𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭

Billy Bones

Later that night, when the dark clouds had hidden the sun, Jim had clambered up to his spot on the roof of the Benbow, watching the sky with a heavy heart, pressure dawning on him, colossal enough to sink a ship. His recollection of his mothers disappointed expression ailed him, making his chest ache with erratic pangs of guilt.

Pebble after pebble rushed down the thatch beneath him, silently rolling and tumbling through the weaves of the cushioning hay and straw before plopping to the floor. He was about to throw another, until he heard the soft slam of a door below him, before a platinum head of hair floated from the exit of the Benbow down to the docks.

"Hey!" Rubbing her head harshly as she looked up at Jim, now smirking happily as he threw another pebble towards her, hitting her in the side with its rough exterior, Holly grimaced as if he had been a diseased urchin pestering her with a simple minded game.

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all." Jim was about to throw yet another, keeping her from coming further towards him in her wake of anger, had he not, he was sure she would've climbed up on the roof next to him just to push him off.

But just then, a crashing space craft hurtling straight for the parking port at the end of the Benbow's dock shot through the clouds, a thick tube of black air trailing behind it, dissaperating in wisps against the wind.

His eyes widened as he watched in surprise at the craft that landed with a fiery thud. He quickly slid down the tiles, landing in a crouching position on the ground next to Holly, before sprinting towards it.

"Hey Mister!" He shouted, thrumming his knuckles over the smoked screen.

"Hey Mister you're ok in there right!?" He shouted again, banging on the window which still only showed a dark swirling smog clouding the inside of the ship. Until suddenly a clawed hand smacked against the glass. All he could hear was hearty, strained breaths coming from inside, wrenching themselves out.

"Hold on." A light voice droned from behind him. Holly had quickly turned a few dials on the sides of the craft, eventually resulting in the bolted door crumbling to the floor with a bang.

Jim jumped back abruptly as the door flung open, allowing an old, clearly unwell man to tumble out into a heap on the cold cobblestone, clawing at the path. He lead on his hands and knees, coughing and spluttering, struggling for air.

Next to him was a chest. It was a dull emerald green colour, old and tattered, sure to be of no value in itself.

The man looked up at Jim, to the chest, then back to the boy, grabbing the collar of his bomber jacket, forcefully yanking him down towards his nameless face.

Holly gasped, holding onto Jim's arm in attempt to keep him upright as he reflexively clutched onto her sleeve, somehow not tearing it in his desperate fist.

"He's a comin'" The man wheezed heavily. "Can hear 'em!" He continued, getting closer and closer to Jim's discomforted face, Holly unable to pull him away no matter how urgently she heaved, it was clear this mystery stranger was a mad man. "Those giles clickin and whirrin like the devil himself!"

"Who?" The girl crowed, straining at her losing battle between the two men, the stranger keeping Jim in an iron grip between his unkempt claws.

His wrinkled neck extended like a tortoise coming out of its shell, unnaturally writhing it's way out from his own tattered collar to meet Holly's worried glances, which she had to make an extortionate effort to avoid, his beady black eyes blank of emotion creating a crater in the pit of her stomach, emptying it of any feeling to the point of illness, her throat constricting in desperation.

The two teens tried to pull away with all of their strength but it was no use, the tortoise man had too strong of a hold of him. The man heaved again and fell to the floor, finally releasing his tightly clenched fist.

"You uhhh, hit your head pretty hard there didn't ya?" Jim exaggerated, looking down at him, scratching the back of his head, looking between him and his wide-eyed enemy, breathless from their battle against the crazy mans might, debating whether to send the him on his way or take him up to the Benbow.

"He's after me chest." The stranger continued, as he reached for his chest he hid behind his coat, looking cryptically at Jim.

"That fiendish cyborg and his cutthroats!" He attempted to stand and hoist the chest so it rested on his shoulder, but he was in too weak of a state to stand and collapsed to the floor as he groaned in pain. "He'll have to pry it from old Billy Bones' cold... dead... FINGERS, before I-!"

He stopped. Dropping the chest and clutching his neck, scratching and gasping for air, coughing constantly. He was dying, there was no doubt. But Jim curiously eyed him, and his odd little chest practically bursting with secrets begging to be discovered.

"C'mon, give me your arm." He said, giving in as he offered a hand, only for it to be slapped away.

"What do you think you're doing?" Holly asked, her hands hovering in the air, gesturing from Jim to Billy Bones.

"We have to help him!" He argued, helping the newly named creature up with some difficulty. 

"That's it." The boy struggled, using all his vigour to pull Bones up from the ground. "Take the chest." He grunted, nodding up to Holly, who was frozen, disgruntled, her brows knitted in confusion, opening her mouth to speak but no words could spill from her tongue.

"I can't carry both." He managed, hoisting Billy further onto his shoulder.

"This is insane! You can't let a stranger with a chest filled with who knows what into your home, at this hour might I add, and expect everyone to just go along with it." She huffed, looking at the man barely able to suck in a measly breath through his discoloured teeth, his eyes when not rolling back in his skull looked at her weakly, silently begging her for help, unlike his previous episode of manically flaring his eyes.

"Give me the blasted chest then." She conceded with a harsh sigh, defeatedly snatching the chest from the floor with a roll of her eyes, matching back up the path entirely unsure of what had snared her into helping her nemesis and his new pet psycho.

The sudden cracks of thunder announced the sky crying with rain, the brutal slashes of lightning illuminating the droplets beating down on the trio, who slowly pushed through the storm and made their way up to the Benbow, where Sarah and Delbert waited blissfully unaware of the events that would soon follow.

"Mom's gonna love this."