*Hey guys! Thank you all so much for your support for this fanfic. If you like this part, please give it a vote or/and comment. I would love to hear your feedback. This is published on January 4, 2020. The next part will come out today and the next episode will come out next weekend. Have a blessed day! Enjoy! Remember, the intro song will always be One Foot by Walk the Moon.*
Flashback:
Let me tell you something about Guy here. At StovePipe High, Guy was one of the most popular kids at school. In fact, Guy had won awards and competed in the athletic teams in high school. High school wasn't the worst years of Guy's life but...there's one year, specifically senior year, where everything went downhill for Guy. And it's not because of his popularity or his stupid inventions.
Guy strolled confidently through the school hallway while everyone eyed on him with pleasant smiles. He beamed back at them while approaching his locker on the top. He suddenly heard someone whimpering at the bottom locker below his. He quickly knelt down with widened eyes.
"Hello? Is someone in there?" Guy promptly questioned, hearing a sniffle.
"Guy?" A familiar voice croaked.
Guy immediately recognized who it was in the locker. "Jeffrey? What are you doing in your locker?"
"Please...let me out," Jeffrey whimpered, moving around in the locker. "Please...I'm scared."
"Okay. Okay, what's your locker combination?"
"Nineteen."
Guy turned the knob towards the number nineteen.
"Fifteen."
Guy twisted the dial once and landed on the number fifteen.
"And nine."
Guy quickly landed on the number nine and pulled down on the lock to unlock. Guy tossed the combination lock away and opened the locker door to reveal Jeffrey cornering himself in the dark and crowded corner, endless tears streaming down on his face.
"Jeffrey," Guy called softly while hearing snickering. Guy turned his head to one of the jerk kids named Billie Grayson. He's a punk with blond spikes and wearing a sports jacket and ripped jeans. Guy narrowed his brows and clenched his teeth at Billie while Jeffrey crawled out of his locker frantically. Guy shifted his attention to Jeffrey, who glared at him and Billie Grayson.
"Where were you?" Jeffrey uttered at Guy, his tears streaming still.
"What--?"
Jeffrey bolted out of the school doors, leaving Guy confused. Guy didn't chase after Jeffrey, hearing the school bell to get to his next class and trying to ignore what just happened to Jeffrey.
The school was over way too fast, which was good for Guy to go home. He strode all the way home in the pouring rain, pondering about what he's going to do for his next project. He snuck into the backyard and approached the treehouse. He figured that Jeffrey was in the tent up on the roof of the treehouse, doing his homework or something. Guy climbed up the treehouse through elevators and rope and walked through the tree branches to get to the sheet tent.
"Hey, Jeffrey--," Guy spoke up as he entered their tent but found that Jeffrey wasn't there. "Jeffrey?"
Guy looked around frantically while noticing a picture of Guy getting the praise from everyone at school while Jeffrey stayed at the dark corner in the room all by himself. He picked up the picture and turned it over to see the writing on it in black sharpie. It read:
Guy-
I hope that you will succeed in your dreams...without me. I can never compare to you and I'm done being bullied for that. So...I wish you the best and I will never see you again. Goodbye, big brother.
-Jeffrey
Guy gasped in complete shock...was Jeffrey running away?
There's no time to ponder this as Guy quickly exited out of the sheet tent and climbed down of the treehouse. He hopped over the brick wall and sprinted through the rain. His heart was racing while passing by baffled civilians, who shrugged it off as nothing. He turned sharp corners, his thoughts speeding by of reasons why Jeffrey ran away. Guy noticed Jeffrey, who just walked past the floral shop.
"Jeffrey!"
Jeffrey glanced back at Guy for a quick second and bolted through the rain away from him.
"Hey! Jeffrey, wait!" Guy cried out while he chased after Jeffrey.
Jeffrey kept running, not looking back at Guy.
"Jeffrey, stop! Stop!" Guy shouted, running out of breath. Despite Guy running out of breath, he mustered enough strength to continue running after Jeffrey.
Both brothers approached the intersection. Jeffrey sprinted across the street while being given the right of way. It's sudden that the signal changed from a person walking to a red opened hand...but Guy didn't pay attention to the signs. Before Guy could bolt into the streets, one of the people near the intersection grabbed Guy by the scruff of the back of his neck, with Guy almost getting hit by a car speeding through the green light given to them.
Guy panted while noticing Jeffrey running non-stop towards the bus station and headed inside. Without hesitation and being given the right of way, Guy bolted into the middle of the street, dodging incoming vehicles coming at him. He heard cars honking but he ignored them and made it across the street. Guy sprinted through the pouring rain to notice Jeffrey getting into the bus in the station quickly.
