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Chapter Text

 The evening sky was a mix of soft oranges that faded into pinks. Lukas rolls down the car’s window, a grin on his face as he zoomed down the roads. “I’ve been needing this for so long..” He sighs, letting the cool breeze blow against his face.

 He combs his fingers through his dirty, blond hair, keeping his eyes on the road. “Surprised I haven’t seen any cars pass by..” He says to himself, leaning forward in the seat. It was odd, it felt like it had been hours since he'd last seen a car, or maybe anything, perhaps. Suddenly, his vehicle started to make weird, sputtering noises, and it was starting to pause and slow down on him. “No, no no no.. Fuck..!” Lukas muttered, leaning back again and slamming his hands against the wheel as the car came to a complete stop. He hit his head against the wheel and slammed a fist into the dashboard, cursing himself out.

 Lukas opened the car door and hopped out, rounding the car and popping open the hood to take a look at the engine. A billowing, black puff of smoke comes out right onto Lukas' face, making him cough and swat his hand at the smoke, trying to waft it away. “Agh, oh, fuck- Fuckin' great..” He shakes his head. Lukas wasn’t really a mechanic himself, but there was definitely something wrong with the engine.. It was quite obvious, anyways. “Maybe I should go look for a gas station nearby.. I’m sure there could be someone that might be able to help me out.”

 As he tried to conjure up a plan of what he would do next, a car came up the road and parked right beside him. Lukas looked over, eyebrow raised, to see the window of an old, beaten and rusty truck roll down. On the other side of the tinted window, an old man, no younger than maybe sixty, sat, a look of concern on his wrinkly face. “What a day to end up stranded, huh?” He said, his expression breaking into a grin.

  “Thank god.." Lukas says with a soft sigh of relief, and he walked closer to the truck. “Could I get a lift? My car, it just up and died on me..” He motioned to the vehicle behind him. 

 “Sure thing!” The man replied. “I wouldn’t leave your car out here, though. That’s just asking for a world of trouble.” Lukas nodded in response. “Figured as much.” The man continued. “Welp, my home is just over yonder,” he pointed, and Lukas looked over, seeing nothing but miles and miles of roads and wheat around them. “Lucky for you… What’s your name?” The man asked, now looking back at Lukas.

 “I’m Lukas.” He answered, extending a hand for the man to shake. The man took it, giving Lukas a toothy smile as they firmly shook hands. “Well then, must be yer lucky day, Lukas, I’m a mechanic myself. There’s a bundle of ropes 'round back of my vehicle, why don’t you get some out and tie your car to the back 'o mine? We can tow it to my garage and I could fix it right up for ya.”

 “Really? You’d do that for me? That’s.. Awfully kind of you, sir.” Lukas said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “Mmhm.” The man hummed, rolling the window back up. Lukas opened up one of the doors to the backseat of the man’s truck and found piles of rope upon rope, then he walked back over to his car, tying it to the front, and the back of the man's truck before shutting the door again and hopping into the passenger’s side of the front. And then they were off.

Chapter Text

 It didn't take them very long to get there. Like the man had said to Lukas, his farm wasn't too far from the highway, where the blond's car had broken down.

 Lukas had been staring out the passenger's window as they drove down the road, and the sight of a windmill caught his eyes. He certainly didn't remember that when he'd passed by.. The truck came to a stop, and Lukas got out, shutting the door behind him and heading over to the back of the pickup, where he'd tied his car. The man got out as well, and walked over to Lukas. "Welcome to the Mercer farm, son." He said in that southern accent of his. 

 "Must be pretty boring 'round these parts, right?" Lukas asked, looking at the seemingly endless fields of wheat and corn surrounding them. It was like it stretched on for miles. Mr. Mercer let out a chuckle and shook his head. "You'd be surprised. There's things that happen out here that folks wouldn't even believe, unless they'd seen it with their own two eyes." He makes a gesture with his pointer and middle finger, tracing his gaze to Lukas'. The blond was a little confused at what Mr. Mercer had said. "What? You mean, like- Aliens, or somethin..?" Mr. Mercer didn't answer, instead he walked over to Lukas' car and popped the hood. "..Seems the engine's in a right mess, here." He commented, now looking back to Lukas. 

 "Shit, Jesse's gonna kill my ass." Lukas said, pulling at his hair in a stressed manner, thinking about what would happen if Jesse would ever find that Lukas had been taking joyrides in his car. "Don't worry yourself now." Mr. Mercer said, resting his hand on Lukas' shoulder. The boy appreciated the gesture, it did make him feel a little better about the situation he was stuck in.. 

 "I'll make ya an offer here, Lukas. I see you've got a toolbox there in your backseat.. Know how to use anything in it?" Mr. Mercer asked, scratching the back of his head with a grin. "Oh, I do, actually." Mr. Mercer seemed pleased with the answer, Lukas could tell by the look in his bright green eyes. "Great. My wife has been buggin' me about fixin' up a nightstand up 'n one of the guest bedrooms for weeks now, but the garage here, s'got me pretty busy, so I haven't been able to do so.. Ya think you could fix that up for me while I work on your car out here?" 

 Lukas nodded, scratching his chin. "I know my way around a hammer and nail, I'm sure I'd have it fixed up in about an hour or so." 

