Chapter 37: The Storage Unit
Cycil
“I’m getting tired of the Old Man” I tell Arthur as he starts driving away from the airport. I can hear Francis cackles behind me on the couch as I decline another call from the Old Man.
“Just answer then” Francis says as he walks to the front, sitting in the middle and resting his head on my seat.
“And lose to the Old Man? No” I tell him declining the Old Man’s call again. Arthur snorts and turn a corner.
“So you’re gonna ghost him for the next six days? Cruel” Arthur says as he glances at me, smirking.
“It’s not cruel, I just feel like he shouldn’t worry about us. I mean we’re not really under his care… legally so he doesn’t have to do it” I tell them. Francis and Arthur looks at each other, giving a knowing look.
“What…?” I ask them warily, unsettled by the look. They’ve never gotten along before and now suddenly their buddy buddy?
“Just tell us you don’t like getting money from someone. I mean getting money from your dad because he wants to is one thing, getting money from the Old Man because of worry is another, right?” Francis asks. I look away from him and out the window. I can hear him yell out and fall back, Arthur punched him, I can just tell.
“Hey come on Cy, which way should I go?” Arthur says, trying to change the subject. I look down at my phone before replying.
“Just go straight ahead for a few minutes, you’ll see it” I tell him not looking away from the window. I can hear Arthur chuckles awkwardly and him hitting Francis again.
“Where are we going…?” I twist around in my chair when I hear Peter’s voice, he looks at us bleary eyed. He yawns before burying his face into the bed again, I roll my eyes.
“To a storage unit we’ll be checking out, it’s the Old Man’s, he said we should put the van inside before we head back. I just want to check it out first, make sure there are enough space for the van” I tell him, not looking at Francis.
Peter hums and fall silent again, asleep probably.
‘These kid would sleep for the rest of their lives if no one wakes them up’ I thought as I twist back into a comfortable sitting position.
“Anyway… we’ll be putting the van into the storage unit so… where will we sleep?” Arthur asks awkwardly, hoping to get a conversation going.
“We’ll still be sleeping in the van somewhere, it’s just that I want to clean up the storage unit, even if there’s enough room for the van. Just a small thank you for helping out” I tell him, Arthur hums and the ride continues in silence.
Francis starts to tap the ground, he taps my seat, the counters and shelves. He is bored. I sigh and turn on the radio.
Nothing happens, no noise comes out, not even static.
“Yeah… we couldn’t fix that. Though I bet if I have… about a month I can fix it” Arthur says thinking a little. I hum as I turn it off again.
“I’m bored” Francis says, tapping the metal bed frame.
“We know” Me and Arthur tells him. Francis huffs.
“Hey did the Old Man stop calling you?” Francis asks. I look down and realise that he did. I frown, that was too quick, the Old Man is planning something.
I look through my massages to see if the Old Man had transferred something, but it come up zero, no text and no notification.
“Now I think the Old Man is planning something” I tell them. Arthur shrug before he slows to a stop. I look out, to a building with a big sign saying self storage.
“And we’re here” I tell them. Arthur shrugs and parks at the side of the road, I wait before exiting.
“Where is he going?” I open the door wider and look back to see Marjorie sitting up.
“I’m going out to see the storage unit Mar. You wanna come with?” I ask her. She nods before standing up and crawling over to the passenger seat. I help her as she slowly
“Don’t make a mess and don’t you even dare leave me here” I tell him seriously. Arthur chuckles nervously before he gives me a thumbs up.
I roll my eyes as Marjorie jumps off the van. She fell asleep wearing the clothes she wore yesterday, skirt covered in dirt and barrette a bit dirty. I chuckle at her appearance.
“Okay Mar let’s go” I tell her I stop laughing, taking her hand as we cross the road. She yawns, leaning against me heavily. I roll my eyes as we enter the front office. I smile as I approach the man tending the front office.
“Hai. I was wondering if there’s a storage unit in the name of Rogers?” I ask him. The man looks at me smiling before he types on his computer. Marjorie leans on me, hugging me tightly before dozing off.
“Can you be more specific? There are 5 Rogers in the list” he tells me. I nod and starts thinking. I don’t know the Old Man’s full name. I remember he told me when I was younger but I completely forgot.
“Mar what’s the Old Man’s full name again?” I ask her. Marjorie hums sleepily before she starts thinking.
“Roger Williams… I think” she tells me. The man nods before he types the name down.
“There it is. Number 17, you have the key right?” the mas asks warily, to be honest I would too if I was in his situation.
“Yeah I do” I tell him, pulling out an old key from my pocket. He nods, relaxing a bit.
“Do you want me to show you where the unit is?” he asks again, ready to stand up. I shake my head and raise my hand.
“Nah I’ll find it on my own. Thanks by the way” I tell him as I start to leave. The man nods as he watches us leave.
