20

"5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Aaaand, It's 6 pm!" Joseph said, looking at his phone timer, before immediately turning his phone back off so he didn't receive another call. The sky was now a beautiful shade of yellow, orange, and pink, and the sun was about to set. Junior, Joseph, and Chef PeePee admired the sky as they packed their things, ready to start their journey once again.

"Do you guys also feel a weird feeling in your chest right now?" Junior asked.

"Yes, that's called anxiety, Junior." Chef PeePee responded.

"Is that bad?"

"Normally, it would be. But, looking at our circumstances, it'd be normal." Chef PeePee responded. "I'd be surprised if you weren't anxious right now."

"Oh... That makes sense, I am a little scared right now." Junior admitted. "So, when are we gonna head out?"

"Soon, but remember, try not to attract any attention, and make as little noise as possible." Chef PeePee told the boy. "Even though we're currently wanted, if people don't have a reason to spot us, then we'll hopefully be in the clear."

"Yo, dude, what if we wore like... disguises or something?" Joseph suggested.

The chef thought for a second. "We don't have anything to disguise ourselves with..."

"Sure we do, Chef PeePee! I have my jacket in my bag, you can take your chefs hat off so you'll be less obvious, and Joseph... Maybe turn your hat the right way?" Junior said.

"But dude! I always wear my hat like this!" Joseph whined. "But... I guess if it'll keep us safe, I'll turn it..." He reluctantly turned his hat around with a pout. Meanwhile, the chef was struggling to take off his chef's hat.

"How hard is it to take off your hat Chef PeePee?" Junior questioned, amused by the chef's struggle.

"I've been wearing this hat for like 10 years, I'm pretty sure my hair grew into it or something!" The Chef complained. He finally ripped the hat off, revealing overgrown hair that was underneath. He quickly smoothed it down as the boys laughed at him. "Again, I wore the hat for 10 years."

"I can tell." Junior remarked, slipping his own jacket on and putting on the hood. "Hopefully it cools down out here, or else I'll end up like your cooking."

"Damn! Roasted!" Joseph exclaimed.

"Can we just get going now?" The chef groaned. He crept out of the trees, checking for any incoming cars. Once he saw the coast was clear, he signaled for the boys to follow him. They walked from the cover of the trees, to the side of the road. They walked a little away from the road, towards the ditch beside it so only their upper bodies could be noticed.

The road was thankfully pretty empty. Not many cars were coming by, and the ones that were weren't paying attention. One of them was even blasting music as they drove past. Chef PeePee was surprised they didn't see any police cars, but he was very grateful.

They walked until the sun was pretty much fully gone. They'd just gotten to the few houses that were along the road, and they decided they'd just walk past them before stopping. Luckily, Joseph was right about the woods stretching forever, so they had a place to hide.

The lights of the houses were off, besides one which was in a room with closed curtains, so Chef PeePee figured they were all asleep.

"I wonder if these people are Amish or something. No one should be asleep this early unless they're crazy." Junior thought out loud.

"They have cars, so I don't know dude." Joseph said.

"Maybe they're Amish people with cars?" Junior responded.

"I wonder how they'd react to hearing WAP on the radio..." Joseph said before laughing at the thought, Junior laughing along as well.

"Or 679, or Trap Queen." Junior added.

"Ooo! What about highway To hell? Or It Wasn't Me by Shaggy? I bet they'd wonder why people are butt naked with the girl next door."

"The hell are you guys listening to in your spare time?" Chef PeePee questioned, very confused.

"Hey, it's Spotify that recommended it." Junior shrugged. With a little more walking, they finally made it past the next house. The three could just barely see some building from the next town over. They were so close they could practically taste the air pollution and car fumes from the town.

To not get caught while sleeping, the three decided to just stay in the woods in front of Brent. They found a small, mostly hidden clearing and set their stuff down.

"I think this is the first walk that didn't make my legs feel like complete jelly." Junior remarked.

"Well, it was short so that's expected." Chef PeePee responded. "You guys can stay up for however long you want, but I'm going to take a nap. Just be quiet, and don't break anything we'll need."

"Okay, we'll try not to!" Junior said. Chef PeePee gave him a skeptical look, then laid down and closed his eyes.

—----------

"Come on, Ken. Eat your chicken." Cody told his doll boyfriend, who just sat there as dolls do. Judith didn't mind her son's questionable lifestyle, but Tyrone on the other hand, was starting to get annoyed.

"It's a doll Cody, and why the hell is he even eating with us?!" Tyrone asked, annoyed by his son's antics.

"Come on, Tyrone, just let him be himself. He only has 5 years until he'll be an adult and have to face reality." Judith told her husband, who clearly didn't agree. He was about to retaliate, but there was a knock at the door that interrupted him. "I'll get it!" Judtih said, getting up from her chair to answer the door.

