Turn It Into Magic

Two weeks had gone by since the hospital's version of Mother's Day. The hangovers had passed and - for the most part - so did the hard feelings. There was, of course, an exception to that though, although no one was really sure what was going on.

As soon as their hangovers were gone, Marilyn and Pogo retreated to the hospital's basement. No words were exchanged between the men. In fact, only a glance and a nod were needed before both men packed bags full of supplies. Pogo had grabbed clothes and blankets while Marilyn got the food. Then they met at the doorway to the basement. Since then, 12 days had passed and neither of the men had been seen.

"I wonder what they're up to," Abi mused over a cup of oversweetened coffee one morning.

"What in the world are you talking about?" Elizabeth asked. She was sitting at the table, readng and editing Abi's latest Maniggy erotica and had almost completely zoned out.

"Marilyn and Pogo. They've been in the basement for quite a while," Abi pointed out. "A few days ago, they even had some carpenter's come down. They've been coming since. Anyway, they didn't even come out then."

"That's because they have Tim going between them and the carpenters. Only he knows what's going on." Elizabeth turned back to her reading, taking a sip of coffee.

"Then why aren't we beating it out of Tim?" Abi asked incredulously.

"I dunno. Didn't think of it until now," Elizabeth shrugged.

"I think its our duty to find out." With that Abi stood, finished her coffee, and walked briskly over to Elizabeth, whom she pulled from the chair and dragged from the room.

"What the hell?! I was trying to do something!" Elizabeth protested, although she didn't fight back.

"I really don't care," Abi said nonchalantly. The other girl sighed and rolled her eyes, walking quickly next to Abi.

"We should check his bedroom first. Then Trent's," Abi said. Fortunately, both rooms were right around the corner and it didn't take much walking to find them.

Upon reaching Tim's room, Abi shoved open the door, flipped on the light, and peered in. "He's not in here," she announced as she turned the light back off.

"How the hell do you know?" Elizabeth asked incredulously. "You didn't even check all the possible hiding spots."

"If Tim were in a room alone and someone burst through the door, he would go into defense mode and try to attack. Unless, of course, he smells Trent's cologne," she explained, acting as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well... okay then. Trent's room," Elizabeth nodded, not sure if he friend was acting weird or just normal.

"Over here." Abi motioned for her friend to follow and she did obediently, knowing that she'd be making the trip to find Tim no matter what happenened. Even if that mean Abi would have to pick her up and carry her.

"Why do you know where everyone's rooms are?" Elizabeth questioned. "It's kind of creepy."

"When there's a situation like this, do you really want to be left without a means to maneuver your way around? No. You want to know where everything is," Abi stated, distracted by her search for Tim. "Ah, here's Trent's room."

This time, Abi knocked on the door, not because she didn't want to be rude but because she didn't want to interrupt anything.

"Come on in," a muffled voice called from the depths of the room. Shrugging, Abi opened the door. Inside, Trent was sitting on the bed in nothing but red flannel pajama bottoms as he watched TV.

"Hey guys, what's up?" he asked, confused by their presence in his room.

"Where's Tim?" Abi demanded bluntly.

"Last I heard, he was getting something to eat. Why?" Before Trent could even finish the first sentence, Abi was storming out the door, heading straight for the kitchen. Elizabeth followed closely behind her.

"Tim Skold!" Abi shouted as the walked through the door. Surprised, Tim dropped the toast that he was buttering and looked up at the girls.

"You called?"

"I did fucking call. And do you know why? Do you know why I called?" Abi asked, her voice stern and nearly terrifying. "I called because I want to know what the fuck is going on down in that basement. What are Marilyn and Pogo up to? Why are there carpenters here?"

"I'm... I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that," Tim said, immediately cowering after he spoke, as if he were awaiting a slap. "I swore to keep that a secret."

"Tell me, or I'll go upstairs and tell Trent you still like Marilyn," Abi threatened.

Smug, the bassist said, "I don't like Marilyn anymore. I'm dedicated to Trent."

"He doesn't know that, now does he?" Abi asked, a look of amusement on her face.

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would."

Sighing, Tim responded, "Well, tell him whatever you want. You're still not going to get the answers out of me. I can always smooth things over later."

"You can always tell us what's going on now, so that we don't have to be surprised later and have to kill everyone just to save the world from whatever monstrosity may be created down there!" Abi cried. "You could be killing us all, Tim!"

"Guilt isn't going to work on me." Tim crossed his arms and leaned against the counter, waiting for Abi's next tactic.

"How about we lock you in a jail cell? Would you like to tell us through a hole in a steel door or would you like to tell us now?" Abi offered.

"I'd rather not tell you at all."

Tim's remarks were starting to grate on Abi's nerves the wrong way. She gripped the counter, trying to regain her composure, which was slowly becoming much harder to do. If Elizabeth hadn't been at her side, patting her shoulder, she may have lunged at the blonde at that very moment.

"Tim Skold, you will tell me this very second, else I'll come over there and shove you in a freezer until you die," she growled, still trying to contain herself.

"You will find out," Tim shrugged, picking up his toast. He grabbed the knife and began re-buttering it,

"When?"

"When they finish."

"Jesus Christ!" Abi exploded. "I want to know now so that I know whether or not I need to halt the creation of a monster!"

"It's not a monster," Tim laughed. "It'll be fun. Seriously."

"Who's definition of fun?" Elizabeth piped up. Tim looked at her with scrutinizing eyes.

"Probably not yours," he responded. Abi supressed a growl and ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go upstairs."

With that, Tim grabbed his toast and walked up the stairs.

The only word Abi could form was, "Wow."

"Wow," Elizabeth agreed.

"Now what?"