 "Sounds like we a got a deal, then! Come, let's get inside, I'll show you to my son's room." Mr. Mercer said, motioning Lukas to the porch. Lukas opened one of the doors to the back seat,  pulled out the toolbox, then followed after the man. As he walked to the porch, he suddenly felt a wave of anxiety wash over him. They weren't alone. He stopped and took a look around, scanning the area to see if there was anyone else. He caught something ducking behind the side of the porch where Mr. Mercer stood, but it was likely just an animal, it looked like a dog, anyways. 

 "Hey, Mr. Mercer.. Do you have any pets, by any chance?"

 "Yeah, my son's got a pet cat, 'n we also got a dog." Mr. Mercer answered. "But no time for that, we should get to work immediately, so you don't have to go home while it's dark out." Lukas nodded. It was probably just his thoughts getting to him. Perhaps he shouldn't have watched those cheesy horror films before he'd taken that joy ride through here..

Chapter Text

 Mr. Mercer opened the door to the guest bedroom. "After you." He said, motioning Lukas inside. 

 Lukas looked around the room before he stopped, setting the toolbox down next to the bed. "So.. I'm assuming this is that nightstand you had mentioned?" He made a hand gesture to a broken nightstand, to which Mr. Mercer had nodded. "Sure is. Should be easy work for you, right, Lukas?" 

 "Yup. I reckon I'll have this done in maybe less than an hour.." Mr. Mercer grinned, patting Lukas' shoulder. "Attaboy. I'll get to fixin' up your vehicle, it'll run better than it had before." Lukas smiled, watching the man turn to leave. He stopped in front of the doorway, spinning on his heels to look at the blond once again. "Oh, wait! Before I forget, my wife 'ere listens to her favorite radio station around this time, and.. I don't think that she'd like to hear ya working up in here 'n such. Mind if I shut the door?" Lukas shrugged in reply. "Not at all. I wouldn't want to annoy her." 

 Mr. Mercer nodded, walking out of the room and shutting the door behind him. Lukas didn't even care to listen for footsteps, he just got right to work, wanting nothing more than to head home. Lukas took out a box of nails from his toolbox, setting it down next to him. He then took a nail out and held it to a piece of wood held against the broken drawer of the nightstand, and he started hitting the hammer against the wood, slightly flinching each time it pounded against the wood and made a loud 'bang'.

As he was working, he didn't seem to hear the click of the door's lock.

 Lukas kept working until the sun had almost disappeared beyond the horizon of fields. He stood up and stretched his arms, earning a very satisfying pop from his back. "All done." He said to himself, dusting off his hands. He looked at the nightstand, and decided to check if the drawers worked properly. He opened every single one, and he was glad to see that all of them opened and shut the way they were supposed to. He shut the rest once again, quite pleased with his work.

 He packed up his toolbox, shutting it, then he walked over to the bedroom door. He was wanting to go check on Mr. Mercer, hoping for him to be finished with Jesse's car now that he'd finished. He tried turning the handle, but it wouldn't budge. How strange. "What the fuck? Why won't this goddamn door open??" Lukas said, and that feeling of anxiety coursed through him once again. He tried the knob again, but all he could really do was rattle it around a few times, and that was about it.. "It's probably cause of how old this house is.." He muttered to himself, trying to think of how in the world the door would just up and lock on him.

 Mr. Mercer wouldn't, would he..?

 ...

 Nah... 

 He sat his toolbox on a nearby table, rummaging through it.. Would anything in there help him open the door? No, maybe not. He looked in his pockets, and he found an old hairpin. Great, as if this could help. He sighed, twisting the pin so it laid straight, then used it as a sort of makeshift lockpick, and after a bit of jiggling, and a few angry grunts from Lukas, he managed to open the door. "Fucking finally. Now I should go check on Mr. Mercer..." He walked out of the bedroom, finding the rest of the house to be eerily dark, and as his hand roamed the wall for a switch, or something to turn the lights on, he noticed that he wasn't able to find any. 

 Feeling a little weary, he continued on, which eventually led him to passing by a table on his way to the stairs, with a certain object on it that immediately caught his eyes. How convenient to him.. A flashlight! 

 He picked it up, and it made him feel a little better about walking through the house's dark hallways, all by himself. He was wondering why he didn't hear that radio Mr. Mercer mentioned earlier. In fact, he didn't hear anything? That was strange. He walked downstairs, following the path he remembered Mr. Mercer leading him down to the front door, and tried the door handle. Locked as well. Lukas was starting to think that maybe all these locked doors wasn't because of how old the house was... Was Mr. Mercer trying to keep him locked inside of the house..? But why would he do that? Lukas looked around, now taking notice of a paper that had been neatly left on a side table, next to a vase of wilted flowers.

 "Your mother and I are leaving for town tonight, and we won't be back until after midnight. 

 Great news, we found a nice young stray and have him locked away in the old bedroom. Take care of it as soon as possible. 

 Don't play with the food."

 "So he did lock me in there on purpose..." Lukas muttered, setting down the note. He was trying his best not to freak out over this. "I should've known not to trust him so easily, god dammit. This is why you don’t trust hillbillies so easily, Lukas..! And 'don't play with the food?' The hell is that weirdo talking about?!" 

 Lukas looked around again. It seems that I am alone now, but I probably don't have much time, that psychopath mentioned that he had a son, so there's possibly a chance that he could have other kids as well.. I need to get the fuck out of here.