Chapter Twenty-Eight - Getting Dark

Alex couldn’t seem to sit still. She was a flurry of energy, running around the workshop pointing out things that might be useful.

“There’s a heater, but it’s broken.” She told us, opening up random cupboards. “And we used to have some spare wipes in here, but we used them all up. Oh!” She exclaimed excitedly, holding aloft a dark blue canister. “Deodorant!”

We all looked at her askance. The problem wasn’t that we smelled bad. Still, Alex seemed happy just scurrying around the storage areas like a feral raccoon digging through a dumpster. At least she was staying positive.

Without power the place was pretty dark and a little bit spooky. The sharp tools and weird furniture didn’t look too inviting - the tall, strangely shaped workbench looming over us like some kind of hulking sharp-toothed monster. We hardly felt at home.

Still, I had managed to wipe off some of the mud from my face and hands with some of the musky old towels that were lying around, and Zach had had us take off some clothes to try and dry off. I had shucked off my dirty jeans and shirt along with my one remaining shoe so that I was huddled up in the corner in just my mucky pajamas, while Charlie and Laurie had followed Alex’s lead hanging up their sodden beaver vests and hats on the hook on the wall. Second only to me on the muddiness scale, Zach had pulled off his mud-mired trainers and water-logged shorts; pacing around the cabin in only his filthy Cub polo and a pair of faded orange camouflage boxer-briefs. Alex had given a titter at the sight, but a threatening glare from the Keeo had soon shut her up. He wasn’t in the mood for teasing, no matter how light hearted.

Zach now sat on the ground and leaned against the door frame, looking out onto the parking lot. The sun was setting, but the littlest bit of murky gray light was still straining through the clouds to illuminate the porch outside. His face was full of worry and he was taking deep methodical breaths. Charlie, Laurie and I were sitting just inside on the ground. A small pile of mud had already formed around me.

“I’m c-cold.” Laurie complained through a shiver. Zach kept staring outside, but opened one arm inviting Laurie to sit underneath it, which he rushed over and did. Zach let him lay on his lap as he draped an arm over him.

Meanwhile, Alex had finally produced a pair of old dirty looking blankets. They seemed like they had seen a lot of use since their last wash, marked with various mysterious stains and reeking of damp. Still, I wasn’t in a position to complain. She gave me one and pointed to Zach and Laurie as she draped the other around herself and Charlie.

I nervously approached the brothers with the musty smelling blanket in hand, feeling almost like I was intruding. The two were breathing in exact unison, Laurie looking completely safe and secure cuddled up on his brother’s lap. Zach didn’t hesitate to include me, however. He patted the other side of his lap and I sat beside him, getting his polo even messier in the process as I rested my muddy thicket of hair against his shoulder. He took the blanket and draped it over the three of us, and even though I was still cold I felt a lot better.

Zach continued to look out to the parking lot, his lips lowered into a worrisome glower as the evening slowly turned into night. The looming clouds and rain brought an early sunset, the storm soon suffocating the last little bit of light from the sky. “How long until your Dad comes home?” Zach asked abruptly, turning around to face Alex. She and Charlie were cuddled up together too, Charlie’s head leaning on her shoulder.

Alex just wrinkled her nose, a confused look on her face. “I don’t know.” She admitted. “I’ve never been here without Daddy.”

Zach sucked in another methodical breath. “Where is he usually?” He interrogated further.

Alex frowned. “He picks me up from Charlie’s after school and then we come here.” She said, getting a little frustrated. “Sometimes it’s already dark out.”

“And on weekends?”

“I don’t know!” Alex shouted. “We just go to town.”

Zach snarled, looking across at Charlie. The white tail was shifting his gaze around the floor, deliberately not making eye contact with him. “That’s just great.” Zach grunted.

“He’ll come back eventually.” I whispered up from his lap, trying to adjust to sit properly beside him - but with his strong arm tight around my shoulder he soon pressed me back down onto his lap beside Laurie.

Charlie bit his lower lip. “Are there any flashlights here?” He asked Alex.

Zach snapped to attention. “Does your Dad have any?” He asked hurriedly.

“I couldn’t find any.” She told him.

“Help me look.” Zach demanded and finally let Laurie and I up. He carefully bundled us up together under the blanket like a couple of kittens in a sack - not caring at all that my muddy clothes were now messing up Laurie’s as well.

Zach and Alex started to open up every cupboard and drawer in search of a light source. I watched them passively as Laurie took my hand. I realized that I should probably have been helping, I was the oldest after all, but I would have only covered everything in mud. Besides, I didn’t know the workshop as well as Alex.

