Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Boo
N elle let the video continue to record for a handful of extra seconds before ending the recording. The purpose of that? For use later in editing.
She took her phone off the small tripod she bought online using her own money. Bucky told her to make money. What Nelle found out later was that Bucky wanted her to make money without selling a damn thing. Getting creative, Nelle ended up online, on social media, scrolling, snooping, thinking, and learning.
If she told anyone she made money online by making videos, their mind would go to one spot. And, hey, if that hadn’t crossed Nelle’s mind a time or two, she’d be a liar. There were plenty of faceless channels on certain sites that made a lot of money. Nelle wasn’t sure if men or women wanted to gawk at her body. Her hands? Her feet? Her boobs? Between her legs…?
It was easier to record videos about antiques and post them online. She never needed to worry about posting her face. The comments on the videos were rarely weird, other than the occasional person commenting that her voice sounded heavenly.
A few times some random name with lots of numbers would post and offer a million dollars to see her face… and then ejaculate all over it…
The videos that did the best were little figures and clocks. It made no sense to Nelle at all. But there was a following. On a whole bunch of social media sites. She actually grew things to a level of making money. Maybe not as much as actually selling the items, but enough that Bucky thought of Nelle as a computer genius. Which she was not.
Nelle uploaded the video she just made into a video editing app on her phone and watched parts of the video, to ensure the standard quality. Then to make sure her voice sounded good. It was all a process. She would upload the long video. Then she’d make five second and ten second snippets. Just tons of content to post and get views and all that other fun stuff that came with social media posting.
Not exactly a dream job for her though. Truthfully, the antiques scared the hell out of Nelle. She had been nervous from the day she was born. Or so she remembered her father telling her when he reached that blissful state of drunkenness where he was happy and loving, but it only lasted a few minutes before he’d end up too drunk and become mean…
Horror movies drove Nelle crazy. Anything to do with scary stuff…
And here she was, working at an antique store. Full of really old items that all had stories . Not to mention it was messy. There could be a ghost, monster, or demon waiting under a pile of junk! So far the only thing Nelle encountered was the occasional lonely spider.
As she sat on an old chair that had been taped up ten times over, she closed out the video app and placed her phone on the counter. She looked toward the front door. Outside. Brightness. Light. Day.
Thalia… what happened to you?
Was it the bikers…?
Or did ‘they’ find you…?
Which means…
A door slammed behind Nelle, causing her to scream. Not a soft scream. Not a painful scream. It was a horror movie scream.
“Are you okay, Nelle?” Bucky’s deep, wrinkly voice called out.
Nelle touched her now warm cheeks. “Yes. You scared me.”
“It’s the damn door! I keep saying I’m going to fix it.”
“I bet that door’s been making noise for twenty years, easily.”
“Are you making fun of me, Nelle?” Bucky asked, finally appearing, which eased Nelle a little.
A part of her brain wondered if Bucky had been dead for years and his ghost was now talking to her through the antique store…
Too much horror thinking, huh?
Bucky moved slow, hunched slightly, and was in desperate need of a shave.
“Might need your help a little,” Bucky said.
“What’s wrong?” Nelle asked.
Bucky lifted his left hand. He had a damp paper towel wrapped around it. The paper towel stained wet with fresh blood. Nelle jumped up.
No, no, no, she thought. You can’t die, you old bastard. I need this place right now more than ever!
“Bucky!” Nelle cried out.
“Gave myself a nasty cut,” he said. “Bleeding like a son of a bitch.”
“I’ll drive you to the—”
“You know I can’t leave!” Bucky yelled. “Are you dumb?”
Nelle froze. Right.
Bucky was a hermit. Terrified of the world. He loved his antiques and refused to leave them. Ever. That meant Bucky never did things like go to a doctor, or a dentist. He never received routine medical care. If someone couldn’t come to him directly or something couldn’t be delivered, then Bucky didn’t worry about whatever that was.
“Let’s get you fixed up, Bucky,” Nelle said.
“You can help me?”
“Of course I can. Just let me lock the door first, okay?”
“Good thinking,” Bucky said. “Don’t need anyone to steal something!”
Nelle nodded, but truthfully, she didn’t give a damn if someone stole an antique.
She was more worried about someone showing up to kill her.
Turned out Bucky dropped a glass into the sink, reached for the broken glass and cut himself on the fatty part of his flesh, just below his thumb. It bled like crazy but Nelle figured stitches weren’t necessary, even for a guy Bucky’s age. Plus, even if he did need stitches, then what? It wasn’t like he’d leave to get medical attention.
Bucky had a well-stocked medical kit though. And it did include a needle and medical thread for stitching. Nelle went with some butterfly strips. She cleaned up the cut and Bucky’s hand, applied the necessary medication to help prevent infection, then she pinched the skin to close the cut and applied the butterfly strips. After that, she wrapped Bucky’s hand in a bandage.
“Now if we check this later and it’s soaked…”
“You can stitch me, right?” Bucky asked.
Nelle met eyes with him.
“Right?” Bucky asked again.
“If I had to, sure.”
“You know your way around here.”
“I have experience.”
“Yeah? What’s the story, Nelle? You a doctor? A nurse?”
Nelle pulled the rubber gloves off her hands and threw them out. “Just someone who has seen some stuff and knows how to do some stuff.”
“Vague as always,” Bucky said. “A woman of complete mystery. You know that can drive a man crazy with wonder.”
Nelle felt chills hit her body.
Oh, fuck, is Bucky flirting with me right now? she asked herself.
That was the last thing she needed right now.
“Bucky,” Nelle said. “Keep an eye on that hand. Got it?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Bucky said. “Hey, everything okay with the store?”
“It’s perfect, Bucky. Just finished a video of the figure of a little girl with the umbrella.”
“Ah, right,” Bucky’s eyes lit up. “There’s a good story behind that one.”
“I already know it.”
That shut Bucky up. He thought he was the expert of all experts when it came to antiques. Nelle wondered if the old man understood what the internet was and that it contained more information than he could possibly believe.
Leaving Bucky’s house, Nelle went back to the antique shop to work on editing the video. Desperate to keep her mind off her murdered sister… Unable to stop worrying about her other sister.
If it’s ‘them’… what if that means Calista is next?