"I guess we go try to eavesdrop and see if we can hear anything," Elizabeth shrugged. "It's really the only thing we can do."

Abi turned and walked from the room without another word and Elizabeth assumed it would be best to follow her friend. The door to the basement was near the kitchen, as it was kept for storage. There, they were surprised to find John pounding at the door.

"Pogo, you asshole, let me down there! My hair straightener broke and my new one is down there!" he shouted.

"Well that's too bad, isn't it? You should have kept it in your room. You're not getting it back." Pogo's muffled voice was smug, as if he had a smirk on his face knowing that he was torturing John.

"I swear I'll fucking kill you if you don't let me down there," he growled, still pounding on the door.

"You don't want to come in here. Remember when Twiggy and I kidnapped Ginger?"

John's eyes went wide, worried that he had done it again. "What about it?"

"Remember the hoard of Asian women?"

"Fuck you!" The guitarist's expression was filled with rage. "I can't believe you!"

"Wait, you didn't let me finish!" Pogo was actually snickering now. "Remember how scared you were?"

"I am not going to sit here and re-live that. Let me in to get my fucking flat iron or I'll go to your room and-"

"Go in my room and Ginger gets it."

John growled in frustration and turned around. He jumped in surprise as he did so, not expecting to see Abi and Elizabeth. "What the hell is going on down there?!" he demanded.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Elizabeth sighed.

"Do you guys have a straightener I can borrow? My hair's gonna bother me until I get it done," John asked, trying to flatten out his hair with the palm of his hand.

Abi rolled her eyes. "Yeah, there's one in our office. It should be on the table."

"Sweet, thanks! I'll come down and help you guys when I finish," he said happily. Then he turned and ran up the stairs, heading for the office.

"Let's just... get some food," Elizabeth suggested, not feeling the need to do anything else. "I'm hungry and I really don't want to worry about that right now."

"Sounds good." Abi followed as he friend wandered into the kitchen. Again, someone took them by surprise.

"Who the hell are you?!" exclaimed Elizabeth, referring to the black-haired girl sitting on their kitchen counter.

"I'm Iggy. Someone called and told me that I was moving in here, so... there's my stuff," she said happily, pointing to a few bags and boxes.

"Well... my name is Elizabeth and this is Abi." Without even having to consult her friend, Elizabeth knew that it was no use trying to tell her she couldn't stay, especially if it Pogo who called her to come move in. "Have you gotten a room yet?"

"No. I was hungry, so that why I came in here first," she shrugged.

"Okay then.... well, we've got some cookies that you can eat," Elizabeth offered, pulling the plate from a cupboard. "And coffee, if you want it."

"That sounds awesome. Are the cookies homemade?" she asked, jumping from the cupboard.

Hesitantly, Elizabeth replied, "Yeah... Twiggy and Ginger made them."

"Cool. Where's your dining room?"

"Right there," Abi answered, pointing to the room to the left of the kitchen. "We'll be there in just a moment."

__________

Half an hour later, they had finished their meal of cookies and coffee and successfully found a room for Iggy, which happened to be right next to Ginger and John's. All the confusion had been talked over. As it turned out, Pogo had found her phone number somehow, and called her to move in because he assumed it would annoy Elizabeth and Abi, although his plan wasn't working very well.

"Hey guys! I'm ready to find out what they're doing down there," John said, bounding down the stairs with his newly straightened hair. Ginger was behind him, nearly being dragged down the stairway.

"Awesome. But first, I'd like you guys to meet Iggy. Iggy, this is John and Ginger. Your rooms are going to be right next to each other," Abi said, the last part intended to inform the two men instead of Iggy, who already knew who's room was next to hers.

"Nice to meet you, Iggy," Ginger said, giving the girl a hug. John did the same.

"It's nice to meet you guys, too! Now are we going to go on this adventure or what?" she laughed.

"Hell yes," John replied, quickly walking over to the basement door.

"Wait!" Abi called. "We need to come up with an action plan, or this isn't going to work."

"She's right, John," Ginger said, knowing that John was questioning the truth of her words.

Sighing, he replied, "I guess you're right."

"Okay, so here's what we're going to do..."

__________

Abi motioned for Iggy to walk to the door of the basement. Nodding, the girl did so as quietly as possible, just as the plan called for. Then, she knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" demanded Pogo from the other side.

"It's Iggy. You know, that girl you called to move in. I don't know what I'm supposed to do," she replied, trying to sound annoyed but helpless, just as they had planned.

"Go ask Abi and Elizabeth. They're the ones running this place."

"Yeah, but I don't want them to kick me out. If you're there, they can't do it," she protested, sounding as if she were on the verge of tears.

"Then go get Ginger to help you. I'm kind of busy right now," Pogo said, almost sounding apologetical.

"Fine. I'll just leave then," she said. "I'm sure I'll find someone out there that would like me."

"Jesus Christ," Pogo muttered. "Fine, I'll come out. But not right now. You're just going to have to deal with Tim showing you around for now. I'll tell him to meet you in the living room."

"No. I'll just go find my way by myself," Iggy said stubbornly.

"Iggy! I'll be out in a few days!" he growled in frustration. "Can't you just hold on until then."

"No."

"What's going on?" Marilyn's voice now came from behind the door. There was a quiet, muffled sound as Pogo sheepishly explained to the singer what had happened and what he had done. Then came Marilyn's exasperated sigh that sounded very close to being a growl.

"You just couldn't help yourself, could you?" he sighed. "Iggy, just... Pogo's in a bit of trouble. Go find someone else. Problem solved." The sound of two pairs of booted feet could be heard through the basement door, and then nothing else. Frustrated, Iggy turned back around and headed to Abi and Elizabeth.

"It didn't work," she announced.

"Son of a bitch."