Inferno: Experiment 666

Chapter Ten: Night Spent Together

Finished on Sunday, July 26, 2015 at 14:31:46 Central Daylight Time

…Later That Night…

Earl returned to the house after smoking his cigarette to find Inferno lying in bed, doing absolutely nothing. He then asked Inferno, "What do you feel like doing?"

"I don't know, what do you feel like doing?" Inferno asked.

"I thought that we could do my homework, then go uptown," Earl said.

"Sounds like a plan," Inferno said.

Earl then got out his algebra book, flipping to the page that contained his twenty-six homework problems. He then got out a pencil and several sheets of paper; and the two worked through the twenty-six problems. When Earl finished the assignment, Inferno looked it over, giving him the "nod of approval," the signal that he was done and that they were all correct. He then went over to his backpack, grabbing his Spanish book, doing all of the assigned work from it. Since Inferno knew absolutely no Spanish, he couldn't tell Earl if it was right; so Earl went on to his next subject, English IV. When Inferno saw his assignment for this class, he asked Earl, "Do you want some help writing your speech?"

"Yeah, I suppose you could help me," Earl replied.

"Do you know what it is that you want to talk about?" Inferno asked.

"I think I want to discuss the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season."

Inferno and Earl then began to discuss and write out the speech. Two hours later, they were done, with Inferno going back, checking their writing for grammatical correctness and spelling. After twenty-five minutes of looking it over, the two friends went on to their final subject; Chemistry.

As Earl got out his chemistry textbook and notebook, he stopped and looked up at Inferno. He wanted Inferno's opinion of the homework that they were doing. Inferno just looked back at him and didn't say anything, as he waited for him to get his supplies. Earl opened up his book to the proper page, then began to write in his notebook. Inferno grabbed his own notebook and began to do the assignment as well. He finished it in just a couple of minutes and waited patiently for Earl to finish his. When he did, Inferno looked it over, comparing Earl's work to his own. He then congratulated Earl on finishing the assignment correctly. When they were finished, they both decided to have a cigarette.

The two friends went outside; and as soon as they got there, Inferno had his cigarette in his mouth. A few seconds later, he lit it and took the first drag. He had already felt the smoke entering his lungs by the time Earl lit his cigarette. Inferno then took another three drags, and by the time he was finished with them, he felt ultra-relaxed and ready to begin the next chapter of their night together. Both of them finished their cigarettes at the same time, put them out in the street, and went back in the house. Once inside, Inferno asked Earl, "What should we do now?"

"Let's watch TV," was Earl's reply.

"Okay, but I already checked, and there ain't jack shit on," Inferno said.

"Alright, what else can we do?"

"We could always get drunk."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

When they got to Earl's room, Inferno went straight to the fridge they had in there, grabbing two beers. He opened one of them for himself, handing the other one to Earl. Earl opened his beer, then drank four milliliters of fluid from the top of it. He then put his beer down and logged onto his computer. He opened Internet Explorer and typed in the National Hurricane Center's web address. He then took another drink, placing his beer back in its spot on the desktop. Inferno placed his beer next to the printer and then jumped up onto Earl's lap. Earl, noticing him there, patted him on the head two times. As he pulled up the National Weather Service Chicago website, Earl took another drink, with Inferno following suit. Earl then pulled up the local radar image. As soon as he did, Inferno took a deep breath and said, "It looks like some pretty big storms coming in from the south."

"Yeah, they canceled school tomorrow because of it. This, I believe, is the remains of Hurricane Gustav," Earl said.

"They canceled it?!" Inferno asked, confused.

"Yeah, they didn't want us to get hurt, (you know), with the lightning and shit," Earl said.

"So, then, that means we've got the whole day to ourselves."

"Well, I've still gotta do the online school work."

"Well, we can do that, can't we?"

"Yeah; if you want to help me through my algebra and chemistry tomorrow, you can."

Earl then closed his web browser and took another sip of beer. Inferno finished his beer a few seconds later. He felt woozy, probably because he still had some nicotine in his system. He just curled himself up there on Earl's lap and fell asleep. Earl could feel his breathing. He could also feel Inferno's heartbeat. After a few minutes of this, he gently picked the sleeping creature up, careful not to wake him. He gently placed him at the foot of his bed, going over to the fridge for another beer.

When Earl returned to his seat, he placed the beer can on the desk. He then placed Inferno back on his lap. Earl noticed that Inferno's heart wasn't beating nearly as fast as it had been before. He must be coming down from his nicotine rush, Earl thought. Then, his cell phone rang, waking Inferno up. Noticing that it was his father, Earl answered the call, "Hello?"

