I have no idea what this update will do to the story, but if it does do anything this note is just to tell you that I did make some changes to this chapter after posting. They are fairly small and do not matter much, but I realised leaving it the way it was made parts of the story a logical impossibility.

Chapter Nine:

A Whole Town Held In Contempt

Gregory was uncomfortably aware that the arms that had grabbed him from behind were of a considerable large size. If they hadn't been, he may have thought that they were Justin's. He had just enough time to worry about who the arms did belong to, when he was let go and spun around. It wasn't anyone he had ever met before…at least not directly.

Justin had called him Mr. Stiltz. He was a very large man, not in girth, but in size. He had broad shoulders and thick limbs. Gregory put him at the age of fifty, due to his slightly wrinkled face, faded eyes and white grey hair. At the sight of him, Gregory's unease did not lift, but worsened. Hadn't Justin said something about him being crazy?

"There you are you snot nosed…" The man didn't finish. He looked about Gregory curiously.

"Where's that King boy?" He asked. Gregory was quiet for a moment, intent on just staring at the man with wide nervous eyes. "Well?" The man said, after Gregory hadn't answered for a while.

"I…don't know sir." Gregory finally said. The man glared at him for a moment then grabbed him by the arm.

"Come on then, we're going to call your parents and tell them what you've been doing." Gregory felt a sinking feeling in light of those words. It wasn't that he had never been in trouble before, all children, for the most part anyway, get into some kind of trouble on occasion, but he had never done something so serious as breaking into someone else' house while they were presumed to be away. His aunt was not going to be happy.

Justin had slipped out around the time when he heard the dog barking followed by the seemingly distant owner's voice. He had left both Gregory and Edwards tool box behind. He had made a mistake, but it was alright, as long as he could get away unscathed. After all, that was what Gregory was for in the first place; someone he could use to make sure the place was safe and things were okay, before risking his own skin.

He went all the way around the house, and exited from the front, where the fence was not at, barely dodging the searching glance from Mr. Stiltz, who was standing on his porch and looking in his direction at the time. The man may be crazy, and therefore, get little regard in the neighborhood, but he could still tell someone he saw him there and Justin did not want that. When he got out of the old man's eye shot, he walked a little easier, going up the street like nothing was happening, and his day had been pretty uneventful. Both things, whether an act or not, changed when he got at the cross road.

"What luck!" He heard from his right. When he turned to look at who had spoken he was hit hard on the side of his head, and pushed heavily to the ground. He cried out in anger and pain. He felt a weight on his wrists as they were grabbed and held to his back.

"I just got back from a psychologist appointment that really frustrated me, now I can take my anger out on you." It was Edwards voice. Justin groaned and then began to wriggle from the bigger boys grasp. He didn't have any luck.

"Let me go you stupid freak show!" He screamed as he tried to sit up. Edward laughed in response to this and put more weight on his wrists. Justin screamed.

Behind them, Violet walked up slowly, and then casually leaned on a Stop sign nearby. She grinned a little as she watched her brother, and briefly wondered why no one had tried to throw him into some sort of asylum for boys for his attitude yet.

"Try not to overdue it today Edward, it's usually good to wait about a week after a shrink talks to you about your anger and excitability before you start breaking peoples wrists." Edwards smile faded.

"Good point." He got off of Justin, who got up as quickly as possible to prevent and further beating.

When Justin was up, he did a quick check to make sure his wrists weren't broken, then cast a fiery glance at the Wayward siblings.

"You guys are so dead! Your going to be sorry!" He screamed at them. They exchanged an amused look.

"Oh yeah?" Edward said sarcastically as he neared the boy, who grew nervous as he did. "What are you going to do to us?" Edward leaned over, stopping inches from Justin's face. Justin swallowed nervously. Even he knew when to shut up…well, some of the time anyway. Edward laughed softly.

"That's what I thought." He straightened.

"What do you think Violet. Think we should spare him today?" Edward asked, smiling evilly at the look that crossed the smaller boys face.

"Why?" Violet said. Edward shrugged.

"Out of the goodness of our hearts I guess." He said, his voice brimming with amusement.

"Hmmm…I didn't think we had any…" She said, nearing Justin, who cast a nervous look in her direction.

"You know, your right…I don't think we do." He made a fist and was about to bring it down on Justin who cringed away from it, but was stopped by a gruff and angry voice.

"You hit that boy again and I'll see to it that your mother sends you to a prison that doesn't care how young you are." Edward turned around, looking annoyed at being interrupted. Mr. Stiltz was walking towards them. On his right side, Gregory was half being dragged by the collar of his shirt. Violet turned behind Edward, displaying only a minute of confusion before her face broke out in a wicked smile.

