Imrahil collapsed on his bed, it had been so long since he had slept on the soft surface…
Long ago in a house in Ohio
Imrahil snapped awake, a panic had taken the household, as Shadow had seemingly vanished.
“Perhaps he’s just out for a walk, though he wouldn’t forget to tell Berry where… would he?” Imrahil’s thoughts were racing…
Suddenly he snapped back to reality as his door creaked open to reveal Shade, looking at the floor out of embarrassment for what he had done.
His voice was a small squeak almost
“I won this prize and… I thought I could make it up to you by inviting you, it’s to Florida. I invited Faenor and Chaz”
In a dark basement…
Berry cracked open the door,
“Sliding his head in like he was ashamed to ask for help, he was a good kid sure, but a bit quiet.”
Morgoth’s narrating filled the dark room before Berry said anything
“Right… I was hoping you could find Shadow, he’s been gone for an hour!”
“The lad was obviously in shock, he’d need my help, and I couldn’t refuse him…”
Somewhere over the United States
Chaz was muttering about having to fly First Class like a “Bourgeoise” though his complaints were discarded. Imrahil meanwhile was thumbing through pages of the book he got at the airport, he regretted the choice. What he thought was a history book, was in fact about time travelling white supremacists giving Lee AK-47s. Faenor was attempting to sleep, he’d been forced to the car before he could finish packing books, so he’d not gotten enough for the flight. Shade, unlike Faenor, had fallen into an easy sleep and had no knowledge of any of the current goings.
As they left the airport, they packed their bags into the car waiting for them and crawled into the two cramped cars. After hours of driving, the cars stopped at a gas station in a small town. Chaz began fidgeting after their driver’s not returning for minutes, suddenly though, the window shattered as gas flooded both his and the other car.
Hours later, they awoke, dazed and confused, they were on the pavement where the cars had once been, all of them without any items now.
Imrahil looked at Shade bewildered “What was that?! We just got gassed and robbed and… oh no…”
A sudden realization crept over Imrahil, one which spelled doom for him should he fail to correct it… he’d forgotten to call off his date. As Imrahil began to panic, he realized, he still had the tickets Shade had given him, the tickets for a week in the motel. Across the road they saw an ugly building, paint falling off and a half broken sign, it read “Daron Motel” like the tickets did. The four of them walked into the motel, a crabby old woman standing at the desk.
“What do you want?” her voice had a low growl to it
It seemed Faenor had no care for her hostility, as he spoke up quickly
“We would require bedding as this place exists to provide, we have our prepaid tickets here… strange thing to have, tickets, for a motel…”
The woman gave a sort of snort as she led them to their rooms, she made no sound as she brought them to two rooms and left. Chaz began to unpack his things alongside Imrahil, the room seemed too dirty for even the roaches to come in, or more likely, they were hiding. Upon unpacking though, they both left in search of food. On their quest for food, they stumbled upon a diner, where they found some locals already and a friendly looking man at the counter who smiled when they walked in.
“What can I do for you friends? Since you’re new, there’s a 5% discount for your first week.”
Having mentioned a discount, the two had remembered their lack of funds. Fortunately a man tripped, knocking over a waitress, as the man at the counter ran over, the two ran for the exit. Hungry and in a strange place, with a soggy bed to sleep in, how did the four of them ever get to this point.
Imrahil woke up the next morning, he felt a crawling on his left arm and leg, as he looked he saw roaches all over. Screaming in terror and flailing his body around, they scattered and he ran out of the room, though no one gave any notice as he did all this. Come to think of it, Chaz wasn’t in sight, he couldn’t have gotten that far could he?
Chaz sat at the diner, a crowd around him, listening to his every word as if it were that of god. As Chaz went on, they seemed even more excited, he finished his speech and the crowd dispersed. Minutes later, bacon and egg came out to Chaz, he noticed a man from the crowd tip their hat when it arrived. He began stuffing the contents of the plate into his mouth, little regard for basic table manners. As Chaz was finishing the last of his food up, Imrahil walked in, giving him a look of complete confusion, his words sounded like he had ate sandpaper.
“Where’d you get that?”
