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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