But A Joke Is Funny, Right?

Luke stared dumbfounded at the boys. The blood from Luke’s forehead cut had made a small stream down his face, and was dripping of his chin now, making a small puddle of blood on the floor. If the green rag wasn’t almost choking Luke, rubbing the corners of his mouth dry, Luke would have screamed, and started bawling on the floor. But Luke was better than that. He wasn’t going to stoop to these hostile jerks’ level. Luke tried his best to wriggle his hands free of the twine that bound his wrists together. Luke tried to look tough, but could feel himself getting redder in the face. They had won. Again. For what could’ve been the billionth time in Luke’s small, twelve year life. Luke just stared, unable to believe- no he could believe. They were idiots. Stupid, laughing, idiots. Jacob was holding a ski mask in his hand, and Luke figured he was the attacker-Andy and Dave just tagged along for the ride.
At that moment Mr. Samint walked into the room,
“Hello…?” He said, a dazed expression on his face. It looked to Luke that he had just woken up from a nap, probably to the sound of Luke’s head banging on the floor.
“Luke…,” Mr. Samint stepped cautiously over the puddle of blood and came over to untie Luke
“What in the world…” Mr. Samint continued, “What happened here..?” Mr. Samint’s voice was trailing off after every sentence and Luke relaxed as the cloth that bound his mouth came off. Mr. Samint looked from Luke over to the three menacing boys.
“I-I- You- Boys,” Mr. Samint sighed, “Just tell me the story and the real story. I’ll hear your side first, boys, while Luke gets cleaned up. Luke, meet me in my office when you’re done,” Mr. Samint gestured for Luke to leave the room. He left, his head heavy with shame.
Luke exited the bathroom and walked down the hall. The cut on his head stung from the numerous globs of soap he had been forced to apply. He had a fat bandage on his forehead that made him look like some pre-dead boxer. He turned a corner and came upon Mr. Samint’s office. Luke prepared to knock on the door when he heard a loud explosion followed by a scream from down the hall. Luke peaked out into the corridor. Ms. LeBrone, the orphanage’s maid, was running down the hall frantically screaming and waving her arms about.
“Robber! There’s a robber! Call the cops! Police! Police!”
She passed Luke, not noticing him, too distracted in her chant.
The door behind Luke opened and Mr. Samint rushed out.
“What in the name is gong on..!?!” He screamed, running out and grabbing Ms. LeBone by the shoulders. He spun her around so he could face her.
“Natalya,” Mr. Samint started carefully, calling Ms. LeBone by her first name, “I want you to calmly,” Ms. LeBone interrupted Mr. Samint who shushed her quickly, “ calmly tell me what is wrong,” He finished. Ms. LeBone started to speak, her breathing heavy and panicked.
“The man... I… was cleaning... He just... Came in… Ripped apart…,” Ms. LeBone pointed down the hall to an open door. Mr. Samint released her as she hurried down the hall. Mr. Samint strode down the hall, Luke in fast pursuit.

Home: A Place For People and Pizza

Erin heard the foyer door slam shut, as a waft of cold air swept into the kitchen. Ms. Arcolff entered the room; groceries piled high in her hands. The brown bags threatened to fall over and splatter on the wooden floor.
“Here. Let me help you,” Erin said, standing up from her chair and taking some of the paper sacks out of her mom’s hands. Like a chain reaction, Jess came into the room and took some more of his mom’s arms.
“Thanks, you guys. My arms definitely don’t hurt as much,” Ms. Arcolff said with a smile, as they all put the bags down on the counter, almost unanimously. Ms. Arcolff started unloading the bags. She pulled a frozen pizza out of one.
“Put this in the oven, will you Jess?” She said, handing it over to him. He immediately started reading the instructions on the back of the box and punching numbers into the oven. Erin settled down at the table again. She stared out the window into her dismally small backyard. It was practically neglected, with it’s weeds growing up the wooden fence that separated their puny backyard from the rest of the neighborhood’s. It had seen better days-especially the overgrown vegetable garden the previous owners had tried to keep up, but had obviously failed. Ms. Arcolff was always saying how she would fix up the garden one day, but she never had, and Erin, quite frankly, believed she never would. The oven pinged and Jess slipped a baking tray with the pizza on top inside the glowing oven. Erin stared at the oven thinking about it’s warmth for no particular reason.
“Erin, dinner will be ready in twenty minutes. Why don’t you start your homework in the meantime?” Ms. Arcolff suggested, now finished unloading groceries and leaning against the counter, an exasperated look on her face.
“Kay mom,” Erin replied standing up and walking towards the door. She opened it and was immediately blasted with a wave of cold air. She stepped onto the cold concrete step, letting the door swing shut behind her. She hugged her arms around her, as she made the dangerous trek to the car. The cold from the driveway seeped into her socks and sent chills through her body. She reached the car and pulled the door open. Erin found her backpack on the floor, nestled between two seats. Pulling it out, she got ready to head back to the house. Her house. A safe haven. Erin turned on heel and ran back to just that place.

