Trespasser (Part XV)

Posted on May 23, 2015 by R. Richardsson

The floorboards creaked with the comforting familiarity only years of intimacy could bring. The sounds were a soothing, gentle reminder to the end of a long day. He paused only once, on the final stages of he journey, as he looked in through a cracked door and upon a small sleeping figure inside.

She was curled up deep beneath her blankets, softly snoring, where she would remain safe until the morning. A long sigh escaped his lips, partly from exhaustion, but mostly from the frustration of knowing the things that Davie had recently shared with him. It might as well have been spoken in another language.

He couldn’t imagine any harm ever coming to his little monkey-butt, his sunshine when the skies are gray, and the very thought that she could be in danger had put him in a very dark place.

What did they even know about Andy anyways? Handy-Andy, who seemed to know a little about everything, had given him little cause to be suspicious. But then there were the pictures. Why the hell was he taking pictures of her, and what could he be using them for?!

He could feel his blood pressure beginning to rise. His cheeks grew hot, and the blood thundered through his veins. His nostrils flared as he struggled to get his breathing under control, but his emotions got the better of him. Hot tears leaked from the corners of his eyes as he fought away the dark images haunting him.

“The fuck,” he whispered to nobody in particular. His words were full of anguish, born from a day overflowing with hardships heavier than he was accustomed to bearing.

“Daddy?”

He nearly jumped out of his skin when her little voice broke the silence.

“Is that you,” she asked sleepily.

“Yes pumpkin,” he answered softly. “Go back to sleep.”

The weight melted from his shoulders when she spoke, chased away by his absolute love for her.

“What time is it?”

“It’s late, kiddo, that’s all you need to know.”

As he answered her, he crossed the room and approached her from the right side of her bed. Then, as she crawled back up to her pillow, he sat on the edge of the bed where they shared a brief hug.

“Nessa,” he asked softly.

“Yeah daddy?”

“You would tell me if there was something wrong, wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah daddy,” she answered. He peered searchingly into her confused eyes, seeking for any signs that might indicate otherwise, but there was only the innocence he knew.

“What’s the matter daddy?”

“Nothing baby,” he answered before placing a kiss on her forehead. “I just worry.”

“Don’t worry,” she said sweetly. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

He smiled as he tucked her in, pausing only to give her another kiss before turning to leave. It was amazing how quickly she’d changed the direction of the dark tides rolling inside of him, with only a single word.

“I love you daddy,” she said as he slowly closed the door behind him.

“I love you too, Nessa,” he said with a smile.

He turned to walk down the hall and by the time he got to his room, he had nearly forgotten everything but the last few minutes. Not much longer after that and even those were a distant memory. Twenty hours after waking, he finally returned into sleep’s embrace.

The Morelli Bros. (Chapter I, Part VIII)

Posted on May 4, 2015 by R. Richardsson

“Goomba!”

Like many a nameless Bond villain, the creatures announced their presence as one. A quick count put their numbers at a dozen, a formidable number had they been people, but these beings didn’t seem to be all that intelligent. While their eyes glared at him with malevolence, they continued to slowly march forward despite what he had done to their brethren.

He noticed, as well, that they didn’t come as a single group, but rather, in small groups of two or three at most.

“Luigi,” he commanded with authority. “Flip!”

His brother, who was still recovering from their sudden trip to Neverland, rose into a crouch and laced his hands, palms up, before him. With a final nod to show that he was ready, Mario launched himself into action. His legs pumped beneath him as he charged toward his brother. It was a move he had practiced many times with his sibling, one he was normally more comfortable with when using a vertical barrier, and was something he had thought of for just such an occasion.

His brother, who was every bit as strong as he, gave his hands to him as an impromptu spring. Mario’s right foot found the pocket they had created, and in the next second, his left foot landed on Luigi’s right shoulder. The younger of the two then redirected his momentum and launched him with all his might. The effect couldn’t have been more perfect, for the older Morelli now flew up and away from him, spinning in mid-air to face the attacking creatures.

As Mario came down upon the leading trio, Luigi sprung to his feet and ran towards a duo that were now branching off in his direction. Unlike the other, who leapt with the grace of practice, Luigi jumped into the air with his legs still pumping as wildly as if they had never left the ground.

“Wa-HOO,” Mario yelled to the side of him, where he was using the natural sponginess of the creatures to bounce from one to the next. Luigi laughed, but his merriment was cut short when he made his first contact with one of the Goomba creatures. He watched in horror as the fungal creature burst beneath him, its intestines jettisoning from a large split in the creature’s side. Unlike any digestive system he’d ever heard about, this creature’s was every bit the nature of its body. They were dark green, covered in slime, and emitted a smell worse than any sewer he had ever worked around.

He had nearly slipped from the top of the creature’s chitinous dome when it reached its lowest point, and his recovery was even worse. While Mario continued to bounce from one creature to the next, he had to do everything in his power to just maintain his sense of momentum. Unlike his brother, after the second of the two splooshed beneath him, he found himself over-compensating the anticipated launch, and instead of leaping gracefully into the air, he flew straight out and face planted, hard, into the dirt.

Luigi felt the air rush out of him as he hit the ground. Stunned, he looked into the eyes of another of the foul creatures.

Trespasser (Part XIV)

Posted on May 2, 2015 by R. Richardsson

The drive home was agonizing. Not only did his thoughts torture him the entire way, but so too did his aching muscles. The only comfort was the low rumble of the engine in his 1984 Ford pickup. The horses thundered when he pressed down on the pedal, but at a steady speed, like the one he was cruising at now, it sounded as a stampede would from a mile away.

From time to time, his eyes would begin growing heavy, but he would catch himself with a quick jerk of the head. It was a small movement, violent, and its only intention was to shake the sleep from his bones, but it wasn’t going to work for much longer. As he rolled down the window for a little fresh air, he replayed the short conversation with Davie in his head.

“It’s about Vanessa. Even now, she’s…”

She’s, what? Getting into some sort of trouble? That wasn’t very likely, but then again, he hadn’t been around much, as of late. With the extra shifts he’s had to cover, there have been times when days would pass before he had a chance to sit down and relax with his family.

He tried to imagine the mischief that she could be getting herself into, but nothing even came close to believable in his eyes. Could she be stealing? Not very likely. She spent most of her time lost in her own imagination, and material objects were only as precious as she made them out to be. She still played with that unfinished figurine of hers!

Just that thought alone ruled out any destructive behaviour. Most times, she didn’t move from one spot for hours, so it wasn’t very likely that she was tearing the neighborhood up. She was loud, at the very most, and that wasn’t very often. There were times when he’d be working outside and he’d have to stop just to make sure she was still there.

“Ugh,” he moaned wearily. While he was almost home, three o’clock was just around the corner. Six came even sooner. But before he could lay down, he had a promise to keep. Davie was waiting up, with whatever important information that he thought he needed to know, and if anything, he was a man of his word.

As he fought to stifle off another yawn, he tightened his knuckles around the wheel in determination. Only twenty more minutes stood between him and the answers to his questions. Hopefully, only a half an hour stood between him and his bed.