Boo Radley V2 Track 2

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Boo Radley V2 Track 2

Track 1:



Whenever there was a break in high school that wasn't just a three day weekend the first half would always be spent sleeping. When Chelsea finally woke up she found herself at Katrina's house. Chelsea had already explained over and over again to both sides of her mind that she would do something productive with her summer. She would have a good time. She would do stuff. Real stuff. Make stuff. Make friends. She guessed she was already off to a phenomenally fantastic start just sitting at Katrina's computer as her friend did her nails. Sarcasm was always a way to combat the evil forces of boredom. Chelsea looked at the bright computer screen in front of her. She couldn't tell which was giving her more of a headache. The screen being mostly white or the fact that it was an all too familiar blank Google page. Nothing to do on the internet. This was a new level of boredom. She couldn't even waste her life on the internet.
Maybe she could try to talk to Katrina but for some reason the epitome of their time ever hanging out was just them both being in the same room doing individual activities. Katrina's dad was away for the weekend like Chelsea's mother. The day before, Katrina was being dramatic saying that her single dad and Chelsea's single mother were on a date together and that was of course the only explanation that they were both gone for the same weekend for work. Apparently Katrina didn't know what a coincidence was. And if she did she would see it as a myth. The thought scared Chelsea to death. Though Katrina was her friend she couldn't imagine living with her and calling her her sister.
As Chelsea imagined the horror she found herself turned around in the computer chair and watching Katrina sit on her bed and paint her toenails a bright neon green. It hurt Chelsea's eyes just as much as the computer screen did. Thinking of such a terrible sibling, a question entered her mind. She thought for a moment about how Katrina would act to her asking and she understood Katrina would probably make something out of nothing. Chelsea pushed the question around in her head whilst petted Katrina's sleeping dog under the computer desk. Then again…
"Hey, Tri?"
"Mhm…" Katrina didn't even look up from what she was doing.
"Is your brother here?" Instantly as Chelsea had asked–or dared to–she had Katrina's full attention. Katrina stared Chelsea down with wide, lazar beam eyes. "I really wanna meet him." Chelsea said a bit less comfortable than before.
"You can't." Katrina said simply. She flipped her orange hair over her shoulder and dipped her brush back into the polish. She let the conversation go so quickly, losing her lazar eyes and interest in it all.
"I said no!" Katrina screamed, suddenly very irritated again. She had screamed so loud that Chelsea was surprised that a disembodied wind hadn't blown her hair back or tipped the desk chair she sat in.
In Chelsea's mind, she was at least thankful that she and Katrina were doing something together now. Even if it was arguing.
"What? He can't be that bad. How old is he? Seven?"
Katrina looked at Chelsea now as if she was crazy.
"He's eighteen." Katrina said, silencing Chelsea who had to take a moment to understand. "And he's totally insane." Katrina went back to painting her last few toes. "A couple weeks ago he tried to bash in his head on the marble countertop in the kitchen." She finished her toes in silence as Chelsea wasn't contributing much to the conversation anymore. But when she did it came out faint.
"You're exaggerating." Chelsea didn't quite believe her own words either.
"Just wait." Katrina said as she capped her neon green nail polish.