Dead On

The man in black roughly pushed Luke forward onto the shag carpet that covered the orphanage’s lobby floor. Luke’s chin hit the ground and pain shot through him. He tried to spin around, to get a good look at his attacker, but before he could do so the man was on top of him. The mystery man grabbed Luke’s hair, pulling then quickly letting go allowing Luke’s head to slam onto the ground. Luke could feel hot blood trickling down his forehead. The man half snarled, half gurgled and spit onto the ground, narrowly missing Luke’s cheek. Before Luke had time to think, the man had produced a length of twine from his pocket. He started binding Luke’s hands behind his back. Luke squirmed, but failed miserably, as he could only move his feet. The man, done binding Luke’s hands, had moved onto his legs. Now Luke couldn’t move anything. He was stiff as a board, and almost as dead as a Thanksgiving turkey. The man switched positions, now putting more weight on Luke’s upper back, rather than his lower. He started shoving a lime green cloth into Luke’s mouth. Luke almost tasted blood, as the cloth was pulled back, tightening on the corners of his forced smile, and tied around his head. The man, now off Luke’s back, had pulled on the twine binding his hands. Luke stumbled to his feet, looking bedraggled and ghoulish, right as two people jumped out of the nearby broom closet. Luke lokked down expecting another beating, but instead a huge, white flash filled the room. Then another and another. Luke counted six flashes before the room was filled with its normal shade of darkness. When Luke’s eyes adjusted, he took in his surroundings. Luke didn’t believe what he saw. Two boys lay silently laughing on the floor, one of them holding a bright yellow, Kodak disposable camera. Weakly, sound returned to their voices, and hideous laughter filled the room. Luke was shoved against a wall, and his attacker joined the two laughing boys on the other side of the lobby, with a lower laugh than the other two screechers. Anger had returned to Luke for the second time that day, like an old friend coming back for more. The three laughing idiots were Jacob, Andy, and Dave.

NOTICE

I'm an author ( a very good one, might I add...) and authors don't write a good story ( which this one is, might I add...) without changing something. The post entitled The Prophecy has been "revised". It's mostly the same except... Well... I'll let you read it.

Sincerely,
Mr.E

A Phone Call From Mom

The red Ford rumbled onto the cracked driveway of Arcolff's house. The car bumped as it hit the almost invisible cracks in the pavement. Jess parked by an old chrysanthemum bush near the front of the house. Erin sluggishly opened the car and jumped out, her shoes landing against the driveway with a slap. Jess was standing by the door holding it open for Erin.
"C'mon," Jess said from the doorstep, "it's freezing here!"
"I'm comin', I'm comin'," Erin replied as she slipped past Jess into the mudroom of the small cottage-like house. She kicked her shoes off. They hit the wall with a bang before falling limply onto the linoleum floor, laces still tied. Erin entered the kitchen, Jess in close pursuit. Erin walked over and sat down on one of the four small chairs snuggled under the miniscule table. Jess went over to the sink and poured two sodas into a tall glasses. He threw the cans away and came over to Erin with the sodas in hand. He pulled a seat out across from her and sat down giving her the tall glass of bubbly liquid.
"He'll be alright. I promise," Jess said to Erin. Erin didn't respond. The telephone rang. Erin ignored it and Jess got up to answer it. Erin sat and looked around. She loved her brother, and her mom, but sometimes she wish she could just leave her life. She didn't mind the leaks and groans from the old house most of the time. She had moved away from her old neighborhood when her father had died. Her mother had been unable to pay the mortgage on their old house, so they had been forced to move here. The house was fine. Erin actually sometimes enjoyed the cozy feel of the fire as she watched Full House snuggled underneath her favorite blanket on the sagging couch. The house didn't bother her that much. What did bother her was the teasing she had to endure at school. The kids had made up nasty rhymes and nick names for her. One group of girls had even made up a jump rope song about her. Erin, Erin, she ain't no baron;Cries about daddy, no one carin'... Erin just wanted to scream at them, tell them to shut up and stop being so nasty... Jess burst her thoughts as he entered the room and scraped his chair out from where he had messily left it.
"That was mom," He said, "she's on her way home."
Erin smiled.

