Chapter 27: 27 Missing penis
For the first time since I had known him, Okada didn’t argue. He didn’t smirk, he didn’t make some dry, annoying comment, and he didn’t act like he had everything under control. His face went completely pale. I could read so much emotions running through his face at once. "That’s gross.." He spoke, covering his mouth. "Yes, I agree. Let’s leave," Okada said, his voice clipped, dropping all his braveness. He grabbed the fabric of my jacket near the shoulder, shoving me violently toward the dark perimeter of the room. "And throw up in the corner if you have to, but do it while you’re running!"
We didn’t look back. We bolted until we were sure we were out of this fucking nightmare of a house. It didn’t take long for us to hit the side of the truck. I leaned heavily against the hood, my chest heaving as I sucked in massive gulps of fresh air, trying to purge the foul, metallic stench of the basement from my lungs. My hands were shaking so badly I couldn’t even keep them still against the warm metal.
I bent over, hands on my knees, wheezed, wiping a cold, greasy sweat from my forehead, my mind frantically replaying the image. It felt like my brain was trying to reject what my eyes had just seen. "What the hell is making these men have no penis? Like, what kind of sick, twisted freak does that?! Who sits around doing that?! Are they biting them off?"
For a long moment, neither of us spoke.
"Wanna go to the bar to cool off with some ladies?" Okada said out of the boom forcing me to question every sanity he had left. He just finished seeing a horrendous image and the next thing is bar. "You can wait but I wanna bang some ladies. We have the cash why not use em?"
I stared at Okada. I didn’t just look at him; I stared at him with the kind of intense, unblinking disbelief. "...Are you hearing yourself right now?"
He shrugged, looking oddly casual despite the fact that his face still carried a sickly shade of white. "What? Near-death experiences make me appreciate life."
"We just saw a basement full of dead men with their genitals missing!"
"Exactly."
"Exactly?!" I threw my hands into the air. "That’s your conclusion? ’Wow, horrifying mutilation. Time to go flirt?’"
He pointed at me like I’d finally understood his logic. "See? You get it."
"No! I absolutely do not get it!"
Okada sighed dramatically.
"Listen," he said, rubbing his temples. "People cope differently. Some cry. Some drink. Some pretend nothing happened. Me?" He jabbed a thumb at his chest. "I need loud music, cold beer, and enough distractions to stop thinking about... that."
I stared at him for a long second before letting out a tired sigh.
"You seriously want to go to a bar right now?"
"Exactly."
"Our truck is out of fuel."
"So?"
"So how exactly do you plan on getting there?" Okada looked at me like I’d asked the easiest question in the world.
"Uber."
I blinked.
"Uber?"
"Yeah." He pulled out his phone, already unlocking it. "We’ll order one." I frowned. "You’d rather spend money on an Uber just so you can chase women?" He shrugged. "We’re already spending money. Might as well spend it having a good time."
"You need therapy."
"I need pretty ladies."
I rubbed my face in frustration.
"We just walked out of a murder house."
"And now," he said, tapping away on his phone, "we’re walking into a bar."
He looked up with a grin that somehow hadn’t died despite everything we’d witnessed.
He raised his phone.
"Uber’s two minutes away."
He nudged my shoulder.
"Quickly. Let’s go before the pretty ones leave."
...
The Uber pulled up a couple of minutes later, taking a turn and approaching the truck before stopping beside us. The driver rolled down the window. "You the ones going downtown to the five star bar?"
Okada flashed him a thumbs-up. "The very same." I slid into the back seat first, grateful to be putting as much distance as possible between us and that cursed house. Okada followed, slamming the door shut behind him. As the car pulled away, neither of us spoke for nearly a minute even though Okada didn’t let me rest with his song humming.
How I wish the silence lasted for a bit before it was broken by Okada’s long sigh
"You know..." he muttered, staring out the window, "I don’t think I’ll ever complain about being a guy again." I glanced sideways at him confused what he meant by that. He continued, "Imagine waking up one day and realizing your penis is just... gone."
"Okada."
"I’m dead serious. How do I get to fuck pretty ladies if my boner is gone?."
"I know you are." I responded shaking my head and low-key laughing at the thought of Okada waking up one morning with no penis.
He shuddered dramatically. "Man, that’s horrifying. I’d rather lose my wallet."
"You compare everything to money."
"My wallet can be replaced." He pointed at the faint bulge on his trousers. "That? Not so much."
I groaned. "Can you not?" He ignored me and continued speaking
"I mean, can you imagine trying to explain that at a hospital?"
I buried my face in my hands. "Please stop talking. You are making the driver uneasy"
"No, because I’ve been thinking about it since we left that basement. Those poor guys..." He shook his head. "Whoever’s doing that is completely unhinged." For the first time since we’d fled the house, his joking tone faded.
"It wasn’t just murder," he said quietly. "It felt... deliberate. Like someone wanted to send a message." The humor drained from the car. Even the driver, who had been pretending not to listen, shifted uneasily in his seat.
"So you are telling me you saw a dead man with no penis?"
"Yeah, basically," I replied, rubbing my temples. "Just drive."
The driver let out a low whistle.
"Damn..." he muttered. "That’s the third rumor I’ve heard this month."
My head snapped up. "Rumor?"
"People have been talking. First they said men were disappearing after nights out. Then they started saying bodies were showing up in abandoned places." He shrugged. "I figured it was just people exaggerating. You know how gossip spreads."
Okada leaned forward between the seats. "You’ve actually heard about this before?"
"Bits and pieces." The driver nodded. "Nobody knows what’s true anymore. Some say it’s a serial killer. Others think it’s some underground trafficking ring. Every week the story changes."
I exchanged a glance with Okada.
"Have the police said anything?" I asked.
"Not that I’ve seen." He chuckled dryly. "If they know something, they’re keeping it close to the chest."
Okada slumped back into his seat. "Dude, stop talking about the missing penis! I want to be around some ladies. Get that fucking thoughts away from me." He rolled his eyes, tossing his head to the back of the chair. "You know what, what if it was some succubus doing this? I mean fucking the guys..."
"Lol, keep dreaming Okada. Succubus? Really?"
"Think about it, Kaito!" Okada snapped, sitting up straight again, his eyes wide as he gestured wildly with his hands. "A succubus! It makes perfect sense. They lure you in with the face of an angel, promise you the ride of your life, and the next thing you know, you’re waking up inside a glass jar in a damp basement while your soul—and your manhood—is being harvested for eternal youth!"
"A succubus, Okada? Really?" I groaned, leaning my head against the cool glass of the car window.
"Hey, if you guys are gonna keep talking about chopped-off body parts, I’m gonna need you to pay for a detailing fee in advance, because I feel like I’m about to throw up myself," the driver interrupted from the front, his eyes darting nervously toward us in the rearview mirror. He tightly gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles turning slightly white. "Seriously. I just eat lunch."
"My bad, boss," Okada said, though he didn’t sound remotely sorry. He leaned back into the synthetic leather seat, crossing his arms and huffing like a child who had been told he couldn’t play with his toys. "Kaito started it anyway. He’s the one obsessed with this succubi that he made a game out of them"
"No way!!! You are the one who made that game? That game is very badass" I blinked, totally caught off guard by the sudden shout. "Wait... you know it?"
"Know it? Bro, I never thought I’d be driving the mastermind behind that game!" The driver was practically bouncing in his seat now, his previous disgust completely evaporating into pure shock. "everyone in my gaming circle plays that shit. It’s legendary!"
Okada burst out laughing, slamming his hand against the back of the front seat. "See? What did I tell you, Kaito? You’re a celebrity"
