Homecoming - 10. Chapter 10

When Anton, Troy and Tina returned to the living room they noticed the boys were gone.

“Well, I guess the party’s over,” said Troy. Tina helped to clean up as Troy and Anton cleared the dishes. Patrick entered the house and walked into the living room relieve to feel the warmth as he rubbed his arms.

“Patrick, we’re in the kitchen sweetie,” said Anton, waving for him to come. Patrick was happy to hear a nicer tone in Anton’s voice as he walked into the spacious kitchen. Anton stopped scraping dishes and walked over to him. “Patrick, I owe you an apology.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do. After what you’ve been through with that mad man I should have never blamed you. My Adam did what was right and in the bargain, he fell in love. I hope there’s no hard feelings between us.”

“No, never,” replied Patrick. They hugged and Anton took his hand and walked him over to the counter.

“Good now since you’re the only one who returned to the scene of the crime you have to help clean up.”

“Anton, he’s our guest,” scolded Troy.

“Oh, I don’t mind,” said Patrick smiling. “What do you want me to do?”

“See Troy, Adam picked a good one. You can start the dishwasher while I get the rest of the dishes for the second wash.”

“Okay,” said Patrick, a bit curious on how he was doing it, but went to his task with full confidence.

Anton walks into Troy’s office, knowing his husband always had dirty dishes hidden in there, and found four cups and a dish with stuck on food. Rolling his eyes, he walked out meeting Adam, who had just come down the stairs.

“Mom, I need to talk to you about Patrick.”

“Stop right there. I’ve already come to my senses, and apologized to Patrick.” Adam took the dishes from his mom.

“You did?”

“Yes, you are your own man and I respect that.”

“Really. Then it’s okay Patrick sleeps in my room?”

“Your room, the barn, or the storage shed. You boys are going to do it with or without my permission.”

“Wow, mom, thanks.”

“Now give me those dishes, and you can help straighten the living room. I have Patrick running the dishwasher with the first load.”

“Wait, Patrick’s in the kitchen?”

“Yes, he’s running the dishwasher.” Adam nearly dropped the dishes he was handing to his mom. He panicked, needing to get to the kitchen when an exploding sound rumbled from it. Adam and his mother froze and looked in the direction of the kitchen.

They hurried there and found the dishwasher door completely unhinged bent and battered, collapsed on the floor in front of the refrigerator which had a huge dent in its door. Troy was trying to turn off the water as Tina used buckets and pans to catch the fountain water that shot from the damaged appliance.

Anton looked at his kitchen and his mouth almost hit the floor.

“What happened?!” he looked to Troy for answers. Troy looked back bewildered.

“I never saw anything like it. One minute Patrick was closing the dishwasher, the next…“ He paused and looked at the disaster. “…this.”

Adam looked at Patrick, who stood baffled by all that happened.

“Is everyone alright?” asked Adam

“Yeah,” said his father. “I guess the dishwasher’s warranty ran out.”

“And blew the door off?” asked Anton.

“I can fix it,” Patrick finally spoke up. “I just need to make a call.” He walked out of the room as he pulled out his cell and speed dial a number. Adam went after him as Anton sat the dishes in his hand down on the counter. Adam caught up to Patrick who was explaining to Merry Maids where he was.

“Patrick, I need to talk to you.” Patrick smiled as he held up his finger to pause Adam. He said thank you to the person on the other end then hung up.

“All done, they’ll be here in the hour.”

“Who? Wait, let me guess, Merry Maids?”

“And new appliances. Your parents won’t mind the upgrade?”

“Patrick, what happened?”

“I don’t honestly know. It’s something about kitchen appliances. My mother banded me from her kitchen. Do you know she renovated it three times and I’ve never seen it?”

“Adam, I got the water off,” called his dad.

“Okay,” Adam called back. “Come on, we should help clean up.”

“Why, the maid service is coming?”

“Because we can do it ourselves.”

“But then the girls will get self-conscious when they get paid for little work.”

“Patrick, this is what I tried to explain to you earlier. You can’t always solve your mistakes with a phone call.”

“Is that how you see me?”

“I don’t mean to hurt you, but—normal people work to solve their problems.”

“You don’t see me as normal?”

“I see you as a beautiful, intelligent man—who depends on his money to save him.”

“That’s not true.”

“Okay then prove it.” Patrick thought about it.

“You mean go in there and actually clean?”

“I do.”

“Ok, fine.” Patrick sighed.

Adam placed his arm around Patrick’s shoulder and walked him back to the kitchen.

When the Merry Maid service arrived, they took over the cleaning, much to Patrick’s thrill. Then an appliance truck pulled up and removed the damaged appliance and replaced them with new ones. Ones that caught Anton’s eye.