"Hey Brutus, I see you made it past your front porch today."

"Shut up Violet!" Brutus countered. "And don't call me Brutus." He took Justin by the wrist and pulled him away from Edward.

"Aww, you used to let us call you Brutus." Violet said, making a false pouting face.

"That was before. Now your both horrible demonic children, and you will call me Mr. Stiltz." Justin pulled his arm from Brutus.

"Uck! don't touch me." Brutus gave him a sharp look, before grabbing his wrist again.

"I'm not here to rescue you or take orders from you boy. I'm here because your in a lot of trouble and I'm going to see to it that your parents receive note of what you two have been doing."

"Hey!" Edward said, clearly misunderstanding. "We didn't do anything!" Violet rolled her eyes and hit him across the face.

"Not us Edward!" She said, getting a confused look from her younger brother.

"That's right, I wasn't talking to you…although I highly doubt that you weren't doing something! You are always doing something!" Justin tried to pull away from Brutus again, but failed. The man tightened his grasp an glared at the boy.

"I don't have to wait for you, your fathers already down by Pumpkin House, we'll just wait till he comes back up this way and then tell him what you've been doing up there." He turned and looked at Gregory who had remained fairly quiet since Brutus had caught him.

"Then I'll deal with you."

Justin was staring up at the man in horror.

"You can't tell him…I'll, I'll just deny it!"

"Shut up kid, none of that arrogant rich kid stuff is going to work on me." Brutus looked up at Edward and Violet, who were both staring at him in curiosity.

"As for you two, I suggest that you start heading home. This doesn't concern you!" Edward glared.

"Hey you can't…ow!" Violet stepped on his foot.

"Shut up Edward." She said quietly through her teeth. "The last time you challenged Brutus we wound up doing community service for three months!" She grabbed him by the collar and started to drag him away. Brutus watched them go with satisfaction.

"Now we just wait on your father." Brutus said, relaxing his grip on Gregory's collar, who he had decided, probably wouldn't try to get away. Justin glared at the man.

"My father won't believe you, he thinks your crazy."

"So does everyone else, kid, but I don't let up easy, and they all end up trusting my word in the end." He sounded quite sure.

"I always get my way." Justin said, not sounding sure at all. Gregory cast him a look, catching his eye. The look that he gave him was one of annoyance.

"Shut up Justin." Justin narrowed his eyes.

"You can't tell me what to do. Besides, you're the one who's going to get into trouble, you went into the house, for all anyone knows you tricked me into breaking into it for you." Gregory looked at Justin in rage and disbelief.

"You conniving-" He was interrupted.

"Shut up, both of you!" Brutus shouted. Gregory and Justin fell silent. "There's your father." Brutus said, while nodding in the direction of Pumpkin House.

Jeff was walking back along the road. He looked frustrated about something. When he saw Brutus holding Gregory and his son he paused, then cautiously made his way forward. He was wearing a weak smile.

"Mr. Stiltz." He said slowly, while casting a wondering glance to his son. "Is there a reason you have my boy by the shirt like that." Brutus nodded.

"I caught your son, and this kid over by Pumpkin House. I think they were trying to break in." Brutus said. Jeff's already waning smile diminished entirely.

"He was what?" Jeff said, his voice sounded strange.

"Your son and this kid were out by Pumpkin House a little bit ago. I saw them go in the fence, then try to sneak out. Justin here was carrying a box of tools on the way in, I saw them from my porch."

"Ah…" Jeff said. He gave Justin a piercing look, which he turned quickly to Gregory, who found it extremely unsettling.

"Why…Why were you boys over there at that old house?" He asked, his voice shaking a little. Neither of the boys answered. Justin because he was straining to think of a way out of the situation, while Gregory, on the other hand, had suddenly found the ground very interesting.

"I see. Well thank you Brutus for bringing this to my attention. You can go home if you like, I'll be taking Justin home…I'll drop Gregory off on the way." He reached out to take both boys. Brutus stepped back when Jeff reached out to grab Gregory as well as his own son, and as a result got a very irritated and confused look from the scrawny man.

"I said I would…"

"I know, but if it's all the same to you, I know your busy and all and I don't mind taking this kid home for you. From what I've seen that boy of yours and he don't get along very well. Wouldn't want to cause more trouble, would we?" Brutus smiled. Jeff did not return his smile, but gave him a very uncomfortable look.

