Having A Rotten Time; Wish You Were Here

Part 7

            Jerry skidded over to the computer just in time for the screensaver to click on. "Damn!" he exclaimed, moving the mouse around to get the screen back. But instead of seeing something important, all he got was the C-prompt. Christine rushed up behind him with a frown.

            "What's wrong?" she asked.

            "What happened?" Naomi asked. "Get us off this wall!"

            "Gimme the name of the program she's using," replied Jerry. "There's nothing here but a C-prompt."

            "Whaddya mean, a C-prompt?" she demanded. "Where's the menu?"

            "There's supposed to be a menu up?" Jerry said, turning on Naomi.

            "There's ALWAYS a menu up!" Naomi roared furiously.

            "Naomi, calm down," Christine snapped. "Jerry's doing his best!"

            Jerry gave Chris a surprised look, then said, "Yeah!" to Naomi.

            "Perhaps..." said Robin, whom had been quiet ever since Joshua had disappeared. She stopped and we waited for her to finish.

            "Perhaps what; don't do that shit!" said Naomi irritably.

            "Perhaps he really did give himself all of the computer's power," finished Robin.

            "That would essentially make him Daina's subconscious right now," said Jerry. "He could do anything!"

            "Not exactly," said Robin. "He has the computer's power, but not the notebook's."

            "What notebook?" Naomi demanded. Robin sighed, as if this were old news.

            "While you were in the throes of passion with Alan..." Robin began.

            Jerry cocked his head in surprise. "You were givin' skins to Alan?"

            "Fuck you," muttered Naomi.

            "So soon? You sure you're not tired?" replied Jerry sarcastically.

            "As I was saying, while Naomi was otherwise occupied distracting Alan, Daina and I found her old notebook and pen, her weapon of choice before this computer ever came into her thoughts. She was using the notebook to change the story Alan was writing somewhat. I don't know what she wrote, but it's right there on the floor next to you."

            Jerry turned and found the pen and notebook and picked them up. "It says everything we were just saying!"

            "That's because the story is continuing even as we speak," said Robin.

            "What does it say about Alan?" Chris asked.

            "Nothing, except what he did and that he's supposed to have some majorly embarrasing downfall."

            "Like what?" asked Christine.

            "Doesn't say," Jerry shrugged.

            "Okay, so write us off this wall and quit messin' around," Naomi said.

            Jerry gave Naomi a withering look and Christine took the notebook from him, "Oh, let me," she smiled sweetly. Jerry read over her shoulder as she wrote:

      The spell nullified and Robin slipped gracefully to the ground, but Naomi fell on her butt with a thud.

            As written, Robin dropped almost ballerina-like to the floor, while Naomi zoomed straight down and landed on her behind with a howl of pain.

            "There are times when I could almost kiss you," said Jerry to Christine, who smiled up at him. "Now let's get Alan..."

            "Wait a minute!" said gasped Christine. "Look!" Writing began to appear on the page in front of them and they all read in shocked silence...

        Alan was extremely proud of himself. He hadn't really had a plan when he disappeared before, but the minute he saw Jerry, he knew exactly what to do. He thought himself and Daina back to Jerry's side of the Link and sighed. At this rate, he thought, I'll be the ruler of two bodies by daybreak.

            "He's on your side," breathed Christine.

            "And if we don't get there quick, I'll never get back!" exclaimed Jerry, taking Chris by the hand and dragging her out the door again.

           

 

            Alan was extremely proud of himself. He hadn't really had a plan when he disappeared before, but the minute he saw Jerry, he knew exactly what to do. He thought himself and Daina back to Jerry's side of the Link and sighed. At this rate, he thought, I'll be the ruler of two bodies by daybreak.

            He knelt down to lay Daina on the ground. She was still out cold from the sleep spell he cast on her, which gave him time to decide what to do with her. Since he was now part of her, it was conceivable that he didn't need her anymore. If he killed her, wouldn't his takeover of her body be complete?

