Glimpses (Ugly Davey) - 4. April Fools

Point of view: Davey

“This is not going to work, Rick,” I whispered to my best friend. “Your mom and dad are going to find us, and then we’ll be in big trouble.”

Rick turned his face towards me, which was a feat in itself since we were currently cramped up in the tiny closet located directly across from the front door of Rick’s house. We were huddled shoulder to shoulder, both of us with our legs pulled flush up against our chests. The closet was hardly big enough for one kid, let alone two twelve year old boys.

“Stop being such a worry wart, Davey. Our plan is foolproof!” Rick replied with a grin.

The light seeping in from the seams of the closet was enough for me to see his big blue eyes peeking from beneath his shaggy light brown hair. They were shining with wicked amusement.

I furrowed my brows, not completely sold on the “foolproofness” of the plan. “But what if they don’t find it funny and get really mad? It’ll just be like grade six spring break all over again, when you made me go along with your stupid fake chicken pox plan. We couldn’t see each other for a whole week,” I ended sadly.

I still remembered how brutal that week had been without Rick. I had thought that I would go out of my mind with boredom.

Even though we lived right next-door to each other and our bedroom windows faced one another, our parents had forbid us from opening them in order to communicate all spring break long. Little did they know that instead of yelling at each other like we usually did, we had just talked to one another by writing out notes on large pieces of paper.

Though whenever our parents had come up to our rooms to check in on us, we had given them our best sad mournful looks in an attempt to guilt them out of our punishments. But our parents had just laughed and joked that we were like two star-crossed lovers from those silly romance novels that were always forbidden to reunite. They hadn’t even realized that that would make them the evil parents that everyone hated in those stories. Parents sure could be so stupid at times.

But now we sat uncomfortably in the closet on April Fools’ Day morning as we awaited the first signs that would tell us that our plan was underway. The prank was one of Rick’s most ambitious ones yet. It had taken quite some time to set up and though I was still more than a tad bit hesitant to go along with it, he had assured me that this prank would ensure more hilarity than anything he had ever planned before.

According to Rick, the first step had been to get my parents to agree to let me sleepover at his house the night before. That had been easy enough since April Fools’ Day this year had landed on a Saturday, and my parents usually didn’t have any problems with me sleeping over at Rick’s if it wasn’t a school night.

Phase one had been completed.

After getting the go ahead from my parents, the second step had been to sneak into Rick’s dad’s office and use his computer. This was the most important part of the plan since without it, we couldn’t go forth with the prank. The goal was to use the computer to type out an anonymous letter addressed to Rick’s parents. The letter was the crutch of the plan and would inform Rick’s parents of our supposed kidnapping done sometime during the night and how we were being held for ransom. Of course we would never had actually been kidnapped, but would have been hiding in the closet downstairs when his parents discovered the letter.

I had watched as Rick opened up the program and had started typing in his usual two finger style.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jones...

“You can’t say that, how would the kidnapper even know your parents’ last name?”

“Davey it’s a proven fact that most kidnappings are always done by someone who is known by the family, so obviously he will know our last name.”

“Oh, OK then.”

I have kidnapped both of your sons...

“I’m not their son! Why are you writing that?”

“Davey! The kidnapper won’t know that! He’ll just see two boys staying in the same room and assume that they’re brothers. Duh!”

“But you said that the kidnapper would know your family since he knows your last name, so obviously he should know that you’re an only child!”

“Oh yeah, you’re right. My bad, let me delete it.”

I have kidnapped both of your sons your son and your neighbor’s child. If you ever want to see your precious baby and...

“Hah! There’s nothing precious about you.”

“Hey, I’m all precious, baby! Everyone knows that!”

...his annoying stupid friend, then...

“Hey!”

“Haha, it was worth a try.”

...his annoying stupid friend, then do as I say or you will never see them alive again. If you even think of contacting the police or not following the instructions, you will forever live with the burden of having caused the death of two innocent children.

“Wow, that’s harsh.”

“It’s the only way to be, Davey, the only way.”

In order to get both of them back safe and sound, I want you to leave a hundred dollar bill in your mailbox.

“Who kidnaps people for only a hundred dollars?”

“Davey, my parents aren’t rich. They can’t afford a million dollar ransom, and if we plan on getting any money for those inline skates we want, then we have to aim for something that’s doable.”

“Hmm, OK.”

After placing the appropriate sum of money in the mailbox, please leave the premises so that I can retrieve the ransom and drop off the children without being seen. It is very important that I am not seen by anyone and I hope that you will comply with my wishes.

Thank you,

Your Friendly Neighborhood Kidnapper

“Friendly my ass,” I had smirked.

“Hey at least he doesn’t sound like some creep,” Rick replied as he printed off the letter.

Phase two had been completed.

The third and final step had been to ensure that we woke up before Rick’s parents did. Then we had left the letter on the bed and opened the window to make it look as though the kidnapper had entered from there, before quietly sneaking downstairs to hide in the last closet anyone would look in.

Phase three had been completed.

And thus was how we had ended up where we were now. Cramped and sweating from having been sitting in the tiny space for far too long. It felt like we had been trapped in here for hours and we still hadn’t gotten any sign of our letter being found or the shrill scream we were expecting to hear when Rick’s mom discovered that her “precious baby” had been kidnapped.

It wasn’t that Rick’s parents weren’t awake. We had heard them moving around the house, like Mrs. Jones cooking breakfast in the kitchen. In fact the smell of bacon had been wafting into the closet, and our stomachs had been grumbling loud enough that if anyone walked past the closet, they would surely hear them.