Looking at the two, Gregory decided that Jeff looked quite a bit more crazy then Brutus Stiltz did. He wasn't wild about being escorted home by a stranger who obviously did not have a very good reputation in town, but he would prefer just about anyone to Jeff King. He made Gregory nervous.

"Really, Mr. Stiltz…" Jeff said. "It's so out of your way. It would be much simpler if I took him home. I'll see to it that the boys don't argue and…"

"It's quite alright, Mr. King. I was thinking about taking a walk anyway. And you seam to have enough trouble with your own son without having another boy on your hands." Brutus nodded at Jeff, who had obviously taken offense to his comment. Gregory hid an amused smile as he followed Brutus, who had begun to make his way towards the more populated side of town.

Brutus was walking quickly, and seamed to think that Gregory would follow without having to drag him along by the collar, for he wasn't keeping a very close watch on him. Gregory watched his receding form as he tried to keep up, and assumed the quick pace was to avoid further discomfort from the Kings, for as soon as they got a reasonable distance, the man let up on his speed a little.

"So…what's your name kid?" He asked just as Gregory caught up with him.

"Gregory." He answered. Brutus nodded.

"What's your last name?" He asked, giving Gregory a searching look. If it wasn't for the fact that the man he was with was the one who had caught him in the act of breaking into residential house he probably would have inquired as to why the man was interested in knowing his last name. In this case, however, he decided it was best not to argue.

"Officially, it's Barrel." He said. "But my aunt wants me to change it to her last name, which would make it Garret." He frowned a little. Brutus looked at him funny.

"Gregory Garret? That sucks kid." Gregory laughed a little and nodded in agreement. Brutus was wearing a sort of confused look, and shook his head like he was either trying to clear it, or answering a question that no one had asked.

"I've never heard that last name before. Your families new here aren't they?" Gregory nodded.

"Me an my aunt moved in last weekend."

"And you've already gotten yourself into trouble!" Brutus asked, while giving him a look that suggested that he was perhaps not the brightest kid in the world. Gregory was silent. He kicked a stone while he walked, and watched as it sailed across the old paving. Brutus shook his head again, this time in disapproval.

"I swear, you kids are of control these days. Your not going to wind up being like the Wayward kids are you, because I don't think I can handle another hooligan knocking my mailbox over every other day." Gregory looked up at Brutus with his eye brows raised, he shook his head almost violently. Something about this made Brutus laugh.

"Oh, I see, already giving you trouble then huh."

"Yea…since the day I got here." Gregory said grudgingly, his voice was almost too low to here.

"Those kids get on my last nerve." Brutus said. "It wasn't so bad before. I mean, they were always trouble makers. But it used to be little things, you know, funny things, that the kids in town always found hilarious, and adults couldn't very well punish them for without smiling themselves. Now I swear those kids are worse then some of the convicts I used to get back when I used to be on the force. If they even cross the line a little, they'll both be tossed in some correctional school, there's no doubt about that. Their mothers dying for a reason to get rid of them for good."

Gregory listened to all of this intently. His general thought was that it would be rather nice if the Wayward siblings got tossed into some place that would put them miles away from him. In the back of his mind, however, was a question that won out over straightforward dislike.

"Why did they start acting like that? Because, I mean, they have to be the worst kids I have ever met." Brutus sighed.

"Well, there's no doubt that most of it started when Garretty died. As for why they torture the rest of us. The only reason I've been able to come up with is that they're mad at us." Gregory rose his brow.

"Who's Garretty?"

"Garretty Wayward. Their father. He was a decent man. We used to be friends." Gregory nodded. Feeling a light understanding, he, after all, knew what it was like to lose a parent. He had lost both of his. Still, he didn't think that was a very practical reason to get enraged at an entire town.

"So they torture people because their dad died?" Brutus shook his head.

"No. That part didn't start until the King's moved in. Jeff King, technically owned the town a full five years before he moved in. For those five years, he didn't touch the name, or anything else. It was like he was scared to or something. Then, after he finally did move in, he went and changed everything. It wasn't until then that they started to become sort of what you see in them now. After their father died they actually stopped acting up for a while. Lost all of their friends. Only seamed to want to hang out with each other. They seamed withdrawn, cold, ill-mannered, but not near as horrible as they are now."

"So…why are they mad at us, because as far as I know, I didn't do anything to offend them in the two seconds that we were introduced before they threw me in the lake."

"It's not you, it's not me, it's all of us. Mostly it's the King's. That's why they get the worst abuse. As for the rest of us, I think they have it in their heads that we betrayed them or something."

