Stage 9: Where the Monkey Meets the Man

I sat in one corner of the kitchen with Skully and Ayle in the corners on the far side of the living room.

The couch was turned on its side.
The book shelf was destroyed—and a lot of my books were shredded.
The DVD player had played its last disc.

I would also need to buy a new TV.

“I. I guess I should apologize,” Skully said as we all looked at his scythe—which was buried into the interior wall. “The super’s going to be pissed.”
“I’m sorry too,” Ayle said. “I mean, we want what’s best for you, Stephen.”
“I know,” I replied as I stared at the gashes on my arms and the blood on the wall.
“And this isn’t the best, you know?”

What had started out as a small intervention by me to tell them that I needed more space turned into something that would have rivaled WrestleMania.

“I am all for giving you extra space, Stephen,” Aylese said as she stood up and let out a small groan. “But to say that you don’t need us, well, the proof is in front of us.”
“I will be fine.”
“Are you sure about that, Buddy?” Skully asked as he rose off the floor and floated over to this scythe.
“Yes, just like in the woods that one day.”
“What woods?” Aylese asked.
“The day with Pete,” Skully effortlessly withdrew the blade from the wall.
“I was okay.”
“He was getting his head, chest and butt kicked.”
Aylese shot a glance at Skully and then looked back to me with a calm face. “What happened?”

I sprawled myself on the floor and looked up to the ceiling. There was a fork hanging in the drywall.
“Pete finally caught me in the woods. I thought about taking the road, but thought the odds were going to be okay for me.”
“But?”
“But Pete was there and he threw me off of the bike. I fell into a blackberry bush with the air knocked out of me.”
I moved a few inches away; in case the fork became loose on its own.
“Pete slapped him around a bit.” Skully stated as he stood next to Aylese.
“And that’s all that happened,” I replied.
“I don’t think so. Something else happened.”
“No, just got beaten.”
“Tell her, Stephen,” Skully whispered.
“No!” I rose up like Frankenstein’s monster with a jolt and the fork fell.
“Yes, or I will.”
“No, you won’t!”
“You will or we’re going to have a rage in the cage grudge match in fifteen seconds!”
“Shut up!” Aylese yelled.
“That’s what he said too,” I murmured.
“Who, Pete?”
“Yeah. And I did.”
“What did he do?”
“Everything.”
Aylese looked at Skully, he nodded.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. What could I do? I was just a kid and he…He was bigger than me.”
“What happened to Pete?” Aylese asked.
“They never found him,” Skully stated. “Alive, at least.”
“What is our current body count?”
“Are we counting Amber?” Skully asked.
“For the love Tolkien, yes, we’re counting Amber.”
“Six,” Skully replied as he held up his bony fingers.
“Eight,” I interjected. “Eight is the lucky number.”
“Sidh. Yeah, that guy at work.”
“It wasn’t exactly our fault, I mean he had it coming to him. “ Skully said as brushed the dust off his cloak.
“We always say that,” Aylese replied. “And looks who gets injured.”
They looked at me and all I could do was laugh at the situation. “I’m okay. We’re okay. Let’s just get this mess cleaned up and think of what we’re going to tell the landlord when he asks about that hole up there.”
“You have to admit, it was a good shot, right?” Skully asked as he lit a cigarette
Aylese nodded.