At the door was Officer Bruce Simmons, and Bowser. "Hello madam, sorry to interrupt your evening. Are you Mrs. Nutkiss?" Simmons asked politely, which Bowser silently stood behind him, looking rather sorrowful.

"Yes... unless this is for an unpaid speeding ticket, then I'm Jackie Westbrook." Judith responded with a forced smile.

"May we speak to you and your son about the disappearance of Justin Reynolds Jr? We have heard that your son was a close friend of both Justin and the other boy." The cop asked, completely ignoring the thing about the speeding ticket.

"Of course! My boy has been worried sick about both of them, he's been calling them all day." Judith beamed. "Come in, come in. We have some leftover chicken. Would you like some?"

The cop declined and walked inside the house, followed by Bowser. Tyrone almost jumped out of the atmosphere at the sight of the officer. "JUDITH! What are the pigs doing here?!"

'They're just here to talk to Cody and I, sweetie, calm down." Judith reassured, but Tyrone wasn't having it.

"Cody what the hell did you do? You know what, you can deal with it. I'm gonna go to our bed, come join me after you get the white way out of this." Tyrone said, getting up from his spot and walking out of the room.

Everyone was silent for a moment. Simmons And Bowser took their seats across from Judith and Cody, and they began talking.

"So, Cody, what connection do you have to Justin Reynolds Jr?" The cop asked.

"Well, Junior and I have been friends for like 6 years now... and someday we'll be something more.... Hopefully." Cody responded, mumbling the last part.

"And the boy accompanying him, besides the chef, is Joseph right? Do you know his last name?"

"Yeah, it's Joseph. I'm mostly sure his last name is HisFriendFromSchool, but he could've just lied about that." Cody said, considering how weird Joseph can be sometimes.

"And does he have any parents?"

"Not really... his mom abandoned him and I think his dad's dead. He kinda just lives on the street." Cody told the officer hesitantly.

'We even have to give him rides to this town sometimes." Judith added.

"Well, that explains why no one was looking for that kid." The officer said.

"Wait, doesn't that kid have a phone or something, or no?" Bowser cut in.

"Yeah... but he wouldn't answer my calls, and Junior left his phone at home, along with Chef PeePee." Cody responded.

"Can't you track him by his phone?" Bowser asked the officer.

"We can... but the location isn't exact. Though it will give us a good idea of where they are. Good idea mate." Simmons praised. He then turned back to Cody. "So, you've been to Justin's, or Junior's, house, right?"

"Many times, yes."

"Did the chef ever show any signs of possibly kidnapping the kids? Was he rude or hostile?"

"Well, he wasn't very hostile, physically anyways. He was mostly just grouchy, but he normally had a good reason to be since Junior does mess with him a lot." Cody responded. "I never thought he'd go as far as kidnapping anyone though."

"Well he was very impulsive, who knew how long he was planning to kidnap my Junior!" Bowser testified.

"Was there anything out of the ordinary about him when you were there?" Simmons said, not minding Bowser too much yet still kind of agreeing with him.

"Well... he would sing a lot when he was alone, and sometimes hump the oven. I have several videos of the oven humping. Probably the most prized thing on my phone... Anyways, he also cooked really bad food, though I do like his burnt Mac and cheese." Cody explained, smiling weirdly at the oven humping part.

"Well that's... interesting." The officer said.

"See? And some people doubt that he'd kidnap anyone... they haven't seen the real him, how he is behind closed doors." Bowser said, crossing his arms and frowning.

"Well, I think that's all we need besides the phone number of Joseph, could you write that down for me?"

"Sure." Cody said, taking a pen from his pocket and a napkin and writing the number, or numbers idk, on the napkin and slipped it to the cop.

Both the officer and Bpwser got out of their seats and bid the family farewell. "Are you sure you two don't want any chicken? We have lots of leftovers!" Judith asked.

"I mean, I could take a plate. All I've had is doordash since my Chef took my son and ran away... so sure." Bowser said. Judith got him a styrofoam plate of chicken, and then both Bowser and the officer left. Cody finished his dinner, and helped his mom clear the table.

"I really hope they find Junior soon. I hope he's okay." Cody said.

"I know Codykins, I do too. And I hope his chef gets his justice." Judith replied.

"I can't believe Chef PeePee would kidnap Junior. Like, Junior did mess with him a lot, but kidnapping seems a little... too far."

"Maybe he snapped? That's what my kidnapper did, when he killed my other two friends." Judith theorized.

"I don't know..." Cody mumbled, picking up the last of the dishes and putting them in the sink for his mother to wash later. "It's strange."

Tyrone poked his head out of the bedroom door, and looking into the kitchen. He then crept out and looked around. "Them pigs finally leave?" He asked.

"Yea, they left a little bit ago. They just wanted to ask Cody about his missing friend." Judith responded.

"Really? Damn! I hid my cocaine for nothing!" Tyrone grumbled, earning a short side-eye from Cody.

My family's so weird, He thought.