STALKER

Chapter 109 - 11th June

It was a long, gut-wrenching inconsolable scream, followed by a flood of tears and a lot of begging.  Ben for an incorporeal entity has a great pair of nonexistent lungs.

When he saw me removing the duffle bag from under the stairs he stood by and said nothing. His eyes said it all. "What are you doing? That's mine. Stop touching it. What are you DOING???"

When I opened it up to examine the disintegrating pieces of wood, he remained silent, except now his eyes were darting from me to the bag and back again every second, and his lips were moving as if he was thinking about telling me off for touching his STUFFFFFF!!!!

The screaming started when I broke one of the planks in half. It was so brittle and dry that it came apart easily. Well, from the howl that he let out you would have thought it was one of his limbs I'd snapped in two. By the time I put the bag back and turned to talk to him, he was doing his dying cockroach routine....flat on the ground going around, arms and legs flaying and bellowing like Godzilla, not the wee little thing that he was.

"Have you any idea how stupid you look." I looked down at him as he momentarily stopped to evaluate whether his tantrum was worth continuing.

I wasn't in the mood, my arse hurt and every time I bent over I felt like Weirdo had permanently stretched me to accommodate a donkey. What had been at the time mind-blowing, was now uncomfortable. Weirdo had gone off to make a delivery with a smile on his face, kissing me goodbye as if he was sucking the life out of me, while I was left to hobble to the shower wondering if it was worth it.  As for the journal, it was forgotten and I hid it away this morning.  I'll try again soon.

Oh, that's right back to Ben.

"You fucking yaldson." He was mixing his generational profanities again.   Ben yelled at me as he stood up to his full height , puffing out his scrawny chest. "That's right you're a yaldson twice over."  Well, that told me. I walked away and dangled the piece of wood just to torture him a little more and went out to the greenhouse. He followed behind me huffing loudly.

I can't describe to you the look on his little pale face when I turned most of the piece of wood into sawdust. His blues eyes turned glassy and his lips trembled when I was left with one thin piece the size of a long pencil. I sanded it down and then sawed it into smaller pieces, again the tears flowed. The sawdust went into a bag for later. I was wondering when he was going to realize what I was doing.

I went shopping after that for a few hours to get all the items I needed. The last I saw of Ben he was standing guard at the door to his little cubby hole, seriously what a drama queen.

.....

By the time I came back, Weirdo was working in the garage. I could hear Ben nattering away in there. I dumped my purchases in the greenhouse for me to use later. I was hoping the ritual would work and that it wasn't meaningless regurgitated folklore with no true magic behind it.

I went to my room and changed into my Batau costume. My next chore for the day was the last stage of something I'd been planning for a year, almost a decade in the other timeline. With Alvise's help, my dream will finally come true. It feels like I haven't seen him in a long time. For months I jumped back at least once a week, for business and his company. It's been months since I've seen Gizelle.

Unfortunately, my jump is to late 1727. It was not the best time for Alvise. He hadn't recovered from being ill and Vittorio's abrupt disappearance. I always feel so guilty when I see his grief, the deep sense of loss that's always in his eyes. The same look I would see in granddad's eyes. But it was better than them dying on the gallows. Both of them kept on living out their lives. It was the best I could do for them.

I came down the stairs and went to my room, just as Weirdo walked out of the garage. His eyebrows went up. Volumes were said with that one little gesture.

He watched with narrowed eyes as I placed two gold bars on the table. "It's a long story." I gave him a quick look. I kept on packing my backpack, carefully placing the gold bars at the bottom and my taser in the side pocket. I made a quick trip to the box room and grabbed a couple of bottles of Moet and tucked them carefully in the bag wrapping them in my pj's and underwear. If looks could kill...well say no more.

I've been low-key about my jumps back to Venice since Weirdo moved in. It's a sore point between us. He doesn't get my friendship with Alvise and Gizelle, even after I took him back and explained the situation. These trips are necessary...and to be honest they are enjoyable. It's unfortunate that he saw the Moet and pajamas.  It makes it look like I'm off on a dirty weekend. But then again who takes pj's on a dirty weekend...now if I was taking a dog collar and wrist cuffs that would be another matter altogether.

"It's pointless asking how long you will be." Weirdo wiped his hands on his jeans. "But how long will you REALLY be gone." He looked peeved.

"I'll be back before you walk back into the garage." I was being flippant hoping he would just wander off.

"Don't be a smart arse. You know what I mean." Ok, he wasn't going to play nice.

"I'm not sure. We have some important business to attend to. A meeting with a solicitor coming from England that's been months in the planning." I couldn't tell him the long and incredibly complicated story that led to this point. I'm hoping he will experience the result of all this planning for himself soon.

"It pisses me off that you're in Venice for what could be days and I wouldn't have a clue. If you get in trouble and I can't help you." Weirdo looks seriously pissed. "It worries me that you're carrying a fortune and traveling alone."

"Don't worry I'll be with Alvise and Giacomo all the time," I said as I checked everything. He balked at that.

"And you think that makes me feel better?" He walked off heading for the garage. I would have thought that after last night he wouldn't be such a dick. "And I haven't forgotten about that book. I'm waiting for your next show and tell. YOU'RE NEXT REVELATION." He yelled back at me. Hmm...

Weirdo came marching back in and stared at me, not that he could see my face. "Are you back or you haven't gone yet?"

"Time traveling is messing with your head, isn't it? No. I haven't left yet."

"Tonight we sit down and talk, so keep your clothes on.  And for your information...I hate that fucking mask."  

Then he went off again back to the garage.  I slipped a couple of joints into my cigarette case and then I jumped.