"How?" Gregory asked.

"Well, Garretty Wayward was an architect. This town, as you see it now, well…not now, but as it was before, was the way it was, mostly because of him, Hector, and Viktor Skellington. Don't get me wrong, this town was around for a long time before and after Hector owned it before Garretty even touched it, but between those three men it was repaired, and kept up. They were proud of it too. They renamed everything. Changed the name from Skellington to Pumpkin Town, named all of the streets, the school, the lake, the bridge, even gave the lots names, although I hardly remember any of those anymore. They had fun with it. And to thank Garretty, Hector named the street into town after him. Used to be Wayward Street." Brutus sighed, and looked up from his feet, where his focus had been, to look up at a near bye street sign. KIGDOM ROAD it read.

"Of course that was when they were all alive."

Gregory had been listening to Brutus talk in fascination. When the man fell silent he looked up at him. The look on the mans face was one of sorrow. Gregory looked away uncomfortably. Aware that he felt a dull anger and growing dislike for the Kings rising inside him.

"So this is because Jeff changed everything. Didn't anyone try to stop him from doing it? I mean, obviously they couldn't stop him from owning the town, but he seams like a pretty big pushover…" Brutus interrupted him.

"We tried. Looks can be deceiving kid. We all gave up a long time ago though. I guess we're all just glad he didn't try to take away our annual Halloween celebration. Well, I guess he did try…but, I guess he found that there were still a few things he couldn't change in Pumpkin Town."

Gregory felt a light breeze ruffle his messy hair. He looked ahead of him, in the direction they were walking and saw his house in the distance. As he spotted it, the lights turned on inside, making him realize that it was getting dark.

"So…" Brutus said beside him, getting his attention. "Exactly why were you trying to get into Pumpkin House earlier, anyway?" Gregory sighed, aware that the breeze felt very good on his face. They were receiving very unseasonable weather considering it was mid October.

"Well." Brutus said.

"Me and Justin were trying to use the house to scare Edward and Violet. We wanted to get them back for the way they treated us." Brutus nodded once.

"I see. Not a bad idea. They believe the superstitions surrounded around that house as well as anyone else does." Gregory nodded.

"Still, breaking into someone's house is a serious thing. I trust that if I don't tell anyone about this that you won't ever do it, or anything like it again." Gregory looked up at him quickly, with wide eyes.

"Your not going to tell my aunt?" Brutus looked at him sternly.

"Will you ever do it again?" Gregory shook his head.

"No."

"Then I won't tell your aunt." Gregory smiled, feeling considerably relieved.

"Thanks." He said, still in disbelief.

"I trust you can make the rest of the way home yourself." Brutus said, a bit of a smile playing behind his lips. Gregory nodded.

"Alright then, see ya later kid."

Gregory thanked him again before darting off in the direction of his house, thinking that he was extremely lucky. First, he had been caught at Pumpkin House, and was let go. Then, he was caught by someone who had seen him in Pumpkin House, and now was being let of the hook again. He was aware that for the first time since his parents had died, that he was feeling pretty good. His exuberance, of course, did not last long. He was nearing his house, in a half jog, half run, when someone stepped in front of him, cutting off his path and knocking him down.

Gregory sat for a moment in confusion and slight disorientation at being brought back down to earth so violently. A sharp pain in his hands brought him back to a regular plane of thought, as they made the first contact with the asphalt.

He looked up, and saw, to his horror, that the person who had stopped him was Edward. He looked down at Gregory in a way that made him very uncomfortable. Behind him, Violet was giving him a similar look. It was a relatively familiar look to Gregory, for he had seen it on many of the kids who had picked on him in the past, but he hadn't seen it or anything even remotely close to it on either of the Wayward kids before that moment. It was an angry threatened look. To Gregory's recollection, a bullies only obvious show of weakness.

"Your going to wish you'd never even thought of revenge." Edward whispered. Gregory stared up at him in terror. They had heard. Somehow, they had heard.

As a last attempt at salvaging what had been a rather nice night Gregory looked over his shoulder to see if he could still see Mr. Stiltz, perhaps call him back, but it was no use. The man was no where in sight.

Hmmm. Think I'm going to have to start making these chapters longer, at least in this story. I'm already on Nine, and I'm not anywhere close to where I'd like to be. Sigh. Oh well. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Expect updates soon. I already started on Chapter Four of The Law Of Your Anarchic Demise, so that should be done fairly soon also. Unfortunately, the next week is going to be agonizingly busy for me, so updates may be slower then usual. Thank you for your reviews.