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The Holiday season has passed, and as everyone gets back into the natural flow, a guy dressed in a Santa suit, with a sack full of bombs, decides to give everyone a gift to remember.
"Santa needs to lose some weight," Kelly said as she walked through the improved hallway in the high school with Volo and Larry. "Okay, now that came out of no where," Volo said. "Well, he does. Fat is no longer considered sexy." "It was considered sexy?" "Actually, it meant you were very rich," Larry corrected. "Which, usually was sexy to the people back in the day." Volo scratched his spiky black hair. "Okay, whatever. Are you going to do a column about this, Kelly?" "I guess." Then a rushed, feminine voice from behind startled them. "Hey, guys." They turned around and saw a tall woman with light, brown hair. Her dark blue dress rippled in the air as she approached the three curious friends. "I'm Mindy White, the new student teacher," she introduced, holding out her gentle hand to shake. "You must be Kelly, the editor of Chaos Control, right?" "Yeah, that's me," Kelly said, taking her hand and briefly shaking it. "And this is Larry and Volo." "Vovo?" "It's Volo," he corrected. "I'm sorry about that. Well, anyway I just heard that you keep in touch with the local news, being editor and all. If you could let me know if anything interesting happens, okay? I like to keep tabs on local news." "Yeah, sure. Slaughterville is a rather small town and you're probably hear about anything at the same time I do." Mindy shrugged. "Well, I am new here, so I don't know how fast news travels. It was pleasure meeting you guys. I'll seeya later." She turned away and walked garishly down the modernistic hallway. The newly rebuilt futuristic hallways could not begin to compare to her magnificence beauty. She had a smooth way of walking and talking, but there was a part of her that seemed a little rough to the friends. Kelly turned around and the guys followed her. "If Jason was still here," Larry went on, "he would say, 'Damn, she is hot' or something like that..." They nodded in agreement, and like a sad, old newspaper, they went to their Human Physiology class and soon forgot Mindy. They would soon see her again. "The tibia is situated at the medial side of the leg, and, except the femur, is the longest bone of the skeleton," Ms. Redus lectured. With a ruler, she pointed at the bone on her real skeleton, not a fake plastic one, but a real one that Close to the Ground bought. The new student teacher was correcting papers while Larry and Kelly were hastily taking notes in class. Volo on the other hand was flipping his black pen between his fingers. Off in his world, the pen flew out of his and onto the floor. He tried to pick it up without Ms. Redus seeing him, but he was not lucky. "Volo," she said. "What can you tell me about the tibia?" Volo picked up his pen. "Huh...It's the second longest bone in the body." "That's good," she said and turned around and pointed at another bone. "It also enters into the knee-joint," he went on. "In the male, its direction is vertical, and parallel with the bone of the opposite side; but in the female it has a slightly oblique direction downward and lateral ward, to compensate for the greater obliquity of the femur." Ms. Redus turned around. "For someone who knows his bones, he sure doesn't show it." Volo shrugged. Ms. Redus turned back to the skeleton and continued the lesson. The information she was teaching them may or may not save their lives. The students were worried about the test, but there were much greater troubles to concern. There is always something to worry about even more. Rob Stoker stepped outside of his wretched home. His messy red and white hair yawned with fresh air as he took a deep breath. He let out a nasty cough and then he spitted on the dead grass. He felt an itch and scratched himself. "This cursed nice weather is such a tether," he complained as he scratched his greasy white shirt that barely held in his huge, hairy gut. "Blast all this joy and all of its ploy. Soon this shall end my friend for I will be enjoying my life as I'm destroying this town that is so annoying." He smiled a most evil smile. Thankfully, his lips cover his yellow teeth for it would have been the evilest smile of all. At a new, round five-chair oak table, Volo, Kelly, and Larry sat together eating lunch. Volo and Kelly ate the school's cheese pizza while Larry, as always, brought his lunch from home. "These new tables are pretty groovy," Volo said. With her mouth full of food, Kelly added, "But not as cool as these pizzas." She swallowed her bite. "You should start buying school lunch now that Close to the Ground hooks the school up with some good food." "Hi, guys," Mindy interrupted before Larry could reply. "Do you mind if I eat with you?" Volo looked at Larry. "Have you done anything wrong to make a teacher want to eat with us?" "What? No, don't be stupid." He turned to Mindy. "Sure, you can sit with us Ms. White." Mindy sat between Volo and Kelly. "Thanks. So, how have you guys been?" "Bummed as usual," Kelly said. "Been that way pretty much every since..." She paused, not wanting to finish her sentence. "Jason was killed," Mindy finished. "Yeah, we were pretty close, but then things just didn't go his way..." They were silent for a moment, remembering how Jason gave up his life to save them. "I know that you guys must wish he was here with you." "We don't believe in wishes," Volo interrupted. Then he went on to give his little wishes speech. "People need to see the difference