“What’s going on?” I asked Rick. “Why haven’t they started to panic? Your mom always goes to your room to wake us up before she starts making breakfast. Why hasn’t she realized that we’re missing yet?”

“Just hold up and wait, Davey. I’m sure they’ll find it in a bit. Then the show will be on the road. So just sit tight, and let’s give it a few more minutes.”

I reluctantly complied and leaned my head back against the wall. Closing my eyes, I settled into a doze, not even realizing when I fell asleep.

I had no clue how much time had passed when a whispered set of voices outside of the closet woke me up. Rick currently had his head resting on my shoulder as he snored softly. I shrugged my shoulder in an attempt to wake him up.

“Huh? What? Hey!” he blinked owlishly, trying to get back to wakefulness.

“Shh!” I said, holding a finger to my lips and then pointing at the closed closet door.

We strained our ears as we tried to hear what was being said on the other side.

A loud thump came from the other side, followed by a muffled voice whispering to another.

“Do you have them all tied down?” the gruff voice asked.

“Yeah, Boss,” came the other deep voice. “I’ve got them gagged and blindfolded too. They won’t be making any noise.”

“Good,” said the first voice. “Kidnapping is hard work, but we’ll surely get a large sum of money for these two.”

There was another thumping sound that made both me and Rick jump in surprise. We looked at one another, and I saw the horrified look on Rick’s face that was surely mirrored on my own.

“What’s going on?” Rick asked in an uncharacteristically timid and terrified voice.

“I think someone is kidnapping your parents,” I whispered back, swallowing past the lump in my throat.

“Come on,” the voice on the other side said, “we have to get a move on before the kids show up and see us. You know we can’t have any witnesses.”

“Yeah Boss. We’ll drag the bodies one at a time. Let’s start with the lady, she’s been squirming too much.”

“Mom!” Rick whispered, horrified as tears began to roll down his cheeks.

“You’re right, good thing we whacked the man on the head and that he’s unconscious now. Woulda’ been a pain in the ass to transport him otherwise.”

“Oh no, oh no, oh no!” I kept whispering over and over again. This was all wrong. No one was actually supposed to get kidnapped. It was supposed to be a joke, a harmless pathetic joke.

Rick was crying now, tears and snot smeared his face. “T-this wasn’t supposed to h-happen,” he hiccupped.

I put an arm around his shoulders and squeezed him tight. I could feel my own tears escaping my eyes. “I know, Rick, I know.” The fact that kidnappers had shown up the very day we planned our own fake kidnapping sounded preposterous, but the evidence was playing out right on the other side of the closet door. It was hard not to believe what was happening.

Suddenly the door was thrust open wide and we both screamed at the top of our lungs. The bright light forced us to squeeze our eyes shut. Then we felt the kidnappers’ hands on our shoulders, pulling us out of the closet, and both of us started screaming non-stop, wiggling violently to escape their hold.

Each of us were crushed to hard solid chests in a hug, as the voices in our ears tried to calm us down.

“Shh, there, there, Rick it’s just me. Calm down, nothing’s wrong,” I heard the man hugging Rick tell him.

“Davey, buddy. We’re sorry. But it’s just us. Open your eyes and see for yourself.”

I opened my eyes, blinking a few times to bring them into focus, and realized that I was looking at a pair of eyes identical to my own.

“Dad?” I whispered, my voice shaking.

“Yeah son, it’s me,” he said hugging me as I collapsed in relief against his body. “We’re sorry son, but we were only trying to get you guys back for your failed April Fools’ Day prank.”

I looked towards Rick who had also sagged in his dad’s arms.

“Your mom found the letter,” Rick’s dad explained to him. “We didn’t fall for it one bit, though the ‘Friendly Neighborhood Kidnapper’ bit was a nice idea,” he chuckled.

I frowned, I knew that had been a stupid idea.

Rick’s dad continued his explanation, “Your mom and I decided to do nothing about it, and just wait it out until you both finally got tired or too hungry to remain hidden.”

That explains the smell of the bacon. They probably tried to lure us out, I realized.

“But once I called Paul to tell him what had happened,” he said nodding towards my dad, “we decided to get you boys back at your own game.” He rubbed Rick’s shoulders soothingly. “We’re sorry, we didn’t plan to upset you guys so much.”

Rick snuffled and bore further into his dad’s arms.

“C’mon now, you two should get some food in you. Your mom is waiting with your breakfast.” With one final squeeze, Rick’s dad let go of him and went into the kitchen and my dad followed shortly after. Rick and I were left staring at one another in the hallway, still slightly shaken from what had just took place.

“I guess our plan failed, huh?” I finally asked Rick.

Rick nodded his head sadly before he perked up again, a slight smile on his lips. “I guess we’ll just have to be better next time, huh?”

My eyes opened wide at that. “Does there have to be a next time?” I asked, hoping the answer would be no.

“Of course, Davey. There will always be a next time. We need to have the last laugh after all.”

I gulped and finally conceded because I knew there was no going against Rick’s plans. “OK, but can you make sure that we won’t get caught the next time you plan something, please.”

Rick unleashed his usual wicked grin, “Sure thing bud, no problem.”

If you guys want to request a "glimpse" for a particular character and/or at a certain time in their lives, leave a comment about it in this discussion thread or PM me. I'll see what I can do.