Chapter 4

Jason Miller was a burly divorcee police detective with a wide smile and a talent to make the best meals and desserts, not to mention hot chocolate and other drinks. “Thank you,” Harold shook Jason’s hand, “now my son can finally socialize with someone else.”

“No, I should be thankful,” Jason gave a Cheshire grin, “Sammy hasn’t had a friend come over in months due to Covid!”

“Your dad calls you Sammy?” Alex asked as he listened from the doorway of Sam’s bedroom. Sam did a double facepalm and sighed, “I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve told him not to call me that.” He muttered from behind his hands.

“Well, maybe he’s trying to say that you are a boy.”

“What?”

“The name Sam is… kinda unisex.”

“And Sammy isn’t?”

“Not really…”

“Why are we talking about this?”

“I don’t know.” Alex rubbed his neck, “Do you have anything for entertainment? Like video games?”

“Sure, of course! Follow me.” Sam jumped up and ran down the stairs, with Alex hot on his heels.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Jason called from the kitchen, “No video games until you’ve at least gotten to know each other!”

“But-”

“Why can’t you just listen to me? One thing. One. Thing. Is that too much for you?”

“I- But… Oh, whatever. Follow me Alex.” Alex followed Sam back upstairs again. When they reached the bed Sam pulled off the blankets and reached under the mattress sheets. After reaching around, he pulled out a Nintendo Switch. “Luckily, I’ve got an alternative,” Sam smirked triumphantly. Alex chuckled and accepted the blue joy-con that Sam offered him, “Do you have any games that are like… popular? You know, fun and well known?” Alex asked him.

Sam held a cartridge between two fingers, “Mario Kart Deluxe.”

They played a few races, with Alex continuously losing. “That guy splattered ink all over me! I can’t see!” Alex groaned, “He total- hey, what’s happening?” The screen had gone black, the music cut out and the green joy-con lights started blinking. Sam crawled forward, “It’s dead.” He sighed and stood up. “Have you seen the charger? I can’t go downstairs because dad will get suspicious.”

“Why would he be suspicious?”

“He’s a police detective, that’s just the way he is.”

“Well, then no, I didn’t see the charger anywhere.”

“Damnit,” Sam swore under his breath and slid the device back under the sheets. But before he stood up again, Sam reached under the mattress and retrieved a powerful-looking gaming laptop. “Wow,” Alex breathed, “Is that Razer?”

“Yeah,” Sam smiled proudly, “I got it myself, dad gives me a fifty-dollar weekly allowance, and this thing cost me twenty-three hundred dollars.”

“So if you saved for that long, then that means that it took you…  about a year.”

“Yup,” Sam flipped it open and tapped in the password. He tapped open a video game amongst many, many others, it was an online shooter battle royale. “This time, unfortunately, you can’t play with me, you can only watch,” Sam told Alex.

“Fine by me.” Alex shrugged, he watched Sam shoot other players looting stuff, driving cars, shooting down planes with rockets, and so on. Suddenly, the screen froze. “What the- What happened?” Sam took off his headset. “I thought this cost you twenty-three hundred dollars!”

“I can’t believe- Oh, the Wi-Fi cut out.” Sam said, “Dad must’ve unplugged it.”

“Clever.”

“Oh, he thinks he’s clever-” Sam slid open his closet door, “-until I show you this.” Sam reached into the back of the closet and Alex heard a distinct click!

Alex gaped.

The clothes hanging in the closet were pulled aside to reveal a hidden trap door cut from the wall, a small keypad was attached to the wall next to it. Sam tapped in the code, 3924, “I couldn’t get a fingerprint sensor,” Sam remarked nonchalantly, “too expensive.” God, his tongue is gonna taste like a gym sock from dryness if he doesn’t close his mouth soon. “Y-you made all this by YOURSELF!?” Alex cried, hand going to his mouth.

“You haven’t seen all of it.” Sam smiled knowingly, he pressed enter on the keypad and the panel snicked ajar.

Opening the hidden trap door, Sam presented Alex with a hidden PC and monitor. “Custom built, with a carbon fiber case of my choosing and RGB lighting and neon tubing on the inside.” He bragged, “Took me two years.” Alex was speechless, he silently stared as Sam pulled out the table holding the setup, pulled a beanbag chair, and sat down on it. “This thing has its own Wi-Fi system, and I play on this at times like these.”

“I-you-just… Does your dad know about this?”

“Nope.”

“Is that all?”

“Nope.”

“Show me everything!”

“As you wish.” Sam grinned

He reached behind the monitor and flicked the switch on the ceiling of the small compartment. “Last year, my father dropped one of his guns from the armory but he didn’t notice it, I found it-” a smaller hidden door in the compartment opened, “-and I hid it here.” Sam pulled out a gun. 

An actual gun.

It was gray, sleek, and small enough for him to hold. There was the word Ruger imprinted on the side of it. “Wanna hold it?”

“Well, I…” Alex didn’t even finish his sentence before Sam put the gun in his hands. “Oh!” Sam placed his forefinger over the trigger, “D-does it have any bullets in it?” Alex stammered,

“Yup, full magazine, safety’s off as well.”

“Gah!” Alex threw the gun at Sam.

Sam laughed as he caught it, “Hey!” Alex scowled daggers at him, “Don’t ever do that again.”

Sam was still chuckling, “You sure did.”

“So how did you build all this?”

“Yep, when we first moved here, I found this little compartment that my dad didn’t know about, so I camouflaged it and used the number pad that came with the keyboard as a keypad.”

“And you wired it yourself?”

“Yeah, and I bought my own lock and a little motor that pulls on the string that the cloth hangers are attached to.”

“I’m impressed, Rube Goldberg.”

“Thank you, Arnold Schwarzenegger.”

“Why did you call me that?”

“You called me Rube Goldberg.”

“I called you that because it applied to you, how does Arnold Schwartzenegger apply to me?”

“It’s obvious, you’re strong and fit, and when I first met you, you were still pretty thin.”

Alex froze, he remembered that night, when he saw himself in the mirror. This was even stranger. Oh, wait!

“Sam,” Alex grabbed his arm, “I need to talk to you about something.”

“What?”

“Remember that note I sent you earlier today?”

“Yes…”

Alex sighed, he rubbed his temples, this was real. “Emergency highway flares aren’t allowed on planes, Sam.”

“But-”

“I saw that green light as well.”

Sam stared at him, “You did?”

“Yes.”

“But what about the cave and the-”

“I was there, I screamed because I was hurt, and then you ran towards me and we fell through the ground, isn’t that what happened?”

“Y-yes.” Sam was visibly shaken.

“What went down?”

“I thought I imagined it all.”

“Well…?”

“I woke up in this dark cave and I heard you scream. I ran towards the sound but there was this… rustling noise.”

Alex crawled closer to where Sam sat on the floor, “What happened?”

“I walk towards the noise and then I feel this thing, like specks of dust formed together, and then suddenly I was choking.”

“Tell me more, I need to know.”

“I was grabbing my neck and I lost my balance, so I stumbled and when I saw you, I stopped choking. And you know the rest.”

“Yes… Yes, I know.” Alex nodded slowly.