“Just doing my job” he tells me. I nod before leaving the office, I walk to the side of the building and starts too search for the storage unit.
There are numbers in each one. I walk to the end and search for number 17. Once I found it I quickly open the metal sliding garage door and look inside.
“Well this won’t do at all” I tell myself as I look around the dusty unit. There are boxes and shelfs scattered everywhere, fishing poles and trophies along with a couch.
“Why did the Old Man need all this?” I thought out loud as I walk in and try to move a few things. I cough and wheeze as dust fly everywhere. Marjorie sneezes from outside, shocking her awake.
“Mar can you get the others? We’ll need to make space before we can get the van in” I tell her. She nods, sneezing again. I laugh as she runs off, sneezing uncontrollably.
‘We would need masks for this’ I thought as I kick a box. I cough and choke at the dust, covering my mouth with my hand.
“Oh I’m gonna die” I tell myself as I walk outside. I cough and wheeze, spitting a few times. I hear a laugh beside me, I glance to see the man from the front desk.
“I think you would need this” he tells me as he gives me a disposable breathing mask. I smile nodding, taking the mask gratefully. I put it on and starts to look inside.
“I’m Terrance by the way. Need some help?” he asks me. I shake my head at him.
“I don’t want to bother you. Beside my friends will be helping me move a few things around. We just want to place our van in here if we can” I tell him. Terrance nods as he looks at the storage unit.
“A van can fit, but you’ll a lot of help in clearing the unit. Let me help you, it’ll be quick and simple. Besides the more the merrier” he tells me as he starts to tie his curly hair into a pony tail.
“Oh but you really don’t need to” I tell him. Terrance brush me off as he wears his own mask and starts to walk in.
“Cycil!!” A voice screams. I stumble back as Peter crashes onto me. Terrance look back, looking at Peter and me. I smile at him before realising he can’t see it through the mask.
“Terrance this is Peter, Peter this is Terrance, he is gonna help clean the unit” I tell him. Peter nods looking at Terrance.
“Okay. Do I get a mask?” Peter asks. Terrance laughs before he pulls out a packet of disposable breathing masks from his pockets.
“Here you go lil’ dude. Be sure to put it on tight” Terrance tells Peter, giving him the pack and turning to me. I nod gratefully before looking out to see if the others are here.
“Oh there they are” I say as I watch Arthur and Francis walk over, Arthur limping a little. I wave at them as the near, along with Marjorie at the back.
“Looks like we’ll get this done by the afternoon now that the whole gang is here” Terrance comments as he nods.
“Yeah, you sure you want to help? I mean we can manage by ourselves and all” I tell him.
“Nah. Don’t worry about it, my shifts about to end and I had my friend cover for me. Let’s start cleaning” he tells me. Arthur walks closer and introduce himself, along with Francis and Marjorie.
The six of us worked together through the day. Moving things away and dusting the unit from top to bottom.
Francis and Peter cringes when we discover a nest of spider, they scramble back when a big one run across the unit. Terrance quickly took it out and places it outside. I laugh along with Marjorie and Arthur.
“Hey Cycil can you help me?” Terrance asks from where he is standing over the couch, I nod and walk over. Together we lift the couch up and place it outside.
Francis calls Terrance, leaving me alone. I look around the storage unit, freezing when I see someone recording us.
‘Don’t jump to conclusions Cycil, they might not be recording and just have the lights of their phone on, or not spying at you at all and is just taking a recording’ I tell myself, trying to calm down.
I wait for a few minutes, looking at the figure from the corner of my eyes. I scan them quickly.
A chubby built, short, white hair, long white beard, chocolate skin. I watch as he stands at the corner with his phone directing at us with the light on.
Arthur walks over coughing. I look at him, with a mix of both panic and seriousness, Arthur looks at me surprise before casually standing beside me.
“What’s up?” he asks as he points into the unit, not really pointing to anything.
“There’s a man that I think is recording us. Either way he looks like trouble” I tell him. Arthur glances at the man, scanning the man up and down.
“Agreed” he tells me. He stops and throws an arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer before whispering. “What should we do?”
I smile happily at him, faking the expression easily.
“We’re not in Waterloo, if we confront him we don’t have anyone to call to for help. I say once we finish we’ll drive away and not come back until tomorrow” I tell him. Arthur nods, still paying close attention to the man.
“Good plan” he tells me. I nod.
“I saw a bat inside; we’ll take it with us to the van” Arthur changes the subject. I laugh at him before pointing to a corner.
“You don’t know what that is? That’s a case for a shotgun, one usually use for hunting” I tell him, pointing to a black case at the corner.
“What the hell? Why does the Old Man have a shotgun?” Arthur asks surprise and suspicious.
“Hunting. Either way it’ll be useful if we need to kill someone.”
“You scare me sometime you know, acting like a crazy person.”
“All the best people are crazy my dear Arthur.”
Arung Buana 