"Jeffrey!" Guy cried out as he busted through the doors of the bus station and was about to get to the bus until the doors closed on him. The bus immediately drove away from the station. "Jeffrey! Jeffrey, no!!! Jeffrey!!!" Guy pounded on the doors while tears edged out of his eyes.
"Is there a problem, sir?" A lady from the register counter inquired of Guy.
Guy immediately turned to her and stumbled towards the desk, panting, "My brother. He's-he's on this bus! Where is the bus heading?"
"The farthest away from Stovepipe...which should be in Floriana," The lady answered calmly.
"Can you make that bus turn around--?"
"We can't do that, sir."
"Well, can you do something?"
"I'm afraid not, sir. Unless you want to purchase the bus ticket to Floriana but you'll have to wait ten hours for the next bus ride to that place," the lady informed, expressionless.
Guy's panting calmed down while searching in his pockets for brunkels but...there was none. He can't purchase a bus ticket to get Jeffrey back. He sighed heavily while he sauntered out of the bus station gloomily.
Guy's heart shattered into millions of pieces that one stormy night. He failed...he failed to get his brother back...he didn't even chase after Jeffrey after he bolted out of school. He wanted to understand what's going on...but he failed at that too. He failed to comfort his brother since he was always busy putting people above him...now Guy wondered if that's what Jeffrey meant. Maybe what Jeffrey meant was where was Guy when his younger brother was getting shoved into a locker below his. Where was Guy at that moment when he just saw Jeffrey getting pushed around in the school hallways out of the corner of his eyes? What if he stopped those bullies from hurting Jeffrey? Was that why Jeffrey placed the picture of Guy getting all the praise while Jeffrey sat in the dark corner of the room? All of those questions still haunted Guy...all of them were never answered the more he lived without his brother.
Present:
Guy moaned in pain while feeling something soft underneath his back. He tossed his head on the pillows, having a hard time opening his eyelids while hearing someone whimpering. Guy slowly lifted his eyelids to hear a piece of faint music growing louder as he woke up from his dream. Guy noticed he's in the dark bedroom of some kind of a hole, hearing whimpering. He scooched off of the bed and warily ambled towards the living room where he spotted a familiar red fox eating a tube of chocolate ice cream with a big spoon while watching a sad romantic movie. He looked around to notice two more empty tubes of chocolate ice cream on the shelf beside the fox.
Guy raised his brow. "Michael?"
Michael, the fox, immediately turned around with his lips covered by the melted chocolate. He set the tube down and wiped away the chocolate off his lips. "Hey...stranger. Uh...Who are you again?"
"Guy."
"Oh. Yeah, I remembered you. The last time we met...we, uh--"
"You attacked us while screaming out for what's her face."
"Sandra," Michael uttered, lips quivering.
Guy raised his brow while looking around Michael's hole. "So...how did I end up here?"
"You passed out and I took you in," Michael answered plainly with a shrug.
"Alright, did you see anyone else? I mean, besides me?"
"No...if I have, I would've taken them in if they're your family."
Guy sighed deeply while sitting down on the wooden stool behind him. "Well...did you look any further or did you just see me and dragged me into your hole?"
Michael raised his brow while tilting his head. "Uh, it's foggy out there...do you expect me to go all the way out there?"
"I guess not...but I have to get back to them. I have to get back with the group."
"Oh, you're in a group?"
"Yes. I need to find them."
"Okay...who?"
"Sam...Michellee...and E.B."
There's an awkward silence while Michael pondered for a moment. "Okay...I know Sam. But I have no idea who this Michellee and E.B.---"
"Michellee is my girlfriend and E.B. is her daughter."
"Wait, what? You got hooked up with the mother of a daughter who might have a husband--!"
"Her husband had been dead for years. She's a widow."
Michael's face relaxed. "Oh...right...well, you're lucky to have the love of your life."
"What do you mean?"
"Well...I had been on the date with Sandra for a while...and her expectations were pretty high. I jumped through her hoops and comforted her when she needed me but...well, thinking about it just...makes it worst," Michael explained gloomily while scooping up a ball of ice cream and shoved it into his mouth.
Guy sat next to Michael with a sympathetic gaze. "I understand. I'm sorry about you and Sandra."
"Sandra!" Michael cried after swallowing his scoop. "She ended it all with us...saying that I wasn't good enough for her...did--did I do something wrong? Was I having mood swings? I couldn't recall that at all. I never hurt her or anything--!"
"Okay, okay," Guy soothed calmly. "It's okay...it's over now."
"It-it doesn't feel like it's over."
Guy sighed while putting a hand on Michael's shoulder. "I can understand that. But...I know this is easier said than done...but forget Sandra...there are plenty of women or vixen out there for you...maybe even hens who will love you for you. I know that this break-up takes time to heal...but that doesn't mean that you let yourself be drowned in sorrow for whatever reason you both broke up."
