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“Hey, Carol”
Even as she opened the door there were too many things happening.
First of all, there were three other kids she had never seen in her entire life alongside Darryl and Grant.
Two of them were a boy and a girl about Grant’s age. Darryl had been carrying the boy in his- oddly muscular- arms and was in the process of setting him down on the boy’s… Skateboard?
Second, Darryl and Grant were back after nearly a day and half. They looked different, both physically and in aura. She had never seen Darryl so rugged before.
The boy flicked his head up at her and thrust a paper cup in her direction.
“The name’s Yeet Bigly. Got you a soda,”
“Yeah, we stopped by McDonalds on the way back,” Darryl chuckled nervously.
Her mind was reeling. She took the soda hesitantly and continued to stare in bewilderment. Darryl and Grant were wearing completely different clothes than they left in.
“Just got drinks, though,” He added.
The girl they were with glanced between Carol and Darryl as she sipped from a cup of her own.
“So, this is uh, Killa DeMall,”
The girl waved.
Grief can make you hallucinate right? She remembered Samantha talking about how the mind can do strange things in response to loss. Something about Terry Jr. claiming he could see Big Terry behind him in mirrors.
Carol shut the door on them. She took a few breaths. She went to set the soda down on the kitchen counter, then came back and opened the front door again.
To her mild surprise (and relief) they were all still there.
The youngest of the group, a scrawny little boy, seemed to be giving Darryl a pep talk.
“Come on, we came this far! You gotta trust your old man,” The kid said, Darryl crouching down to his height.
Grant pushed past her silently, going straight to his room. She decided to let him go without interrogating.
Darryl noticed her and pat the kid on the back as he stood up.
“It’s hard to explain, honey,” He started.
Carol took a deep breath.
“But I think this guy,” He gestured towards the younger boy. “Is gonna stay with us for the night,”
“Not us though,” Killa said. Yeet grunted.
“Oh yeah, these two just wanted to see the house” Darryl assured. “Could you, um, say something? Please?”
Carol gripped the doorknob tightly.
“Come in,” She forced out.
➖
The kids seemed absolutely fascinated by the house. The obnoxious drone of wheels on her wooden floors was stressing her out a little, but she couldn’t help but notice that Yeet was using the skateboard as a prosthetic.
“What’s this?” Killa asked, prodding at the AC panel.
Carol was really starting to feel concerned for her and her brother’s home life. Now that she wasn't completely dissociating, she could see that all these new children were skinny and dirty. But so were her own husband and child.
“That controls the temperature,” She explained. “Like a fan?”
Killa hummed lowly.
“So like, Control Weather?” Yeet chimed in.
Darryl gave her a look that she couldn’t quite decipher; something between fear and amusement.
“No, just the house,” She said.
Yeet also gave her a look, but could clearly read it as confusion. Killa shrugged at him.
“I don’t think you guys wanna see the kitchen,” Darryl said suddenly. “It’s super boring,”
Paeden stopped and narrowed his eyes.
Darryl glanced at Carol once again.
“What-,” She turned to the little boy.
“Darryl Wilson ,” Paeden said, sounding insulted. “I think you know DAMN well that-,”
Damn?
“Okay, look: I’ll show you the knives, but you cannot touch them,” Darryl sighed.
Paeden considered this.
“Hold on,” Carol put a hand on Darryl’s shoulder. “Just so everyone’s clear, I don’t tolerate swearing within my hearing distance,”
“Lame,” Yeet scoffed.
“Frankly, I don’t care what you say around your friends, I myself just don’t wanna hear it, okay?” She looked pointedly at Yeet, who rolled his eyes. Killa stifled a giggle.
“That’s just how we do it here, buddy,” Darryl said to an irritated looking Paeden. “Adults don’t like hearing kids swearing and stuff. It’s just like Walter’s, remember?”
“Adults are lame,” Paeden groaned. Yeet gave him a quick high five.
Darryl laughed. “Yeah, I know,”
➖
Yeet declined hanging out with Grant, which felt odd.
“You guys are friends from school, right?”
“Not school,” Yeet mumbled, head in his hands.
“They met on the field,” Darryl called from the kitchen.
Carol tried very hard not to ask about the board and instead thought about how there was some strange girl going up to Grant’s room.
“How old are you and your sister?” She asked.
“I’m twelve, she’s thirteen,”
“Oh wow, that must’ve been tough on your mom. I can’t imagine having kids that close together,”
Yeet made a noise in agreement.
“Who’s ready for some ice cream?” Darryl announced, carrying what might as well been a barrel of rocky road. He set it on the living room table next to the bowls.
Yeet looked at it uncomfortably.
“I think I’m gonna go check on Grant actually,”
“Why don’t you bring up some?” Darryl began scooping.
“Heh, I’ll see what I can do,” Yeet smirked the coolest smirk a twelve year old has ever smirked.
Oh.
Darryl looked embarrassed. Carol glared at him.
“Forgot about that bud,” He said. “How ‘bout I help you with the stairs and Paeden gets the ice cream.
Carol did not trust that child handling her dishes, especially not dishes full of semi-solids.
“Paeden, you grab two and I’ll grab two,” She instructed.
“Yes, ma’am,” He saluted.
That felt… Familiar somehow.
➖
Inside Grant’s room, Killa was sitting on his bed against the backboard playing a game on his phone. Grant himself was laying on his mound of pillows, staring at nothing.
Carol being the protective mother she is, nearly shat a brick seeing a girl in her preteen son’s bed. She cleared her throat loudly. No response from either. Darryl didn’t seem to pay it any mind as he burst in repeating what he said about ice cream the first time.
Killa didn’t look up from the phone, but did reach out an arm to grab the bowl from Paeden.
Yeet sat down with his ice cream next to her and was immediately enraptured by the game she was playing. Paeden threw his body onto Grant’s which didn’t warrant any other reaction besides a quiet ‘mph’.
Carol handed a bowl to Paeden’s greedy hands and then tried nudging Grant.
“You want some ice cream?” She asked softly.
She figured he’d had a rough time, what with the soccer game and getting lost twice.
“Sure,” He said, not making an effort to move.
She placed it on his nightstand.
Carol had so many questions for everyone in the room, but settled on leaving the kids alone and making a point to keep the door open.
➖
Downstairs on the couch, she had to rack her brain for what they should talk about first.
“What’s up with Grant?” The most important issue.
He’d always been a gloomy kid, but this felt different. Darryl rubbed his face, looking like he was having an internal war with himself.
(Because he was.)
“I think,” His voice caught. “I think something scared him real bad,”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Carol felt her heart drop into her stomach.
She clenched her fists atop her knees.
“There was this…” He looked to the side. “It was either a huge cat or a big dog and he- he uh, had to kill it,”
Holy shit. Does San Dimas have cougars? Well, besides Mercedes. Carol mentally slapped herself for that one. Henry can’t be that much younger anyway…
Also Mercedes was really hot.
Jesus, Carol. She figured this must be some kind of avoidance coping mechanism. Samantha popped into her head. Shit, she’s cute too. Christ.
Carol took another deep breath. Thinking about your odd attraction to the other soccer moms is not what you do when you find out your missing son and husband could've died.
“So he killed a wild animal in self defense?”
Darryl nodded.
“Is that why it took you guys long enough for me to file a missing persons report?”
“I’m really sorry about that,” He covered his eyes.
They were silent for a beat. He began to sob quietly. She laid a shaky hand on his knee.
“Is everyone okay now?”
Darryl sniffed and nodded again.
“I think so.”
(Really depends on how you define "okay".)