Night came almost too quickly. Chelsea and Katrina had fallen asleep in Katrina's bed after long talks about things Katrina liked and Chelsea disliked. That was conversation though. Chelsea kept the conversation back on Katrina's brother as much as she could. It was perhaps the only interesting thing at the time for her. All she learned from Katrina was that her brother was a freak that she should stay away from.
The hours ticked by quickly as Chelsea slept. The clocks of the house struck three in the morning and at that time all Katrina had said became a reality.
Chelsea's eyes shot open to the most frightening sound she had ever heard. It was the sound of pure horror, a man dying in the gutter from being stabbed. It sounded just like that to her. It was a gut wrenching, raspy, and disgusting scream. It was the wail of the Banshee. Chelsea stayed still in bed staring at Katrina who didn't even bat an eye. She stayed still, sleeping soundly. Chelsea held onto the sheets tightly and like a doppler effect, the screams left quicker than they came.
Chelsea sat up in the bed keeping her eyes on Katrina. She couldn't understand how she was still sleeping. The only explanation was one that frightened Chelsea more than the fleeting scream. Katrina must have gotten used to it. That scream didn't come from Chelsea or Katrina, it could have only come from the other inhabitant of the house.
Chelsea could barely see through the pitch black room all except for the yellow light coming from the crack under Katrina's bedroom door. Chelsea watched the bright gap for what felt like an hour. She widened her eyes in an attempt to see more in the darkness though it didn't help. Though she prayed she wouldn't hear the scream again she was waiting for it to come back. She was terrified but through it all she tried her best to pull herself back to reality. What if whoever screamed was hurt? What if something was wrong? Obviously it was if someone was screaming.
Chelsea's adrenaline kicked in and she rose from the bed placing her bare feet on the soft carpet. She moved silently in her silk pajamas following the light from under the door. Her steps were short in the darkness until another much higher pitched scream stopped her dead in her tracks. It was like an animal being tortured and just as Chelsea heard it she practically tripped. Something soft moved just by her leg and she felt so much better when she realized that this time it was just Katrina's dog Reggie. He had been sleeping soundly in the middle of the floor until Chelsea had stepped on him. Chelsea calmed her heavy chest and Reggie–who was fine–scurried off under Katrina's computer desk and lied down to sleep once more.
Chelsea's focus returned to the door and now she took a few, much more careful steps towards the light. Just as she was about to take ahold of the doorknob she saw two shapes break the flow of light underneath the door. Two feet. The only other person in the house was standing just on the other side of the door. And they just stood there. Waiting. Then just like the shrieks they left as quickly as they had come. The feet had walked to the right just up the hall. Chelsea felt a bit trapped in the bedroom, unable to escape. There was the soft click of a door opening and the squeak of old hinges. Chelsea took this as cover to open up Katrina's door and peer out into the brightly lit hallway.
Chelsea's eyes took a moment in the light to adjust and then she saw him. And there seemed to be nothing wrong. She couldn't see his face but she could see he was tall with blue jeans and a dark jacket. He put his left hand through his thick black hair before disappearing through the doorway to the hall bathroom.
What was strange to Chelsea was the lack of strangeness to him. Maybe being fully dressed in the middle of the night was strange but it wasn't enough for Chelsea to believe Katrina's rantings about her freakish brother.
The bathroom door slowly started to close using its old hinges for help and right as it clicked shut Chelsea heard another, even louder, more terrifying shriek. It wasn't the dog and it wasn't her imagination. It was him. Chelsea slammed Katrina's bedroom door shut. In the darkness she waited with her eyes jammed shut. She heard the bathroom door open once more and the soft smacks of bare feet on tile transfer to carpeting. The bright flow of light by Chelsea's feet was broken once more from Katrina's brother leaving the bathroom and going down the hall to the kitchen.