between dreams, wishes, and goals. Dreams and wishes are alike, but wishes are more for the lazy and cowardly. Goals are things that can actually be accomplished if a person works hard and never gives up." "Wow, that is very deep," Mindy said. "Where did you hear that from?" "It was something I wrote in an essay." "Well, that was good. You should write more often." "I'm not much of a writer." "You never know unless you try." "There's not a whole lot of things around here that are good for inspiration," Kelly said. "And I should know." Mindy took a bite out of her cheesy pizza. "Yeah. Though I haven't been here for long, I can tell it is rather dull. I wish it wasn't though." Volo, Larry, and Kelly stopped eating. Larry sat down his soft drink. "This sucks." Pondering his life while dressed in a Santa outfit, Rob Stoker walked carelessly through the old downtown of Slaughterville. In his big red sack were not presents for good little boys and girls, but some heavy explosives for those he thought were naughty. "Would all be glad, if I were dead?" he rhymed. "Could I perhaps kill them instead?" Something did not seem right to Rob. He looked around. He was no longer in the downtown area. Instead, he stood in front of the high school. "This is quite odd with a nod." He shrugged and walked inside the unsuspecting high school. "What's wrong?" Mindy asked. "Was it something I said?" "Oh, it's nothing," Kelly lied. "Don't worry about it." "Ho, ho, ho," Rob's voice boomed. All eyes were on him and his gun. Volo muttered a cuss word under his breath. Thoughts for a solution cranked through his mind. No matter how fast his gears turned, he would not be the one to stop him. Mindy secretly slid up her dress a bit, and pulled her handgun out from her holder. It only took one shot for her to hit Rob. The students ducked for cover as he slowly fell to the floor. "A crap in a trap," Rob moaned. Rob died. His plan died. The bombs never exploded. Excitement did come and Volo and his friends were happy the wish ended peacefully. Yet, it ended with a mystery. Everyone in school wanted to know why Mindy was armed. "Why did you have a gun with you?" Kelly asked her after the police came and took Rob's body away. "I'm an undercover detective," she explained. "I've been trying to track down Rob Stoker a.k.a. the Santa Slayer for years now. He was always ahead of me, but that's all changed now." Everything had changed, yet everyone thought it was the same. Volo and his friends had no idea that Mindy might not be able to save them again. Peace was going to leave them again sooner than they could believe. Wishes never end easily. Two days had passed since Rob died. No one forgot him. It was a small town, and so they never had much to discuss in the first place. Mindy was still a student teacher, but everyone knew her secret. She stayed mainly to help the students cope with what they had witnessed. While the people were adjusting, a force was about to rip through the peace and bring a second helping of chaos. Cold and dead, Rob laid on a chilly examination table in the body storage room. Slaughterville did not have a hospital, so he was up north in Norman. A young doctor, just out of college, was examining a body not far from Rob's. Dead people did not gross her out. She had seen far worse things - bodies ripped from limb to limb, people starved, children hanged, and other horrible sights. The emotion of disgust did not exist, as it should be for a doctor. The door to the room swung open. She looked up from the body. She saw nothing except the swinging wooden door. "Hello," she called out. "Is there something I can help you with?" "Yes, there is," a voice from below spoke. The doctor looked down. Three elfish men, dressed in Christmas elf clothing, looked up her. The doctor chucked. "You guys do know that is January, right?" "Never make fun of the uniform," one of the elves said. "Just for that," said another elf as he pulled out a switchblade. "You can die." At once, all three elves knocked her down as she screamed. The biggest of the three quickly sat on her face as the other two repeatedly stabbed her in the chest until she died. "Okay guys," said the big elf. "Let's get what we came for." They walked over to the examination table where Rob rested. An elf pulled out a large body bag decorated like Santa's gift bag. Not before long, they stuffed Rob inside, and then they walked out of the building, unnoticed. "So, do you guys want to play questions?" Kelly asked Volo and Larry as they walked home from school through the downtown area. Questions had simple rules, but it was a hard game. The players could only speak in questions. They couldn't ask wild questions, repeat ones, or rephrase the previous question. It was game the three played often, seeing that there wasn't much to do. They would rotate in order. The first one to respond went second, then the other person went next, and it kept going on until the game was called. "What kind of questions are you gonna ask?" Larry asked. "How about questions that make no sense?" Volo said. "What is your definition of sense?" Kelly responded. "Should we have a definition of sense in our vocabulary?" "Don't we have a basic vocabulary?" "Should we ask our parents or our friends about that?" "Who are your friends?" "Were we supposed to remember their names?" "Do you guys remember writing them down?" "I don't remember," Larry said. "Not in question form!" Kelly said. "Do you think this is getting boring?" Volo asked. "Yeah, it kind of is," she replied. "Not in question form," Volo said. "I win." Kelly punched Volo on the