Jackie Sunday, 10:00pm

“Woo!” Steve jumped off one of the check out counters. He grabbed the PA mic. “Attention, douche bags, we are CLOSED!” Aiden laughed and tackled him. Scottie, Luci, and me were sittin on one of the lumber carts talking. Cole grabbed Steve by the neck as Aiden grabbed the mic.

“All women need to remove their clothes for fire safety purposes. Please come to the front desk for further instructions.” Scottie looked up and glared at him. He put the mic up nervously. “Uh… sorry, babe.” She rolled her eyes and turned back to us.

[Scottie] “But yeah, anyway, I’ve just been thinking about it a lot lately.”

[Jackie] “Aww, you should.” Luci smacked my arm.

[Luci] “No she shouldn’t! She’s 16!” Scottie shook her head.

[Scottie] “I’m not gonna. I’ve just been thinking about it.” There was a screech as the PA came back on. It was Cole.

“And the race is on!” Aiden and Steve were racing Tony Stewart carts. Steve yelled as his collided with a lawnmower on display. Aiden stood up in the basket of his cart. “The winner is--!” Aiden yelped. His cart had hit a wall while he was doing his little victory dance and he fell out of it. Scottie stood up.

[Scottie] “Damn it…” She walked over to him. I stayed with Luci.

[Jackie] “Can you see them having one?” She shook her head.

[Luci] “Honestly, I don’t think Aiden needs to breed.”

[Jackie] “They’d be cute with a baby.” Luci cut her eyes at me.

[Luci] “She’s 16... that’s just stupid.” I shrugged.

[Jackie] “I think it’d be cool.” Luci smacked me.

[Luci] “Just stop talking.” Steve stumbled over to us.

[Steve] “How come when Aiden gets hurt, Scottie goes to him, but when I get hurt, you act like you don’t care?”

[Jackie] “Cause I don’t.” He shrugged.

[Steve] “Meh, fair enough.” He flopped down on the cart next to me. It moved a little. Cole came up behind Luci and put his arms around her.

[Cole] “I love you.” He kissed behind her ear. She smiled and leaned back against him.

[Luci] “I love you, too.” There was beating on the door.

[Guy] “Le’mme in!” Steve ran to the door.

[Steve] “Lazz!” We all looked up. Scottie gave me a questioning look.

[Scottie] “Lazzarus Maxius?” Lazz had always been the glue of the guys in the group. He was the one that kept Cole and Aiden from killing each other and the one that had made Steve part of the group before we had started dating. Lazzarus was like a brother to all of us. He had moved off about a year and a half ago to go to boot camp, and hadn’t had contact with any of us. Steve opened the door and Lazz tackled him.

[Lazz] “Stevie!” He put him in a headlock. “I missed you, little dude!” Steve wriggled out of his grip and kneed him in the ass.

[Steve] “Lazz! Are you finished with boot camp already?” He nodded.

[Lazz] “One and a half years of sweat, blood… and a stinky drill sergeant who likes to spit when he talks… YEAH! I’m done!” He ro-sham-boed Steve and ran over to us, sliding across the floors in his slick new Nikes. Steve dropped to his knees. I shook my head and kissed Lazz’s cheek.
[Jackie] “Play nice.” He started spinning the lumber cart as I walked over to Steve. He was still on the floor. “Baby?” He groaned. “You okay?” He nodded slightly. I helped him to his feet.

[Scottie] “Lazz!” I hugged him. He kissed my cheek.

[Lazz] “Hey, loverly. Miss me?”

[Scottie] “Are you talking? Of course I missed you!” He turned and put his arm around Aiden.

[Lazz] “How about you, gorgeous? Miss me?” Aiden laughed.

[Aiden] “O’course.” I smiled.

[Scottie] “If I didn’t know better, I’d think I had to worry about you two.” Lazz looked at Aiden and flicked his nipple.

[Lazz] “Can’t help it, babe. He’s just so studly!” Aiden laughed and shoved him.

[Aiden] “Get the fuck off me, sicko.” Lazz winked at him.

[Lazz] “Oh, you so want me.” Aiden got behind me.

[Aiden] “Babe…” His voice was high pitched and whiney. “Make him quit…” I leaned back against Aiden.

[Scottie] “Aww, Lazzy, quit it. He IS mine, after all.” Lazz shrugged.

[Lazz] “I’ve always got Cole.” Cole winked at him.

[Cole] “Fuck yes, man.” There was a pause, then they grabbed each other and started faking (note the word FAKING) out. Luci smacked Cole’s ass.

[Luci] “Woo! Go babe!” She laughed. The lights suddenly went out. Me, Jackie, and Luci screamed in surprise. The warehouse was pitch black. I grabbed the nearest hand. They squeezed mine back. When my eyes finally focused, I saw that Luci was the one standing next to me. Poor Jax was by the door all by herself. I pulled Luci over to her. Neither of their eyes had adjusted yet. The guys were all gone. “Who is this?” Luci squeezed my hand.

