BTF - Treehouse Chapter Five - The Payoff Zach picked up the phone, nervously. Just how Colin showed him at the pool earlier, using a wrap of his tank-top around the handle. He used the back of a knuckle to dial the digits.

9-1-1.

“9-1-1, what's the location of your emergency?” came the voice from the other end of the line. Zach briefly wondered why she sounded so friendly for such a serious phone number.

“Uh- h-hi,” Zach said. He stammered on purpose, and used his ‘small’ voice, the kitten voice that was still hiding inside him.

“Hello, what's the location of your emergency?” came the voice again, more insistent.

“Oh, uh…Fallow Acres trailer park, t-the one by the gas station,” Zach said. He could hear shouting in the park a block away. “There's this guy named Mikey, and h-he took me and my friend into the library earlier and made us do weird stuff and video taped it, and now he's fighting with my friend,," Zach said. His heart was pounding with a rush of adrenaline for some reason.

“Are you in danger right now?” the voice asked. It sounded more serious, now.

“N-no,” Zach said. It was true. “But, I think he's going to hurt my friend because my friend knows where he hid the tape in his car,” also, technically not a lie.

“Okay, stay calm. Police are on their way. What's your name?”

“Please hurry,” Zach said, before hanging up the phone. He wiped the phone down a little more with his tank-top's fabric for good measure before running back into the woods behind the gas station and following the trail back to the park, heading straight home like Colin told him to.

The next several hours were a flurry of activity in the park. The police came, and handcuffed Mikey, who - of course - denied everything, but didn't do himself any favors in how he addressed the cops. The cops didn't exactly have the best history with Mikey anyway. Belly's mom came home early from work a bit later, in a taxi. She had glitter in her fur. The police questioned the whole friend group; Zach and Kelly both patently denied any knowledge or involvement, just like Colin said to. Colin testified to

having found the tape, but didn't know what was on it, just that Mikey got really mad at him when he found it. Belly was dumbstruck by everything. Zach felt a little bad for him, and stood by his side to play the supportive friend as much as he could, even going so far as to hold the opossum's hand for a while as they sat together between conversations with grown-ups.

The detective interpreted Belly's shock in the moment as confirmation enough, and Belly readily told the police the narrative they were prepared to hear. The one he wanted them to hear. The one that would shut Mikey up for good. The one Colin had set up for him, and laid at his feet. Colin could be a real asshole at times, but always with the best intentions. Colin was a good leader.

Once the dust cleared, and a few months of lawyers, counselors, and child welfare people had passed, it would be well over a decade before Belly would have to even think about Mikey again, and by then, he was going to be long gone from this trailer park. He was going to start a band with his friends, and they were going to make it big, together, because nobody gets out of the park on their own.

And there was nothing to stop them, now.

-END-