"But Sandra...she makes waking up in the morning worth it."
Guy shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know how else I can tell you."
"It's fine...you don't have to understand."
Guy frowned while watching the black and white television about the romantic couple crying and fighting each other while the woman just strutted away from her lover and her lover just stood there and watched. Michael kept shoving giant scoops of chocolate ice cream into his mouth while tearing up.
Guy grunted while shaking his head in discouragement. He stood up and walked over to the door to exit out of the hole. As soon as he opened the door, he quickly saw the hooded figure standing outside on the front porch. Before the assassin can charge at him, Guy immediately shut the door to block the assassin from coming inside. Michael whipped his head to notice Guy blocking the door.
"Michael, hide in the kitchen," Guy whispered to Michael, who had his brow raised.
"What's going on, man?"
"Just do as I say. Please. I don't want to put you in danger."
"What danger?"
The assassin pounded on the door, scaring both Guy and Michael.
"That danger!" Guy growled a bit at Michael.
Michael nodded and zoomed into the kitchen quickly.
Guy sprinted across the hole when the assassin busted through the door into Michael's hole. The assassin slowly crept up to him, who looked back at the assassin and tripped on the ground by some cord. He backed against the wall while the assassin slowly pulled out his blade to end Guy's life. He glared up at the assassin, drawing his brows together. The assassin slowly prowled towards him until someone swung a frying pan at the back of the figure's head. The assassin immediately stumbled and collapsed on the ground, revealing that Michael was the one holding the pan.
Guy stared up at Michael in complete shock.
"What?" Michael spoke up, oblivious to why Guy was shocked. "You think I'm gonna let someone break into my hole to kill a friend? Heck no! This guy needs to get out of my hole--."
"Wait! Not yet!"
"Not yet? Dude...he's trying to kill you."
"I know, Michael. Do you have a rope?"
"Yeah...why?"
"Because we're gonna need it."
~.~
Fifteen minutes past by in a flash while Guy and Michael already took all the weapons out of the gray cloak and tied up the unknown stranger to a chair tightly. The stranger groaned awake while noticing that he's tied up.
"Amateurs," The stranger growled at both Guy and Michael.
Guy hardened his glare at the figure. "You have a lot of explaining to do."
"Yes, you do!" Michael added after Guy.
"I don't owe any explanation to you both," The stranger snarled back at them, struggling in his bonds.
Michael rolled his eyes and gave out an exaggerated sigh. "Uh, with that attitude, you do! First off, why did you break into my hole?"
"To kill your friend there," The assassin hissed while glaring at Guy, who clenched his fists to his sides.
"Oh, okay." Michael nodded while about to be silent. Then something popped off of his head. "But wait, why do you wanna kill my friend?"
"Michael--"
"It's none of your business," The assassin interrupted while snarling at Michael.
Michael drew his brows together with a growl. "You broke into my hole and attempted to kill my friend here, uh yes, it's my business."
Guy shifted his irritating focus on the assassin. "Who sent you?"
The assassin chuckled while shaking his head. "You think you can get any answers out of me? You're dead wrong, Guy."
"Why are you hunting Sam? I know there's something more than him just being a criminal."
"I told you...you won't get an answer out of me."
Both Michael and Guy noticed the assassin trying to reach for his blade on his wrist, which caused them to smirk.
"Trying to cut your way out of it?" Guy gestured to the weapons both Michael and Guy collected from the assassin.
"Huh, you guys are smarter than I thought," The assassin admitted while glaring at both Michael and Guy. "You're still not getting answers out of me."
Michael leaned over to Guy to whisper. "How should we approach this?"
"Let me handle it," Guy muttered back while staring at the assassin.
"Alright."
Guy knelt down to make the same level eye-contact with the stranger with a hardened gaze still. "I know you're responsible for Michellee's husband's death."
"Whoa, what--?"
"I know that you killed McWinkle and Terrance...you were dead twice. How in the world do you come back to life?" Guy questioned the assassin, ignoring Michael's commentary.
"There's more of me than you think," The assassin hinted with a giggle. "You know, if my mask was off, I would've spat at your face."
"And then I would've socked you."
"Huh, never knew you were the violent type, big brother."
Guy gasped while his right eye twitched, staring at the assassin.
"Big brother?" Michael responded, his eyes bulged out.
Guy knew that no one would ever call him that name...well...except...
"...No," Guy uttered as he immediately flipped the hood off of the stranger's head to notice the stranger having goggles and mask that covered his nose and mouth. He took those off too...and then...he stepped back to get a better look at the stranger.
Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness...I'm completely speechless. I can't even say or even narrate this scene...
"Jeffrey?" Guy recognized, speechless.
To Be Continued...