            His delusions of grandeur were interrupted by two childish giggles. He looked behind him and saw Stevie and Joshua running toward the Link door with little pouches in their hands, oblivious to Alan's presence. Alan grinned. He really hadn't gotten a chance to try out this new power yet, he thought, cracking his knuckles.

            The sound caught Stevie and Josh's attention and they turned to find Alan pointing at them.

            "That's the guy!" shouted Joshua.

            "It's Alan!" yelled Stevie. "Get him!"

            So surprised at this obvious lack of fear, Alan actually put up his arms to ward the boys off. The two tackled him, toppling him off his knees and back to the floor. Their little fists began pummeling him at random, not really doing any damage, but slinging most of the contents of Stevie's pouches all over Alan.

            "You big dummy-head!" yelled Joshua. "You hurt my sis'ers and my N'omi!"

            "You lied to me 'gain!" shouted Stevie. "I hate you, I hate you, I..."

            "Get off me, you brats!" he yelled, trying to push them away with no success. In fact, to the boy's surprise, Alan continued to fight them for a moment, then suddenly passed out.

            "Hey, wait, wait!" Stevie exclaimed. "He's not movin'!"

            Joshua and Stevie both peered into Alan's face, then slowly looked at each other. "I think we killeded him," Joshua whispered.

            "Ewwwww!" they yelled, jumping up and moving away from Alan's prone body.

            "Is he really dead?" asked Joshua.

            "No, wait, he's still breathing, see?" Stevie pointed out. The gentle rising and falling of his chest eased the boys' collective conscious.

            "Well, what do we do with him now?" asked Joshua.

            Stevie thought for a moment, then said, "Let's drag him over by Daina and let him sleep it off."

            When they did, the boys sat down and stared morosely at the two adults in front of them.

            "We're gonna get in big trouble," said Joshua sadly.

            "Yeah," said Stevie. "We can't tell anybody that you beat Alan to death."

            "You helped, too!" said Joshua.

            "Yeah, but I didn't hit him as hard as you did!" Stevie said.

            "Did too!" said Joshua.

            "Did not!" said Stevie.

            "Did too!"

            "Did not!"

            "Did too!"

            "Did not!"

            "Did..." began Joshua, but he was interrupted by the panicked entrance of Jerry, Naomi and Christine.

            "JOSH!!!" bellowed Naomi, grabbing him up in a huge hug. "Bios, I thought..."

            "Stevie, are you okay?" Jerry asked, running over and grabbing him up as well.

            "I'm sorry I hitted Alan to death!" Joshua bawled. "Stevie made me do it!"

            "Nuh-uh, you hitted him harder than me!" Stevie whined, also starting to cry.

            "Did not!" cried Joshua.

            "Did too!" sobbed Stevie.

            "Did not!"

            "Did too!"

            "Did..."

            "Guys, guys, just tell us what happened," said Jerry at last. The boys explained their whole story while Christine sat down and wrote a short paragraph returning the computer's power back to it and keeping Alan from ever wanting to touch it again. When the boys had finished, Jerry began to understand that the powder all over Alan had caused him to pass out and not the boys.

            "But Stevie," he asked. "What did you have in those bags?"

            "Just some stuff I made up after you told me about witches and stuff," he shrugged, wiping his eyes.

            "But what does it do?" Jerry asked.

            "I'll give you three guesses," Christine replied. They all looked at Alan, who had come around and was now looking at Daina with a strange look on his face. Jerry approached Alan with a frown.

            "Alan?" he said.

            Alan looked up, tears in his eyes. "Have you ever seen anyone so beautiful?" he whispered. "I think I'm in love."

            Jerry turned to look at the rest of the group. "I'm out," he said throwing his hands up. "Miller Time. End this story now, Chris."

            With a smirk, Christine took the notebook and penned in:

The End

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