Somewhere I Belong

By: Suchan deFamine

NOTES: ::Gasp:: I actually have no notes. Except to thank you for reading this... and you'll be happy to know I've got it finished so I might go back to Cram Session (HP) or Happily Never AFter (HP) and work on that over break. I've stil got until sunday.....

Let's go.

:P

Chapter 5.

:P

Manfred pulled out a twenty and handed it to the man.

"What's this?"

"Oh. Sorry. I forgot. Not in America anymore, am I? Would that be enough, then?"

"Plenty. Thank you. God bless you in your travels." The man tipped his hat as Manfred stepped out of the cab.

"Thanks, but I'm an atheist."

The cab door slammed and the car sped off down Widget Lane. The black haired man now stood at the corner of Widget and Palm. It was still three streets to Seven Oaks, but Manfred pressed on, eager to get there before dark.

The building loomed ahead of him, dark windows glinting with the light of a burning, setting sun. The orange light threw weird shadows everywhere, like demon spectres reaching out with their ghostly claws to drag him into the darkness.

Manfred could feel the hair standing up on the back of his neck. Scared? Manfred Bloor? HAH. He didn't think so. He strode purposefully up to the door and slammed the enormous knocker into the back plate a few times.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then a large sphere on a mechanical claw popped out of a spot in the wall. An optical device slid open and examined Manfred's face.

"State name and business."

"Manfred Bloor, rescue mission." Wonderful choice.

Another claw reached out and plucked a piece of his hair. Manfred grabbed hishead where the root had been yanked out. "What the fuck was that for?"

But the claw had subsided back into the wall.

"DNA confirmed. Access granted. Enter, Manfred Bloor."

"Cloddy run-down place like this… who needs a security system? Nothing of value here…" Manfred muttered to himself as the door slid open. Except Asa.

He stepped inside, meeting a wall of darkness.

The door slid shut with a thud.

:P

A dark, booming voice rang out of the darkness. "Well done, my boy. It only took you two days to get here."

"Dr. Bloor?"

"That would be me."

"Where is he?"

"He who?" Dr. Bloor was deliberately being unhelpful. From his comfy, Italian-leather computer chair, he focused on a single monitor before him. A flick of a switch turned on a light in the front room. Manfred blinked in the sudden bright light.

"You know who I'm…talking about…?" He looked around confusedly. Dr. Bloor began to laugh, a great, booming, mirthless laugh.

"I am nowhere near you. Neither is your precious lover. He is held in a cell deep in a tunnel below this building. If you wish to save him…by all means, go and find him." Another switch, and a wall-mounted floodlight shone over a darkened doorway, with stairs down faintly outlined.

Manfred glared at no one in particular and ran towards the door.

"You have twenty minutes. After that, Scar will take care of him."

As the triumphant, evil laughter chased after him down the stairs, Manfred really hoped they weren't leading to a labyrinth.

:P

End Chapter 5.

:P

Sorry about the shortness… I hate it when you get this rush of madness where you just HAVE to write the next chapter… and then it drops you out in a barren cornfield with no energy left.

Anyway, how is it?