[Scottie] “Just me.” I took Jackie’s hand. “This is me too, Jax.” She let out a huge whimpering sigh.

[Jackie] “Oh, thank God…” She latched onto me.

[Scottie] “Where are the guys?” Neither one answered me. Jackie’s grip on me loosened as her eyes focused. I sighed. “They’re probably just trying to scare us…” I was expecting someone to grab me or something… but I knew I’d still piss my pants if someone did. Jackie screamed. Me and Luc jumped. “What?!”

[Jackie] “Something just brushed up against my right leg!” She paused. “Okay… false alarm… it was just my left leg.” I let go of both of them an looked around. The warehouse had an eerie silence to it that was giving all of us goosebumps. I heard Luci and Jackie latch onto each other. There was a hiss, then a loud pop. The girls screamed. I focused my eyes on the flash. It had come from bathwares. I started running (not my best idea, I know). I slid into bathwares. There was a lighter on the floor with “LM” on it in glow-in-the-dark letters. I laughed to myself.

[Scottie] “Only Lazz…” I put the lighters in my pocket and started looking for a hint as to where to go next. I heard Lazz laugh from Doors & Windows. I ran over to it, but found nothing. I slowly walked through the Carpet & Flooring aisles. There was a loud crack behind me that made me jump, but it was just a piece of tile falling. My heart rate sped up quick. I stopped and rubbed my eyes. They were sore from the sharp darkness. I screamed as something collided with me, knocking me on my back. They screamed too. “Luci?!”

[Luci] “Scottie?!” I hugged her.

[Scottie] “Where’s Jack?”

[Luci] “I don’t know! We got separated!” I sighed.

[Scottie] “Crap…” She helped me up. “So now we’ve lost the guys, AND Jackie?” She nodded, grabbing and gripping my hand.

[Luci] “If you leave me by myself again, I swear I’m gonna kick your ass!” She dug her nails into my wrist. A roll of carpeting fell. She screamed. A shadow jumped out from behind all the carpets. Me and Luci both screamed. The shadow screamed too.

[Scottie] “Jackie?!” The shadow ran to us.

[Jackie] “Oh my God! Guys!” She clung to Luci.

[Scottie] “Geez… C’mon.” I walked toward Lighting. Of all places, that was the aisle that I knew where the light switches are. I jumped to reach for the fan cord. It clicked on some lights and the fan. The three of us winced from the sudden brightness.

[Steve] “W-oah-oah-oah-oah-oah-oah!” I looked up. Steve was wrapped around the spinning fan blades. My jaw dropped.

[Jackie] “Steve?!” Jackie was staring up at him. “What the hell are you doing?!”

[Steve] “Ge-e-e-e-et me d-d-ow-ow-ow-own!” Luci fell to her knees laughing. I was crackin’ up too. Jack started trying to help him. I pulled Luci away from the only lit area.

[Luci] “Where are the other three?” I shrugged.

[Scottie] “Who knows?” She got closer to me as the aisles got darker. There was another hiss. I crouched, pulling Luci with me.

[Lazz] “SHIT SHIT SHIT!” There was a loud pop and a yelp from the nearest porcelain bathtub. Me and Luc ran over to it. It had been Lazz’s voice. When we got to him, he slumped down. His eyebrows were singed off. He smiled at us with his big cheesy grin. “Hey, girls.” I stuck out my hand and helped him out of the tub.

[For those of you who didn’t get that part, Lazz was gonna shoot us with a bottle rocket, but it didn’t take off, so it blew up in his face, singing his eyebrows]

[Scottie] “Brilliance…” He shrugged.

[Lazz] “I let it go. It just didn’t take off.” We pulled him along with us as we walked along the back wall. Luci stopped me.

[Luci] “What’s that?” I stopped. I could just barely hear a guy yelling. Luci ran ahead of us to the bathrooms. Me and Lazz ran to keep up with her. She stood in the little hall with the bathrooms. The yelling was coming from the men’s room. Without hesitation, she shoved the door open and ran in. There was a banging on one of the stalls. “What the hell?” The banging stopped.

[Cole] “Luci?!” She gripped the top of the stall door.

[Luci] “Cole?! What are you doing?!”

[Cole] “The door’s stuck! And I can’t get my foot outta the toilet!” She kinda stood there for a second.

[Luci] “Why is your foot in the toilet?” He sighed.

[Cole] “I was trying to climb over…” She shook her head.

[Luci] “Lazz, help me?” He stepped toward her. I turned around and left the bathroom. I walked, now alone, through the dark building. Through Bathwares and through Flooring, all the way back to Doors & Windows. I heard one of the display doors creak. I jumped and gasped as a warm hand grabbed my ass. I turned around, hearing the footsteps run away, just to see Aiden face plant into a pole. I gasped and ran over to him, just as he was hitting the floor.

[Scottie] “Baby?!” I dropped to my knees beside him. His eyes rolled back in his head…