Reggie yelled from the very back “Were you giving your mom a Frenchie while you were in there?”

“No, your mom called and begged for me to come over. I told her ‘No Mrs. Brown, you’re a married woman and I’m too young for you. What would happen to your family if your husband and children found out?’ She didn’t take it too well.”

Reggie sat in silence while everyone picked on him.

“Can you close the door, Renae?” Michael asked. “The humidity is killing me.”

Renae slid the door closed. “You wouldn’t feel so hot if you cut your hair.”

“Well, when you’ve got nice and luscious hair like mine, you’ve just got to show it off. Right?” He said with a lisp.

“Oh, you’re too right girl!” Renae said as she ran her finger through her blonde hair.

Layne checked the rearview to see who was present in the van and who wasn’t. He could see Reggie, Billie, Michael, Renae, and Jill, of course, but now he knew who wasn’t in the van.

“Where’s Jonathan?” Layne asked Renae.

“He ran to his place really quick.” Renae said as she scrolled through her phone. “Something about getting some flashlights and other things. He put a pretty big emphasize on ‘things,’ which has me a little worried.”

Jonathan lived a few houses down from Layne in a nearly identical two-story home. Since they lived in a suburban neighborhood, every home had a nearly identical layout and look with very minute changes. Their homes only happened to have a difference in the shade of blue on the outside of their houses and a different size of shingles on the roof.

“Hey Reggie.” Jill asked from the front seat. “I punched in the address in my phone. Are you sure it’s right? It says there’s nothing there but a huge loading block that doesn’t look like it’s goin’ to load in.”

“It’s there. The town probably blurred it out to keep people from finding it. I guess it didn’t work with us.” Reggie shrugged sarcastically.

Layne sat back, listened to the music, and waited for Jonathan to arrive. He pondered all of the variables that could happen when they arrive. They could get caught by the police, be killed by homeless crackheads, drug dealers, a psychotic murderer, a Chupacabra, who knew? The possibilities were endless.

A hand hit the driver side window with a loud crack and a scream followed it. Layne jumped up and nearly screamed his heart out, but he realized who caused it. Jonathan. He laughed maniacally at Layne and shouted, “Let’s go Broski’s!” He reached for the handle, but Layne locked it just in time.

Jonathan tugged on it for a moment before realizing what was going on.

“Layne, come on buddy. You know I was just kidding.”

“Alright y’all!” Layne said in a loud voice as he pretended not to hear Jonathans pleas or look in his direction. “Let’s hit the road!”

“Come one Layne, don’t be like this!”

Layne slowly drove down the streets a little way to let Jonathan suffer for his actions. The boys laughed and mocked his running, Renae recorded his attempts to open the door, and Jill put on the song Rebel Rouser and shouted, “Run Forest, Run!” It was a great moment of situational humor. He finally unlocked the door to let in Jonathan who only said one thing once he sat down and buckled up.

“You were too slow for me.” He said with confidence.

“No wonder the coach put you on defense then.” Reggie laughed.

“Man f**k you!” Jonathan yelled as he turned around and started slapping Reggie.

The gang laughed as they left the neighborhood and entered the highway. The sun began to dip and slowly lose its afternoon light.