“I found one!” Alex announced excitedly, holding up a black and yellow flashlight in her hand.

Zach’s face broke into a wide grin for the first time all afternoon since he was at my house. He rushed over to Alex, took it, and tried to turn it on - but nothing happened. His face fell, and he began to breathe in and out so hard that I could hear him from across the room, working himself in a furor. “That’s not fair!” He shouted, and slammed it down on the worktop like a hammer.

Cheeks still ruby red in fury, he whacked it down again and again like a furious tantruming toddler with an uncooperative toy. We all just watched the bigger boy, usually so stolid and stoical, in stunned silence - the rhythmic crack of the heavy-bottomed flashlight crunching repeatedly against the wooden worktop drumming along to the continual drone of the storm outside like a dreadful violent percussion section. Laurie gripped my hand so tight his knuckles went white, looking down-right terrified.

“What are you doing?” he hissed at his brother.

Zach just snarled, eyes fixed straight down. Finally, he raised the flashlight high above his head and brought it down for one final almighty wallop. The black plastic casing on the handle shattered apart, different electrical components erupting out and spilling across the counter top. Charlie winced, and Alex’s eyes widened into two amazed saucers. Laurie yet out a yelp of fear - dropping my hand and covering his ears.

The cub scout threw the remains of the flash light carelessly to the dusty floor, taking a few haggard breaths before he finally dared to look at us again. His eyes were glazed with just a little moisture, just barely holding back sopping messy tears by pure force of will. He clenched his teeth threateningly at us, looking like a wolf about to pounce.

Alex was the one to finally speak up. “What did you do that for?” she exclaimed, genuinely confused with just a hint of anger of her own bubbling beneath the surface. She rushed forward, barging past Zach as if he were nothing more than a feeble puppy to inspect the damage he had done. “You made a dent!” she accused, brushing a few shards of plastic away to reveal a sizeable gouge on the workshop surface. She looked up at him with outraged judgmental eyes, demanding an explanation.

The bigger boy blinked, a single tear finally breaking past his iron defenses and slipping down his cheek. He unclenched his teeth, his lips falling instead into a quivering guilty frown hovering on the edge of full-fledged blubbering sobs. “I’m…I’m sorry.” he squeaked, bringing up an arm to hide his eyes and burying his face in his muddy-sodden polo. Without another word, he turned on his heels and ran as fast as he could from the room - bare feet slapping against the wooden floor boards. He pulled open the sliding door just a crack, slithering through and ducking down onto the mossy sodden deck beneath the porch to hide beneath the window frame. We all stood in awkward silence in the workshop, listening to the sounds of his ashamed hiccuping yowls clash helplessly against the howling relentless wind outside.

Alex was still preoccupied with her dad’s workbench. “He ruined it!” She exclaimed, scrunching up her fists.

Charlie came up next to her, putting a calming hand on her shoulder as he inspected the damage himself. “It’s not so bad.” he said, though he didn’t sound all too convinced.

“Yes, it is!” Alex snarled back. “He chipped out a whole piece.”

Charlie didn’t try to argue with her, just offering to take her hand again. She let him take it, grumbling under her breath as she collected up the random scraps of plastic littered across the workbench with her other hand. “Why was he so mad?” Charlie asked curiously, amber eyes narrowed in pure bafflement.

“He’s scared of the dark.” Laurie reported in a low whisper, staring sadly towards the dirty window from where we could all still hear Zach sobbing.

“Huh?” Charlie hummed, looking even more confused.

“He’s scared of the dark!” Laurie repeated, turning around to reveal that a few tears were running down his own cheeks now. There was another roll of thunder, and the little boy shivered in fright, jumping up out from under our shared blanket, shuffling deeper into the cabin, and falling to his knees to pull another one of the blankets up around his shoulders.

“Zach?” Charlie blinked, the idea that the big brave cub scout who he idealized so much could have such a childish phobia not seeming to compute in his head. “No he’s not.” He turned to Alex. “Is he?” The girl just shrugged. “Cooper?”

I didn’t answer either - just showing Charlie an opaque glare. I felt strangely angry at his reaction. Of course, Charlie couldn’t have known Zach was afraid of the dark, but the tone in which he was talking still somehow rubbed me the wrong way - like just because Zach was older he couldn’t ever be scared, or hurt, or vulnerable. Nevertheless, I’d had enough of standing around doing nothing like a dumb little kid. Zach was my friend - and everyone was just talking about him behind his back while he was outside still upset. I shrugged off my blanket and shot Charlie a frown before I turned around and marched towards the sliding door, pulling it open a little more to wiggle through before shutting it firmly behind me - shutting out the other Kindies.