Chaz simply smiled and pointed to the man who had tipped their hat before. Imrahil sat down next to Chaz on the breaking stool, as if on command, a plate with bacon and eggs, as well as a coffee came to Imrahil, which he hungrily devoured. Upon completion of their breakfast, the two returned with leftovers to the motel. Both Faenor and Shade were more than grateful for the food, which Shade got more of as he got to the second egg first.
The four of them left the motel, all in different directions. Imrahil found some change on the ground, two quarters one of the state of Florida another of Ohio.
Meanwhile in Ohio
“It was too cliche to think Berry would use his being the one to report Shadow as cover, which is exactly why he wouldn’t expect me to think it.”
Morgoth narrated this in his usual detective voice. He began looking around the treehouse, looking for some indication of where Shadow might have gone, when it hit him like a sack of bricks. Literally. Everything went black, he regained consciousness, his arms and legs were bound to a chair. Looking around the room, it appeared to be the basement.
“My own office, what better place to put me, everyone knows i’m on the case, they’d never think to find me in here”
His narration was cut off by the clearing of one’s throat, looking in the direction, he saw a figure step out of the shadows. The figure of Berry menacing him.
“Uhh Morgoth, sorry to bother you as you’re in the middle of pretending to be tied up after I dragged you here, but, I brought you an ice pack after those cans of Cola fell off the shelf and hit you.”
Morgoth pushed the ice cold surface of the pack to his head, having cautiously taken it from Berry’s hand. Morgoth quickly bolted out the door, ice pack still on his head, he rushed up the stairs and then into the living room, looking behind him, as Berry chased after.
“Morgoth! LOOK OUT FOR THE WALL!”
Of course, he was too smart to fall for such a ploy. After all, everyone knows the wall is a yard to the left of him.
Back in Florida
It was their fourth day in the town, yet no sight of help. The two of them sat bored in the room together, watching the local news as it was the only channel and they’d burned through their book supply.
Shade broke the silence
“Weren’t there four of us?”
Imrahil nodded in turn
“Where’s Chaz, come to think of it, where’s Faenor?”
The two shrugged and went back to the news. Imrahil fumbled around for the remote, turning up the volume as he was tired from the poor sleep he had and was having trouble focusing. Yelling could be heard from outside the window, followed shortly by the sound of Faenor in pain, the two rushing outside found him being put into a police cruiser which drove off as they had left.
As the two chased after the cruiser, a mob was torching city hall, a podium had been propped up and they saw what looked like Chaz speaking at it.
“Brothers in arms! Today we throw away the chains the Bourgeoisie
have given us, let the Proletariat revolt begin!”
With that the crowd took up chants of “CHAZ” the chants died down as cars drove in from all directions, blocking them in. Secret Service agents came flying out, guns leveled at the crowd. Out of a limo, stepped a familiar face which should have been in Ohio.
“Chaz Wiki, Imrahil Wiki and Shade Wiki. In the car, NOW! I had to cut short a rally for a senator here, it’s a close race, so get in the car before I make you walk home.” Dragon’s voice seemed more irritated than angry persay.
As the three of them slunk into the car, they drove away, not even noticing Faenor in the front. The ride to the airport was silent, as they boarded the airplane, they saw the “long lost” brother, Shadow.
“Hey guys! What are you doing here?” Shadow’s joyful voice was almost overwhelming.
The flight to Ohio and the car ride home was filled with Shadow’s telling of his own trip and the four of their own. As the car pulled up, Imrahil sprinted into the house, running into Morgoth and knocking him over, and quickly showered. After his shower, he bolted out the door, running over Morgoth who was still lying on the floor, and out the door, where he hopped into his car. As he turned the ignition, he noticed the empty tank.
“No i’m going to be late, Mandy is gonna kill me and i’m…”
Suddenly, the door opened as Dragon motioned for Imrahil to follow him, which he did out of lack of choice. They drove in the opposite direction of his date however.
“Um, Uncle Dragon, wrong way…” Imrahil was clearly nervous he’d miss his date now…
Imrahil received no response, as they stopped at a helipad, there they got out and into the helicopter, where Dragon whispered something to the pilot and they took off. The helicopter zoomed to Imrahil’s destination, where a ladder dropped off which Imrahil descended. Upon descending the ladder, Imrahil ran to Mandy who had also just arrived. Imrahil could only hope to explain all this.