"Hey, son; how are things going there?" His father asked.

"Fine. Hey, dad, where you at?" Earl asked.

"I'm in Cleveland, Ohio."

"Okay."

"I take it that you two are still there at the house?"

"Yes."

"Okay; I won't be back until Friday night. I'll see you two then."

"Alright, love you."

"Love you too, bye."

"Bye."

Earl then hung up the phone and resumed drinking his beer. Five minutes later, he was done with the beer. He then looked up at Inferno and asked, "What do you want to do now?"

"I don't know," was Inferno's reply.

"What is there to talk about?" Earl asked, "Hurricane Gustav (or, at least, its remnants) is bearing down on us; but what about Hurricanes Hanna and Ike?"

"Hanna is no threat to Watseka," Inferno said.

"Very true, but what about Ike?"

"I don't know," Inferno began, taking a deep breath, "It's currently a category two over the central Atlantic. If it makes it to this island here (pointing to Cuba), it could potentially be a problem. For now, though, I really wouldn't sweat it."

"Then, there's that orange-highlighted area on the map, west of Africa. They say that it could become 'Josephine' by the weekend."

"Well, then, we'll just have to watch it," Inferno said.

He left it at that. Earl then logged back into his computer. He opened his web browser, logging onto the school's website. There, he'd found out that his work was available for him to do now. He didn't want to work on it now, so he just started clicking around. He clicked on the link that said First Period English IV Academic. On the page, he found six links. He clicked on the first one and a window popped up, asking him if he wanted to open (or save) the linked file (a video of that day's lecture). He clicked on yes, and the file downloaded to his computer. He did this a total of twenty-nine more times (five more for first period and six each for the other four classes). When all was said and done, he'd downloaded thirty videos.

While he was on the site, he decided to check his grades. He had a B+ in English, a C in P.E., an A+ in algebra, an A+ in Spanish, a D- in chemistry, and an A+ in web page design. Earl clicked on his chemistry grade, curious as to why it was a D-. He looked at each of the fourteen listed scores. He'd found out that he'd miserably failed the first test. He clicked on the score and a window popped up, asking him if he wanted to open or save the linked file. He clicked on save, saved the file with the name Exam 1, and then proceeded to download and open the file. He read the entire PDF of the exam, carefully noting, over his teacher's shitty handwriting, the mistakes he'd made. He then asked Inferno to look it over. The small, black-furred alien had trouble reading the teacher's shitty-ass handwriting; but he looked over Earl's work, pointing out the errors, including a few that Earl had missed. Earl got out his notebook, taking notes as Inferno explained to him why his work was wrong. He then printed out the exam; then using his notes, he corrected it.

When he was done, he asked Inferno to look over his new work. Inferno did as he was asked, looking at each number and each letter carefully, checking it for correctness. When he was finished, Inferno told Earl that his work was correct. Now, all Earl had to do was to type out the work, in order to submit it to his teacher (online) the next day. By the time Earl finished his test and Inferno had checked his work, it was eleven o'clock at night. Earl took a break from what he was doing to look at the radar map. The remnants of Hurricane Gustav were thirty miles south of Watseka by this point. Some of the outer fringes of the storm were dropping rain on the town. The two friends decided to go outside, in order to gauge for themselves exactly how hard it was raining.

As soon as he stepped outside, Inferno's fur was drenched. He took a few deep breaths of fresh Watseka air, then walked back inside, completely soaked. Earl came inside a few seconds later, his hair completely soaked. He went into the bathroom to dry his hair. He noticed that the shower curtain was closed. He could hear water splashing up against the shower walls, even though the shower itself wasn't on. A few seconds later, Inferno came out of the shower. He'd told Earl that he went in there to shake his fur dry.

It was pushing midnight by this time, and both Earl and Inferno were getting tired. They went back in their room, laid in their bed, and flipped on the television. They watched Fox News. On their screen was some idiot talking about Iran's Nuclear Program. Inferno thought, I saw this fucking retard talking about this same topic earlier in the week. Sure enough, Inferno was right; as the "fucking retard" on the screen was none other than Israeli Prime Minister Moshiach Shalom. He was bitching and moaning about how Iran's Nuclear Program was a threat to his state's existence. Will you just shut the fuck up? Earl thought to himself. Earl and Inferno watched this idiot speak for another two hours before getting tired of it and falling asleep.

…Two Hours Later…

In the quiet of a rainy Watseka night, someone walked up to the house and placed a box in the mailbox. Inside the box was a small, yellow sphere with the digits 7-7-7 written on it. The next morning, Inferno and Earl would meet this mysterious Experiment 7-7-7.