Juice Box Chuck

Prompts: This may take some time to solve.   AND   He always had a juice box.

The rain trickled down the back of Chuck's neck and down into his shirt despite the fact that he had a coat on. As rain dripped off the end of his nose, he looked down at the body at his feet. How was he going to get rid of this body and not get caught? “This may take some time to solve.” He says out loud to himself.

“Too bad you don't have time, Chuck. Better get to figuring it out.” Chuck says but in a much different voice. Chuck's normal voice was soft and calming. This voice was the complete opposite. This voice was evil and scared Chuck every time he heard it.

Chuck knew he was also the scary person but separated them as if they were two different people. In a sense, they were. Chuck would never hurt anyone, but Stephen, he would hurt anyone he wanted.

“You help figure it out. You did this.” Chuck says to Stephen.

“I didn't do this. I simply whispered in your ear and YOU did it. Don't go blaming me there, friend.”

“You are not my friend. You make me do bad things. Help me figure this out. I can't do it myself.” Chuck pleaded with tears starting to fall down his cheeks with the rain. “Plus it is getting cold out here with all this rain. I don't want to get sick.”

“Well,” Stephen replied, “I don't want us to get sick either. Let me think for a minute.”

Chuck waits for Stephen to think. He looks around at the woods around him. He had no idea where he was or how he got there. The fog settled over the ground around his feet and the body of the young girl. What did he do to her? He didn't remember ever seeing her before. Chuck can't tell about how old she is. He isn't any good at stuff like that but she looks older than a kid but not yet a grown up. She was naked. What did he do?

“Oh stop your damn whining about this and shut up. I am trying to think here.” Stephen scolded. “Isn't there a pig farm around here?”

“Yep, just down the road. Can't you smell it? Stinks to high heaven it does. Why you asking about pigs anyway? Chuck asks.

“Well, I read that pigs can consume a human body in about eight minutes. So we take the body there dump it in the trough for the pigs and let them take care of her by eating her up so there is nothing left of her. Perfect way to get rid of her. If this works I will have to make a note of how well it works.”

“You want to feed her to the piggys?” Chuck questioned looking down at the girl.

“You have a better idea, Einstein?”

Chuck looks at his feet. “No. You know I don't have any ideas.”

“Then let's get this girl to the pig farm. Thankfully she is small and not very heavy. Pick her up and put her over your shoulder and let's go. Stay in the woods so no one sees us.”

“Ain't no one going to see us out here. Everyone's in bed sleeping like I should be. Momma better not check on me and see me gone.”

“Momma won't be checking on you til morning, skippy. I made sure of that. Now get moving.”

Chuck bends over and lifts the girl up and over his left shoulder. Stephen was right. She didn't weigh very much. That made carrying her much easier he supposed. He adjusted the girl to a comfortable spot and stood waiting.

“Move it, Chuck. We don't have all night. You know where we are going so go.” Stephen orders.

Chuck looks around trying to figure out which direction he needs to go in. The rain and fog isn't helping he get his bearings.

Chuck looks around trying to figure out which direction he needs to go in. The rain and fog aren't helping him get his bearings.

"What if the pigs don't eat her body all up and someone finds her tomorrow?" Chuck asks Stephen.

"Tomorrow will worry about itself. Now let's get going before we lose our cover of the night. You think too much and know too little. That's a bad combination. Did you figure out which direction to go in?"

"I think so." Chuck starts walking in the direction he thinks the pig farm is. The mud thick and sloppy making his steps harder than they should be. He stops and adjusts the dead girl on his shoulder once more making sure she won't fall off.

"Will you quit stalling. Let's go." Stephen bellows inside of Chuck's head.

"Stop yelling at me. I'm not stalling. Why are you always yelling at me?"

"Because you are a big dumb lummox that can't even think for himself. I have to do all the damn thinking around here. Get your big dumb ass moving."

Chuck hangs his head and starts walking once again. The smell of pig shit leading the way through the night despite all the rain. He'd given up on wiping the rain away from his face. It was coming down so steady that it was right back before he finished wiping it off.

Chuck walked for what felt like miles in the dark muddy woods until he came to a wooden fence. "Please let this be the pig farm." He thinks.

"It better be the pig farm. Now follow the fence to the right. That's the direction of the road so to get to the pigs that should be the way to go."

Chuck sighs, adjusts the girl to the other shoulder and starts walking.

"Not that way you knothead. The other way. To the right." Stephen yells, the sound echoing inside Chuck's head.

Chuck reaches into the pocket of his bib overalls and pulls out a juice box. He always has a juice box. When he gets nervous and anxious he drinks a juice box so he always carries at least one in his pocket. Tonight he was wishing he'd brought a second or maybe a third. He pulls the straw off the back of the box, pulls it from the plastic and jams it into the juice box, carefully making sure not to drop the girl that's on his shoulder. He takes a sip. Grape. His favorite. Momma always gets him his favorite.

“What the hell are you doing now? Put that down. No wait. Just finish it and stick it back in your pocket. We don't need any of your trash laying around to be found with your spit all over it. That would get us caught.” Stephen snaps at Chuck.

“You know these calm me down. Stop yelling at me or I'm going home.” Chuck sucks on his juice box and starts crying.

“Oh now calm down. I'm sorry ok. Now stop your blubbering.” Stephen tries to smooth things over but Chuck starts crying louder. “No, now don't start making a lot of noise. You'll get us caught. Then we will both be in trouble. I promise not to yell at you any more.”

Chuck sniffles. “You mean it? No more yelling? Ever?”

“Let's not push it. I mean no more yelling tonight. Tomorrow is a different day and you are fair game then.”

“That's not fair. I don't like you yelling at me.”

“Okay. I promise to try to stop yelling at you all the time. Is that better?” Stephen asks, willing to try just about anything at this point.

“Yes that's better. Thank you, Stephen.” Chuck takes another sip on his juice box. This one is a long one that sucks the box in on itself. He sucks until there is no more in the box. “That hit the spot.”

“All calmed down now?”

“For now. Yes. What did you want me to do with it now?”

“Stick it in your pocket and throw it away at home.” Stephen says through gritted teeth.

“Okay Stephen. Sometimes I am glad to have you in my head like this to keep me from doing stupid things.” Chuck smiles in the darkness to no one but the dead girl on his shoulder. For now, he is at peace with the world.

He continues to follow the wooden fencing til he reaches a dirt road. The rain has turned everything to mud. The road is washed out along the sides from water rushing down it. Chuck shivers. He wishes he would have brought his rain coat along. Stephen hadn't told him where they were going or that it was raining so he ended up grabbing his denim jacket from the closet by the front door of the house.

“Ut oh. Now what?” Chuck stops examining the washed out road. “We all float, don't we Georgie?”

“Follow the fence. We shouldn't be too far from the farm now. Who the hell is Georgie?”

“You know. Georgie. The little boy that scary clown took in that movie. You remember the one, don't you Stephen?” Chuck loved his movies. He particularly loved his horror.

“Oh right. Georgie. Got it. I understand.” Stephen didn't have a clue what he was talking about. “Maybe you should hop over the fence. That way if a car comes you can duck down so no one sees you.”

“Ain't no one dumb enough to be out here in the rain like this.”

“You are out here in the rain. Aren't you Chuck?”

Chuck thinks it over. “I suppose you are right yet again Stephen.” He hops over the fence carefully. Thankfully he is tall with long legs so it didn't take too much effort for him to get over it even with the girl over his shoulder.