The quickness of their service was astonishing. Patrick waved at the familiar faces as they left.

Anton stood in his clean kitchen with Patrick and Tina and stared at the upgrade to his appliances that were destroyed.

Troy stood by Adam and whispered to him.

“Does this happen a lot with him?” asked Troy

“I just found out this morning,” said Adam

“Wow, he’s that rich?”

“Old money.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty rich. Well, at least your mom’s happy with the kitchen. I wasn’t going to replace anything until after the new year.”

“Sorry about Patrick.”

“Sorry for what. He fixed everything, he can afford it.”

“Yeah, but he has no concept of spending, he believes it will always be there.”

“Well, if he’s from old money it probably will be. What about his parents? Do they approve of you dating him?”

“His mom seems cool, but his dad—frankly, he can’t stand me and thinks Patrick can do better.”

“Well, he’ll come around.”

“I doubt it.”

“Do you love him Adam? Because if you don’t, and this is just a distraction from your break up with AJ you should tell Patrick before he gets too invested.”

“I love him. I just don’t get his behavior with money.”

“Then talk to him and explain your side. Don’t keep it bottled up.”

“I tried, but he has this way, in getting what he wants.”

“You mean you let him get what he wants, because you get something in return.”

“I guess.”

“Talk to him.”

Kyle and Justin came in through the back door and saw the changed kitchen.

“What happen?” asked Kyle.

“Never mind that,” said Anton. “Where were you two all this time?”

“I—was showing Justin around the farm.”

“Oh really?” said his mother. Kyle wanted to change the subject from him to something else.

“Also, I was going to ask if I could take Justin up to the ghost town to show him the set up for the LARP?”

“I don’t know, it’s late.” Anton turned to his husband. “Troy, Kyle wants to go to the ghost town to show Justin,”

“It’s fine with me, but no going into the buildings they’re alarmed,”

“We won’t, thanks dad,” said Kyle.

“You have a ghost town?” asked Patrick, to Kyle.

“Yeah, didn’t Adam tell you about the event this weekend?”

“Yeah, but not about a town.”

“You should come, it’s so cool,” said Kyle.

“I thought you said Adam wasn’t into LARP anymore,” asked Justin, hoping it would prevent Patrick from joining them.

“Oh yeah, he’s not,” confessed Kyle.

“Nonsense,” said Anton. “Adam, I want you and your brother to show Justin and Patrick the ghost town.”

“Tonight?” asked Adam.

“Please Adam, I would love to see it,” begged Patrick.

“Yeah, Adam, it’s so cool lit up at night,” said Kyle.

Adam looked at Patrick, who had those pleading eyes that were hard to say no to and caved.

“Okay, fine, but first I need help getting the luggage in.”

“Let’s go little brother.” Kyle headed for the front door as Adam and his dad followed.

Kyle and Adam managed to get all of Patrick’s things into Adam’s room. Justin would bunk with Kyle for the night as Anton, Tina and Troy settled back to watch a movie before bed. The brothers and their companions all loaded into Adam’s Jeep and headed for the town.

The drive was filled with conversation about music and movies, but it shifted to Kyle and Patrick talking about Cosplay and LARP. Justin and Adam only listened.

**************

When they arrived, they drove pass the street lights, that were brass and given the façade of a flame burning. Plank boardwalks stretched on both sides of the street. The dirt covered road wasn’t difficult to walk on. Seven buildings lined both sides of the street. A General store, clothing stores, taverns, potion shops, weapons and armor shop, a blacksmith, and a jail.

Adam parked in the lot where a guard approached them asking for ID. When he saw that they were the owner’s sons, he handed their IDs back and told them their father called ahead to clear them. They walked the rest of the way. Patrick was thrilled to see the town come into view and moved like a kid on Christmas day looking at all the buildings. Kyle walked with him talking about each store. Adam and Justin kept at a distance.

“They’re having a good time,” said Justin.

“Yeah, well, it’s their thing.”

“It was once yours, wasn’t it?”

“A long time ago. But I’m not going to squash Patrick’s dream. If he wants to keep doing it who am I to judge.”

“Why did you stop role playing?”

“I just grew out of it, I guess. Not really sure why.” Adam stared into a window displaying a Ranger’s gear. He remembered it was one of his favorite outfits. Then something nudges at Adam’s memory that he didn’t want to bring up. He turned from the window as if a bee, shot across his face and he was trying to avoid it.

“Adam,” called Patrick, running up alone. Kyle was walking a few feet behind him talking on his cell. Patrick grabbed Adam’s arm closest to his assistant and tugged him to come with him. “Adam, Kyle said there’s a cave where they built a torture chamber. Can we go see it?”