Jacob, Andy and Dave

Luke continued down the street, staring at the ground, hands in his coat pockets, hair snuggled neatly under his woolen ski hat. Luke loved and hated these walks at the same time. He loved them because Luke loved the outdoors and nature. But he hated them a lot more because they were, as Luke sometimes called them, dread walks. Any time he was walking down this street, he was normally going back to the orphanage, which Luke dreaded. Luke hated it there. The food wasn't very good, the rooms were very small, and, the number one reason, Jacob, Andy, and Dave were there. They were mean. Luke didn't really hate them because they teased him. Almost all the boys there did. Even the headmaster, Mr. Samint, teased Luke sometimes, although not as cruelly as some of the others. At first, Luke actually didn't really know why he hated Jacob, Andy, and Dave so much. Then it had dawned on him one afternoon, and to this day, Luke truly believed that he hated them because he was jealous. They were all brothers; Mr. Samint's step children. They weren't related by blood. They were all step brothers to each other. Mr. Samint had bought the orphanage off an old couple who were selling it at half price. It had already been an orphanage when he bought it, so by law, when he bought it, he technically bought, and now owned, all the orphans inside. He had immediately adopted Jacob, Andy, and Dave right out of his own orphanage. Luke remembered that. He had been so upset. To this da, Luke hardly thought it fair that they had been chosen. Because their step father owned the building they got the biggest room all to themselves, and got to to virtually do what ever they want. Luke hated it. He looked up. He knew exactley when to turn and subconciousley, he had found himself in front of Samint's Orphanage. Luke pushed inside. The second he stepped on the rug, he was shoved roughly to the ground. The room spun as Luke fell back onto the hard, rotting, wood floor. Luke looked up dizzily, the orphanage lobby swimming around his head. He felt something pressed against his temple. He turned his head slightly and saw a man in a dark shirt, dark pants and a ski mask on. Luke's brain went into overdrive. He went slightly cross eyed to see what the man was pressing against his skull. It was a gun.

Searched

Erin leaned her head against the car window as it sped down the highway. Other cars passed in the opposite direction as Jess's beat up Ford rumbled past.
"Cheer up, Erin," he said taking a quick glance in the rear view mirror before returning his eyes to the road. "I know you're upset," Jess continued, "But he'll be fine. Mr. Monroe's tough. He'll push through," Jess honked the car horn as a navy blue pick up truck sped past.
"Thanks Jess," Erin said, half smiling as she continued to look out the window. Her reflection was shown in the glare from the sun.
"What the-" Jess started. A police car was parked farther up the highway and was stopping every car that passed, looking in the window, and waving it on. A person a few cars behind Jess's screamed out the window, his complaint echoing off the nearby hills. The police man either didn't hear the man, or ignored him, because he kept his one-minute process going. Stop, look, wave. Stop, look, wave. The car in front of Jess's was sent on as Jess pulled up parallel to the police car. The police officer knocked on the driver's window and Jess rolled it down. The officer had a dark mustache that completely covered his mouth. His eyes were covered by dark sunglasses that provided contrast to his badged, blue uniform. He bent over and peered into the car.
"Is there a problem officer?" Jess asked looking around the car, trying to see if some hostage had magically appeared in the back seat or something. The police man didn't answer, but continued his search. He looked around for a bit more before pulling his head out of the car.
"Yer' good," he said with a swipe of his hand, indicating Jess to continue moving. Jess moved the car forward, and soon they were speeding down the highway once more. Erin turned around in her seat and peered out the back window. The police man was performing the same search on the car that had been behind Jess's.'Strange,' she thought. Erin had no idea that she would encounter that same man again. If she and Jess had known, they would've just sped past the police man, trying to push him out of their minds, not wanting to think about what would have happened if they had stopped. But neither Erin or Jess had known about this. They'd stopped.