Once the sky outside Katrina's window turned to a rich blue Chelsea stepped out of Katrina's bedroom and into the hallway. It was still lit but there was no sight of Katrina's brother anywhere. The door to the hall bathroom was open and Chelsea took her need to change out of her pajamas as an excuse to check it out.
As she changed clothes she saw nothing out of the ordinary in the bathroom. A shower, shower curtain, sink, toilet, mirror. Nothing strange. Nothing worthy of a scream. She put her pajamas back in Katrina's room with Katrina still sleeping. Chelsea considered going back to bed. It was probably no later than five-thirty in the morning but her stomach rumbled and she knew she was in desperate need of five a.m. cereal. Walking down the hall the kitchen opened up before her and she went straight to the pantry for the Lucky Charms but was pleasantly surprised to see Katrina had Frankenberry. Chelsea poured herself a bowl and watched the milk turn pink. It was just about the same pink that was coming from the sunrise through the kitchen window. In the front yard was a big brown and black Rottweiler that was most likely the neighbor lady's. He was sniffing the green grass to the right side of the driveway just beyond the limits of Ms. Barker's property. Chelsea watched the dog for a moment as it buried its nose in the grass and seemed to bark without opening its mouth. The bark sounded closer than the dog and Chelsea smiled when she looked down to her side seeing Reggie. He was sitting obediently, wagging his tail against the floor like a sweeping broom. Chelsea looked at him with a puzzled face but then just took the milk back to the fridge. Reggie followed and awkwardly stepped around the opening fridge.
"You're a weird dog you know that?" Reggie perked up his ears to Chelsea's speech.
Chelsea pushed bits of her pink cereal down into the milk trying to drown every marshmallow in the pink milk so it wasn't too hard. Reggie barked again but a little louder this time. Chelsea looked down at him and tried her best to think of what he wanted. She picked up a bit of her cereal that was stuck to the rim of her bowl and held it down to Katrina's Bichon. Reggie hopped up on his back legs and took the cereal piece from Chelsea's fingers and munched on it happily.
Chelsea took her bowl with her from the kitchen and into the living room patting her leg for Reggie to follow. Now with a taste for Frankenberry he did.
Chelsea took a seat on the couch noticing the living room was just as empty as the kitchen. It had a television, a coffee table and a mantle but no brother. If Katrina had a bedroom certainly her brother would have one too. From Chelsea's previous middle school visits to the Crane house she never saw a room for Katrina's brother. She never saw the brother either. She knew there was a guest room upstairs next to Katrina's dad's room and his office but that was always barren. Chelsea wondered if it was just as vacant now as it was back in middle school. She sat on the couch and stared up at the staircase to the second floor. It was worth a shot and Katrina probably wouldn't wake for another few hours.
Chelsea heard a lapping noise like water from a dog bowl and looked down to see Reggie sitting next to her on the couch face deep in her bowl of cereal. She quickly pulled the bowl away from him. He licked his now pink and dripping chin which made Chelsea laugh. She put her hand under his mouth and caught most of the pink milk and wiped much of the stuff from his chin only realizing after that her hand was now covered in it. The closest thing to a paper towel in the room was Reggie so in the end he got a nice pet from Chelsea's dirty hand and for some reason he looked happy about it.
"C'mon." Chelsea said to Reggie. She put her empty bowl on the coffee table in front of her and got up with Reggie following extra happily. Monster Trilogy cereal can do that to a dog.
The now pink dog raced up the stairs after he saw where Chelsea was heading and he waited patiently at the top with his tail wagging. Chelsea saw the door to Katrina's dad's bedroom on the left and then his office door on the right leaving the guest room just ahead. The door was opened slightly and Reggie ran right in. Chelsea followed and saw the only inhabitant of the mostly blank room was Reggie lying in the bed.
"C'mon Reggie." Chelsea patted her leg again for the dog to follow and they went back downstairs. Reggie still happy. Chelsea still confused.
Chelsea took her bowl to the kitchen and washed it out. Things were silent all except for the sink's running water and a ruckus from below the kitchen floor. Chelsea stopped the water. It sounded again. It was much like a strong punch to a pillow. Reggie immediately left Chelsea's side and ran around the kitchen island and down the small staircase to the closed basement door. The ruckus sounded again and Reggie was starting to scratch at the door.
"Reggie! Get away from there." Katrina shouted, effectively making Chelsea jump out of her skin. Katrina ran from the hallway into the kitchen and Reggie ran to her jumping up into her arms. She held him tightly but then held him out much like a Mogwai over a bathtub. She scrutinized his pink mussel and then looked at Chelsea who just stood silently. "Why is he pink?" Chelsea just shrugged as if not knowing. She just wondered why Reggie couldn't go near the basement door. And then it hit her. The noises in the basement and the vacancy of the rest of the residence. He had to be down there. It was the only unchecked place left and he was the only one who could make those noises. Katrina's brother.