10. King

10

King

W hen the Mayor calls, you better pick up. They don’t have the patience to wait for you to pick up the damn phone and the consequence of not taking their call could mean your life.

Even though I didn’t want to answer, I dragged myself out of bed to answer the phone. A body was on its way and I needed to dispose of the body in three weeks. It was three-thirty in the morning and I just agreed to it, I didn’t have a choice.

For a minute, I thought about waking up Boogie to dispose of the body while I stayed in and slept with her. He spooned her, with his mask half off his face, but they looked good together. I wanted her, I wanted us.

I grumbled, thinking that was a dick move, and began getting dressed to deal with it myself. The park was efficient enough to close itself, but one walk-through would make sure everything was taken care of.

The night was cool enough to need a sweater, but my body ran hot when I remembered the sex we had with our doll. It wasn’t like any experience we had ever had and just from last night I wasn’t about to let her go.

I walked the grounds to make sure the crew had done everything right. Our town was safe, but a few kids always lingered or tried to break in to see if the place was really haunted.

Mars walked towards me, pulling what looked to be a wagon. I cocked my head wondering what the hell he was doing, when I saw an arm hanging out.

“They dropped him off in this and I have to say it’s fucking convenient,” he said stopping in front of me.

I laughed. “It seems we might have to look into getting a few.”

“It beats trying to carry a heavy ass man and then smelling like a corpse afterwards.” He grimaced.

“You're not wrong,” I said, holding out my hand so he could pass the wagon over.

“I got it boss,” he said, and we walked our way to the big freezer we had.

The pig farm was great for bodies that needed to be disposed of right away, but we also liked to freeze a couple of them to screw with the time of death, and in three weeks, like the Mayor said, I was to leave the body in a specific area so the police could find him.

Apparently, it was a message of some sorts, but if they couldn’t figure out when the time of death was, along with other things, it would be very hard to solve a case.

If it were up to me everyone would get eaten, but I wasn’t in charge and I did what I was told even if I disagreed with them. Life stayed simple when I followed the rules, and I didn’t need any complexity in my life. I was mostly left to my own devices as long as I did the killing and trust me that was no hardship. I had a roof over my head, I had money, I had Boogie and maybe our Doll.

Mars and I talked about how Halloween night went and the problems we faced. He suggested a few things and I took mental notes of everything, wanting to run them by Boogie. There was silence as we threw the body in the freezer and locked it up.

He folded up the wagon, inspecting it as he did. “I think we could get better wagons, I’ll check it out tomorrow.”

“You do that,” I said, locking up the building.

“Boss,” he said, as I turned around.

He looked like he had something to say and if I had to take a guess, I knew it was going to be about the girl.

“I’m going to stop you right there,” I said, putting my hands in my pocket. “It’s not up for discussion.”

“Ok, I was going to say, be careful, we don’t know who she is,” he said wincing. “As a friend, I’m saying this as a friend.”

I studied Mars. He was my oldest friend even if I would use the term loosely, but I took it as friendly instead of getting mad that he was sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.

“Ok, I’ll take it from a place of friendship,” I grumbled.

“OK,” he smirked. “I got the system up and running and if you need me, call me.”

He walked away as I thought about his words. Maybe I would get him to do a background check on her, maybe run her fingerprints through the database.

Was I really thinking about keeping her? Boogie and I hadn’t discussed that, but we had let her sleep in our bed, and only we slept in our bed. Morning was coming soon and when she woke up, she would be handcuffed to our bed. From her attitude last night, I could guarantee she would be pissed.

Addie said she loved funnel cake, maybe buttering her up before telling her she couldn’t leave would be enough. It had been years since I worked the concessions, but I was pretty sure it was like muscle memory. Boogie liked sweets in the morning, and I knew he also liked funnel cake too.

What the fuck was I getting myself into?

It was not like fucking muscle memory. I burnt myself, made goop that didn’t fry well and in the end, I regretted having started this fucking funnel cake when Momma Dae walked in.

“Child, what the fuck are you doing?”

She walked in, slapping me away like a child. I growled when she pushed me away, but she was the only one who I would tolerate treating me like this. She was the resident mother of the town and wasn’t afraid of anyone, even Boogie.

“Why are you up so early?” I glared at her.

“What were you doing with this piece of shit batter? Did I teach you nothing?” She dropped the batter in the trash.

“It has been a long time since I have done this,” I snapped.

“Don’t you take that tone with me boy, now do you want help or not?” She put her hands on her hips.

“Please,” I grumbled.

“You and Boogie can be sweet when you want to be.” She patted my cheek.

“I don’t think we want to be called sweet,” I said, snapping my teeth as she pulled her hand away.

“Of course not, you’re terrifying and make people shake in their boots,” she smirked.

“Quiet, you old woman,” I growled, but she dismissed me.

I spent the next twenty minutes shadowing her as she made me two funnel cakes that I played off as one for me.

“Thanks, Mamma Dae,” I said, kissing her cheek. “I don’t know why you are up, but you need to go rest.”

“Darla is calling from Japan,” she said.

“Ok, leave early if you have to, you know today will be a light day,” I said, grabbing my plates to leave.

“I will and say hello to the lady in your bed.” She grinned at me.

I rolled my eyes, hating that she was too perceptive.

“Bye, old woman,” I said, leaving the stand.

The sky was lightening, and dawn was almost here. I was exhausted, maybe I could get a few more hours of sleep after I gave them their funnel cake. The trailer was still dark as I opened the door, putting the funnel cakes on our counter. I took off my jacket, slipped off my boots and walked into the bedroom.

I expected to see them sleeping, but when it was just Boogie sitting against the wall looking at his phone, I looked back to the restroom wondering if she was in there.

“Where the fuck is she, Boogie?” I snarled.

“She left,” he replied, not looking up from his phone.

“What the fuck!” I yelled. “Why the fuck would you let her leave without fucking asking me?”

“She said she needed to leave, and pleaded her case very well,” he said, still looking at his phone.

“I thought we handcuffed her for a fucking reason,” I snapped.

“Would you chill?” He finally looked up at me. “I put a tracking device on her.”

That did make me chill, but I was still furious that he had let her go to begin with.

“It would have been nice if?—”

“She was really freaked out saying she had people relying on her,” he interrupted. “I got a feeling she was in a bad situation and maybe helping her out might make her want to stay.”

“After last night are we doubting she didn’t want to stay?” I sat on the bed.

“Like I said, something wasn’t right,” he said, showing me a map with a blue dot on it.

She was going north, she looked to be about an hour away.

“What if she gets on a plane?” I asked, knowing he hadn’t thought of that.

“I don’t think she has money for a plane ticket,” he said confidently. “She didn’t have a wallet, only seventy dollars, no ID and no bank card. Her ribs were prominent, I have a feeling that the real issue is she shouldn’t have been here last night.”

“You think she is close?” I felt a bit hopeful, but I knew anything could happen.

“I fucking hope so because I hate getting on a damn plane,” Boogie grumbled.

We watched her travel until my eyes grew heavy. Just as I was falling asleep Boogie shook me awake.

“King, we have a problem,” he growled.

I rubbed my eyes. “What?”

“You’ll never believe where she ended up.” he snarled.

“I don’t know,” I said, looking up at him, seeing him pacing the small room.

His anger was palpable. “Where?” I asked

“Christmas Town.”