Growing Pains - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by Missy Red and Kaleidopy
Last updated: 01/02/2007 02:01:11 AM

Chapter 8

Standing outside on his balcony, Remy glared out into the darkness. He was engaged in a battle of wills against his sister and Tante, both demanding apologize for his behavior and he, just as determined, not to do it.

"Got ya somethin' to eat." Lapin offered, showing his cousin a chicken drumstick. Remy glanced at the piece of meat and shook his head negatively. "Tante's gonna come up here an' make y' eat."

"She can't if I'm not here." Remy climbed over the balcony railing, sliding down the rope that was tied to the railing to lower himself down to the ground.

"Y' runnin' away?" Lapin yelled down at his cousin.

"Why don't y' yell a lil' louder so dey can hear ya."

"Remy! Remy, you come back here." Lapin watched his cousin disappearing into the woods. He climbed over the railing and followed after Remy. "Oh well, it's borin' around here anyway."

For several minutes, Lapin ran, chasing after his cousin. He stopped, realizing where he was. He touched a tombstone and a cold shiver traveled down his back. Hearing something, Lapin couldn't detect, he turned, trying to find the source. "Remy?"

A twig snapped. Lapin jumped as something scurried across his feet. Mist seemed to be rising from the ground, giving the cemetery an unholy appearance. Fearing something was close, Lapin stammered, "I'm n..n..not scared. Come o..out and s.s.show yourself if ya got de g..g..guts."

"WOOOOLLL!"

"Dere's no such t'ing as ghosts." Lapin said, trying to convince himself. A figure emerged, stooping down from one of the crypts. "Who a..are you?"

"I'm," The voice sing songed in a ghostly tone before jumping down in front of Lapin. "BATMAN!!."

Lapin screamed, almost tripping over his feet. His cousin laughed, making Lapin's horror turn to anger. "I'll get y' for dis Remy, I swear I will."

"Y' sure y' didn' wet your pants." Remy laughed harder.

Lapin shoved his cousin down to the ground. He balled his hands into fists and started swinging.

"What are you boys doing here?" A man came out of the mist, stood over the boys and glared down at them. He wore dark clothing, held a sickle in his hand. "This is a sacred place and you are vandalizing it, now get out of here before I throw you out."

Remy and Lapin exchanged terrified looks, got to their feet and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Neither had an idea which direction they were running.

Believing it was safe, Remy stopped long enough to catch his breath. "Dat man's gotta be Dracula. Did y' see him floating t'rough dat mist?"

Lapin had another concern. "Do y' know where we are?"

Remy looked around, trying to find a landmark but nothing was familiar. He shrugged, "I t'ink mebbe we're lost."

It didn't take Tante long to discover the boys missing. Having reached the last of her self control, she decided enough was enough. Pulling the rope up to the balcony, she was going to make the two escapees use the front door if they wanted to get back inside the house and once they did, Tante would be there waiting.

Hours later, Tante's anger was replaced with worry.

Finding a paved road, the boys were excited. Standing in the middle of the road and looking over the horizon, they could see the city lights of New Orleans. "Told ya, we weren't lost."

"Y' jus' got lucky, dat's all." Lapin started walking towards the city lights. "Mebbe we can find a phone an' call de house."

A car came over the hill, it's lights getting Remy's attention. "Hey, over here!" He waved his hands in the air, trying to get the driver's attention. The car ignored them, continuing down the road. "I didn' wanna ride in your stupid ol' car anyway."

"I know where we are." Lapin suddenly announced.

" Stupid, we're in New Orleans."

"I know dat, y' dummy," Lapin pointed toward a dark road off of the main road. "Dat's de dirt road dat bossy girl, Belladonna lives on,"

"Oh yeah!" Remy grinned and another car came over the hill. He turned and began to signal the vehicle to slow down. Strangely the car sped up, heading straight for them. Remy grabbed his cousin by the arm and both fell into the ditch.

The car slammed on it's brakes and skidded to a halt. Lapin poked his head up, watching as a man opened the car door and stepped out. "Uh Remy, dat's de guy I saw hangin' round de house today."

"Non, he's de one who tried to run over us de other day an' Henri beat him up." Remy whispered as he crawled on his hands and knees. "Lapin, we gotta get outta here b'fore he sees us."

"I know you're out there, you little brats." The man stood in front of the car, the head lights revealing his moves. He pulled out a gun, screwed on a silencer and started laughing. "We can make this easy or we can make this hard." He shouted, "It doesn't matter to me, because the end is still going to be the same."

"I'm tellin' y' it's not de same guy," Lapin whispered harshly. "De other one had an accent, dis man doesn'."

"Uh mebbe your right," Remy admitted. He picked up several rocks "Lapin, we gonna have to make a run for it." He pointed over his shoulder, "De woods will give us some cover. Y' go first, an' I'll distract him."

Lapin waited, counted to five and took off running. The gun fired, sending a bullet flying over his head and impacting into a nearby tree.

Remy threw a rock, knocking out one of the car head lights. The man turned and started firing on him.