arm. "You tricked me!" "It was fair." A gunshot went off. Alarmed, Volo looked around. "What was that?" "Don't even start that," Kelly said. "I think that might've been a gunshot." "Well, go check it out, Volo," Larry dared. "You're the one with super powers." Volo called him a coward as he led the way up a city block. They turned into the nearest alley where they thought the sound came from. Three elfish men carried the body of Mindy further into the dim alley. They had shot her. "Hey, what are you doing?" Volo demanded as he went after them. Kelly and Larry stayed behind for they knew not to get in his way. He could handle things. "Reindeer crap," cursed the smallest elf. "Let's get out of here." The middle sized elf pulled out a small green pouch from his outside pocket suit as they dragged the body. He tossed it on the ground, not trying to hit anything in particular. As soon as the bag landed, a tall red and green brick wall grew from the bag and blocked Volo's path. Volo slowed as he approached the wall. He moved his arm back, and with a mighty swing, he punched the wall. The wall still stood there, unharmed. Volo on the other hand was hurting as he pranced around in pain, cussing. "I should've destroyed that wall," he said as he walked back to his friends. Kelly held his hand and inspected it for damage. "It must have some magical powers." "I figured that one out as soon as the wall appeared," Larry said. "Damn elves," Volo mumbled. "I wonder what they want with Mindy's body?" "Should we consult the magic eight ball?" Larry asked. Kelly and Volo gave him the look. "Sorry. Well, what should we do now?" "Let's go to my place and see if we can't figure out what's going on," Volo said as he took his hand away from Kelly and rubbed it some more. His friends replied with a nod and they hurried to his house. In a candle lit room, bombs were stringed throughout the room like a decorated Christmas tree for the big attack. It was for the next step in the elves' flawless plan. The three elves formed a triangle around Mindy's laid out body, finishing up their current step. The big elf held an ancient silver knife with mystic carvings engraved on it. He stepped up to the body. "With the blood of his killer, he shall rise again," he chanted. The other two chanted his words as the big elf made a triangular cut above her heart. "Rob Stoker shall be reborn!" The other two repeated him as he stabbed her in the center of the triangle. Mystic lights surged from out of her heart and flowed over and into Rob's mouth not far from them as they chanted some Latin. Rob's body began to heal and no longer look dead. The lights stopped. The elves stopped chatting. Rob's eyes opened in horror. "So, what do we know about Mindy that would make someone want to kill her?" Volo, Kelly, and Larry thought about the question in Volo's room. His room was rather big and empty. He had a worn out two-seated brownish red couch, which Larry and Volo were sitting on while Kelly paced back and forth. She stopped, and let herself fall on the big king-size bed. "We could use my computer and check," Volo said. His computer was a state of the art, running on the Eternity operating system. "No, I already looked up a bunch of stuff about her after she killed Rob," she said. "Yeah, she killed Rob, a.k.a. the Santa Slayer," Larry said in a mocking tone. "Wait a second. Weren't those guys dressed as elves, Volo?" "Your right, they were. You don't suppose they're with him?" Kelly sat up. "Well, I think with that brick wall they're up to some serious evil." Volo opened his door, raced downstairs, and out of the house. Kelly and Larry followed. With one mighty kick, Volo knocked down the wooden door to an abandoned building in the downtown. The three elves stopped working with the bombs and faced Volo, Kelly, and Larry. Rob simply stood there, holding a gun to his side. "I knew you guys couldn't carry that body too far," Volo teased. "You're too late, pigs," the skinny elf said. "This place is going to blow in a minute, and you won't be able to get pass us." With a scream of fury, each of the three elves raced toward one of the three friends as Rob stared at Volo with disbelief. Without any emotion, Rob lifted up his gun and shot the elf heading toward Volo in the head. Then he shot the other elves in the head before they could ask him what he was doing. By his slouched body and tortured eyes, they knew he did not want to kill him them. Rob wanted to die. "You look familiar to me," Rob said to Volo, making direct eye contact. "Don't I know you from somewhere?" "Not that I know of." Rob shrugged and turned around. "You guys better get out of here. This place is going to blow up in a second." "Why did you save us?" Kelly asked. Without facing them, he replied, "I've been to Hell." He stepped to the center area of the bombs where he suddenly turned around. "Wait I second. Now I remember. Your parents wanted me to tell you that everything is going to be fine." "My parents! What are you talking about?" "Don't worry about it, Volo. Just get out of here and make the world happy." Volo tried to walk forward, but Kelly and Larry grabbed a hold of him and dragged him away. "How do you know about my parents?" he shouted. "Just, get out of here," Rob said, depressed. "Things will make sense later." After a moment of trying to escape, he gave in as they ran out of the death trap. They made it across the empty street when bombs attacked. They had their backs turned when the explosion when off. They never did look back at it. There was no reason to. Volo sighed. "Come on, guys. Let's go home." |