CHAPTER 3: Aftermath

CHAPTER 3: Aftermath

Xander lifted his head from the table. Right now, he had no clue as to what his whereabouts were. Last thing he remembered was the floor… yeah, that was the hard thing at the end of the stairs, wasn't it? But that didn't answer his question, where was he now? Maybe, the good Lord took pity on him, and he wasn't still in Aerith's house. Then again, drug induced hope rarely comes true, now does it? "Hey, maybe he's awake?" "Maybe, but what if he secretly ducked out the door while we were upstairs? What then? Hmmm? What then indeed?"

"Uh, yeah, that's nice thought, but in candy land only."

Hearing the voices, Xander swiftly brought his head back down to the table. There was a low thud, then a moan. Maybe that was a tad bit too swift. The voices started up again, wondering what happened, then the soft thumping of footsteps on wood as people rushed down the steps.

Thoughts slowly formed in the near sloshed boy's mind. Ahh, monkey's …

He was cut short by Erika's high pitched voice, "Stop playing opossum, you little perv!"

Nuts, they still remember last night. Maybe with a well-placed mickey in their drinks, they could forget these unpleasant memories…

"Answer us, Susie! Now!" Shouted Tseng.

Slowly, the "most unclean" lifted his head up, squinting his eyes. Out of nowhere, he felt the familiar sting of a fan on his forehead. Yup, he was in some deep…

"Stop stalling and say something!"

His face began to contort in rage. Ever so slowly, he rose from his not-so-comfy seat. He cocked his head to one side, peering at them through one of his eyes. Small popping sounds could be heard from the back of Xander's neck, as he brought his head around to the front again. He started to laugh almost menacingly. "Tick-tock, the beat don't stop, now does it?"

Aerith leaned forward. "What are you talking about!? Wait, no. Just stop talking all together. I'm sure that whatever it is, is just more mindless babble."

They just don't want to stop talking, do they? All the time, its just "Talk, talk, talk. Blah, blah, blah." Well Xander just about had enough of this. He paced around to the back of them; next to the staircase were all the sticks from the railing had come apart at. He picked one of the sticks up and started to tap the palm of his free hand with it. "Mindless babble ay? Well Xander says," His voice shifted to a demonic tone, "Whoop-dee-friggen DOO!" His voice went back to normal (if that's what you want to call insane), "Today's your lucky day chili'n! You're all going to…" He grinned maliciously, "DIE!! Whoo-hoo!"

His friends looked at one another, and back to him skeptically. Tseng spoke up. "So… what does us dieing have to do with clocks…?"

Aerith nudged him in the side and tried to cover up her moving lips as she whispered into his ear, "Psst! The chickens have flown the coop! The hand has lost its thumb… The marbles have fallen into the drain!"

Gwen's eyes widened in complete shock and horror. All this in a few hours! The poker game, Xander sneaking in on them, him falling on his head -when he was younger and now-, and now this: Xander was going psycho on them and here Aerith is; making fun of his mind's leave of absence. What more could happen? Woops, jinxed it.

Outside the house, in the walk up to the door, Elmyra was coming back from her trip to the train station. Alas, her precious hubby wasn't there –she was beginning to think he would never come-. Closer and closer the door got to Mrs. Gainsborough until she stopped to turn the handle. She was about to open up, but she thought she heard voices… but that was probably her imagination running wild… right? Nope her head wasn't playing with her ears, those were definitely voices. The children are probably up an about, helping to repair the damage to the railing; what sweet children they were especially that Xander, so well behaved and kind. I wonder how he broke the railing? Oh well, she would answer her questions when she got in.

With a smile on her face, she turned the knob and walked in…