“Well—I’m not sure.” Adam said, trailing off when he heard Kyle’s voice talking to who he figured was their father.

“Yeah, okay. I will, thanks dad.” He lowered his cell and smiled. “Dad said it’s a go, provided we don’t touch anything and we set the alarm when we leave.”

“Great,” said Patrick, to Kyle then turn back to Adam. “Come on Adam.”

“Okay, why not,” said Adam, who looked at Justin. “It could be fun.” He walked away with Patrick towards the caves. Kyle took Justin’s hand and pulled him along to lead the way. They walked a half of a mile out of the town when the cave came into view. Stone markings made a walkway towards the entrance that was a heavy steel door that a friend of Troy’s made. The markings were carved from a design Paul drew.

A false panel along the rock frame was installed to hide the touch keypad that could only be used by the Potter family. Adam had bowed out before the cave was found so he never learned the password. Kyle made Justin and Patrick turn around as he punched in the three-digit code.

The door bolt jumped and echoed around them as the wall popped outward revealing the thickness of the entry. A cool breeze escaped the cave as Kyle pulled the door the rest of the way. Easy, with the help of the hydraulic.

“Follow me,” said Kyle. “There’s a drop in the slope so, move carefully and use the wall or safety lines for support if you need to. When we get to the bottom you can move more freely.”

“Isn’t it dark down there?” asked Patrick.

“The walls have a crystal embedded in them that releases a chemical glow that helps in seeing, but we added man-made lighting in dimmer areas that are hidden and only comes on when people are walking around,” answered Kyle.

“Afraid of the dark?” Justin teased. Adam wrapped his hand around Patrick’s waist and pulled him close.

“Just stay close to me when we get down there,” Adam said, reassuring. Patrick gave Justin a trumpet smirk when Adam looked away.

Kyle took the lead again and Adam took the rear as they descended into the cave. The walk down was scenic from the cave wall’s crystals that hung like ice cycles to the sound of water.

“There’s a stream under here Kyle?” asked Adam.

“There is, and it’s where we’re getting our water supply. It cost dad a pretty penny to drill down here, but it was worth it. We’ll see the stream when we reach the bottom. If you look up to the left you’ll see the residents that dwelled in the cave, the fruit bats that mainly eat bugs and fruit around the area and mostly stay to themselves.”

When they reached the bottom the earthy scent race through them like a fragrant. Kyle walked them down a tunnel that opened to a wider area but with several tunnels.

“Now normally we would have several people down here, on four-hour shifts, taking people through these tunnels. You can get turned around and lost if you don’t know the paths. So tonight, I’m going to lead you all down the one path to the torture chamber.”

They walked down the path on the far left towards the area Kyle helped build. Patrick was eager to see what form of devices they had made. In a few minutes, they came into a room with an iron maiden, a rack, an electric chair, dangling hooks and shackles some covered in blood and even a hand was left behind. The devices looked used and rusty and very real.

“Go on and wander around, but please, don’t touch anything some of the devices do work and has spring reaction.” Patrick wandered alone towards a wooden staircase that went to a platform.

“Can I go up here Kyle?” he asked.

“Yeah, sure. It’s safe.”

Patrick took his time as he climbed to the top of the wooden steps. He looked down on everyone who muddled about. He saw Adam was looking at a shelf of jars filled with mummified animals. Justin was looking at notes pinned to a board that had crude drawings of suffering prisoners. While Kyle placed his palm on Justin’s ass cheek, catching the blonde’s attention.

So long as Justin wasn’t hanging around Adam, Patrick was fine with that. He looked around and saw an open space. A single table had something, big and odd shaping, on it covered with a black cloth. It was in the middle of the floor and facing long ways. The area was moderately lit, making the far end of the table hard to see.

Patrick walked toward it and saw legs standing in a pool of liquid, at the end of the table in the shaded area. He hesitated at first, but then thought it was just a prop dummy. He moved over to it and saw the dummy was very lifelike. An older looking male wearing jeans, a shirt with a down jacket and work boot.

His hair was gray and so was the whiskers. His face looked twisted as if it was in pain. He was impaled by a big battle ax that stuck out of his chest. Patrick started to touch it, but remember he wasn’t supposed to, so he lowered his hand. He looked at the liquid on the floor and figured it was fake blood.

Patrick smelled a strange rotting scent rising from the doll. He started to step away when the hand reached out and grabbed his wrist. Patrick froze in his steps and tried to calm down thinking it was a part of the show, but then the eyes focused on him and the mouth opened and blood spilled out.

Adam saw Justin and Kyle getting cozy up and he wanted to do the same with Patrick. He headed for the stairs and just as his foot stepped on the first step Patrick’s voice shrieked out Adam’s name.