Falling to the ground, Remy ran along the side of the ditch, staying out of the man's firing range. He held his breath and ran for the woods before tripping over a hidden tree root. Remy got to his knees, felt someone tugging on his shirt and Lapin whispering in his ear. "It's me. I've got a place to hide."

As time passed, the moon slowly rose over the tree line, giving off a glow to allow the boys to see.

"How are we gonna get out of dis?" Lapin asked, searching the area for the man. It had been almost two hours and they hadn't heard a sound. A bright light from a large house caught his attention. The house was well lit and from where he was sitting a window on the lower floor was open. "Look!"

Remy looked in the direction his cousin was pointing. "Yeah, come on!"

They crawled inside the opened window on the ground floor. Once inside, they closed and locked the window.

"Well, well, well, look what de cat dragged in." Belladonna stood at the top of the stairs, holding a butcher knife. "Who's chasin' y'?"

"We ain' bein' chased." Lapin folded his arms and glared at her. Leave it to his cousin to find the one house in New Orleans Belladonna occupied.

"If y' ain' bein' chased den how come y' outta breath? Y' runnin' from your mama b'cause she gonna give y' a bath or something?" She threw the knife, hitting the target hanging above an antique car.

"What's de matter with y'?" Lapin screamed at her. "Y' tryin' to kill me?"

"If I wanted to kill y', y' wouldn' be standin' over dere wit' your mouth hangin' open." Belladonna walked around the car, pulled out a step ladder. Climbing up the rungs, she pulled out the knife and grinned at Lapin. "Double or nothin'!"

"Dumb girl, y' don' scare me non." Lapin ignored Bella's dare, deciding the antique car needed a closer look. "Whose car is dis?"

"Father's, so don' put any finger prints on de windows." Belladonna said. She turned to Remy. "Y' want somethin' to eat?"

"Oui." Remy followed his hostess up the stairs. Lapin took his time studying the car but hunger won in the end. He ran upstairs to join them.

The three were eating pizza when the door opened. A teen-ager with an angry face, walked inside. "Idiots, dat's all Père knows how to hire!" He glared at the two boys. "Bella, who are dese boys?"

"My guests!" She answered, using the same venom in her voice. Bella "Dat's Julien, my big brother, who thinks he's de greatest t'ing on two feet."

"I got one at home too," Remy admitted. "'cept mine's bossier."

"Père would not approve of dis, Bella."

"Father would let dem stay b'cause it's late." Bella's blue eyes glared daggers at her brother. "Why don' y' go kill somethin' an' leave us alone."

Julien muttered something about a mutie brat being in his house before disappearing upstairs.

Before anyone could say another word, the door again opened. Bella jumped to her feet and ran to give the man a hug. "Father, your home early an' Julien's at it again."

Returning his daughter's hug, he noticed the two boys watching him. "An' who are your friends, Belle?"

Lapin dropped the pizza he was holding. "Mon Dieu!" He tapped his cousin on the arm. "Uh Remy, mebbe it's time we go."

"Non, be rude to leave without meetin' de owner of dis house." Remy walked over to Belladonna, who took his hand.

"Father, dis is Remy." She introduced them. "And dis is my father, Marius Boudreaux."

"Hello, M'sieu Boudreaux," Remy shook the man's hand. "Dat's my cousin over dere. He isn't sociable."

"Dat's not true, just tired dat's all." Lapin got out of a chair, shook the man's hand, praying silently Boudreaux wouldn't discover who they were. "I'm Lapin Benoit an' Remy's my cousin. We don' want to cause y' any inconvenience, so we'll be leavin' now."

"Don' y' think it's too dark for dem to be out dis late, Father?"

"Oui, my daughter's right. I must insist y' stay de night. I'll take y' both home in de mornin'." Marius said. "Finish eatin' an' I'll show y' where y' can spend de night."

For hours, Remy, Belladonna and Marius talked about everything children wanted to discuss. Lapin spoke sparingly, so not to cause suspicion. Later, Marius sent the boys upstairs to a guest room. Once alone, Lapin threw all caution to the wind.

"Remy, don' y' know who dat man is, downstairs?" Lapin grabbed his cousin and shook him. "Marius Boudreaux is de leader of de assassins, and dat makes Belladonna one of dem. I knew dat girl was trouble, stinkin' assassins, we gotta get outta here now."

Remy was too stunned to answer. No wonder Tante was frantic when she found them behind the Boudreaux' house. How was he going to explain spending the night in the Assassins leader's house? Thoughts came quickly and a smile crept across his face. "We're gonna be famous, Lapin. No thief can say dey did what we are doin' tonight." He started looking around the room.

"What are y' doin'?" Lapin asked in disbelief. Only Remy could find something amusing in the face of danger.

"Nobody's gonna b'lieve we were here, right?" Remy explored the room. "So we need proof,"

"Non, y' can't mean y' wanna steal from.." Lapin's hands flew to his face. "Mon Dieu, y' crazy."

"Shush," Remy picked up a small statue and tucked it into his jeans pocket. "Dis will do jus' fine."