Title: House Arrest 3/20 + Epilogue
Author: Forsaken2003
Pairing: William/Xander
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own none, all belong to Joss Whedon
Comments: Always welcomed!
Summary: William is under house arrest after assaulting his teacher. When he starts people watching he notices something strange about his neighbour.
Warnings/Spoilers: Human Verse. Out of Character.
Note: (An S/X adaptation if the movie 'Disturbia'.) Uses actual dialogue from the movie Please don't sue!
Beta'd By: Whichclothes
Part Three
A pair of hands wrapped an electronic monitoring bracelet around Williams's left ankle. Jenny Calendar, William's case officer clicked the bracelets buckle into place and a green LED lit up on top of the edge of the bracelet so William could easily see it when he looked down. Next to that light was an additional red light that wasn't on.
Jenny made a final check "Okay, you... are all set... to go nowhere. Now, green means you're good; you're in the safe zone which covers about a sixty-foot radius from this guy here." She pointed to a big black box in the central tracking unit that sat on top of the kitchen counter. "He's like a modem. He gets a constant signal from Mr. Bracelet that he sends through your phone line to the monitoring station downtown. So they know where you are, where you've been and what you're thinking 24/7."
Joyce looked more than a little concerned. "What if he accidentally goes beyond…?"
"Red light flashes. Means you've got about ten seconds to get your butt back to green, or else…" Jenny said and pointed to the unlit red light.
"The bloody execution squad shows up?" William said with distaste.
"And they don't bring blindfolds. It's also tamper-proof and waterproof. So don't try sticking your foot in a bucket of water and hopping across the line. It won't work, and you'll look stupid. Now, I'll be checking up on you a lot. Everything else is in the manual. Here's my card," Jenny said as she handed her card to William. "Are you set up to pay his incarceration fee, Mrs. Rayne?"
"No." Joyce told Jenny.
"Twelve bucks every day," Jenny said to Joyce. "I accept all major credit cards."
"Great," Joyce said with a fake smile and a look to William. "My wallet is over here."
William looked down at his new attire. When an officer stepped in front of him, he looked up. "Officer..." William greeted and looked at the nametag. "Gutierrez?"
"Your Spanish teacher, he's my cousin," Officer Gutierrez said as he crossed his arms and looked menacing.
Jenny came back and didn't notice the look the Gutierrez gave William. "Oh, expect this, house arrest might sound like a breeze, but trust me; I've seen all kinds of folks get a bit loopy before too long, some after just a day or two. So make sure you find lots of constructive things to keep yourself busy."
William sat in his room wearing his XBox Live headset as he played HALO 2. He was on the final boss level. Gunfire and explosions blared over his stereo speakers. "Hobby, you read me? I said come around my left flank and draw his fire… damn straight I'm trying to get you smoked, you've been hiding behind my arse the whole game…" He said into the headset. Suddenly there was a glitch on the TV screen. "Hobby, Jet, you guys still there?"
The screen went black. The Xbox live logo appeared along with the words: 'Server Error' William threw the headset aside, made sure all the wires were connected and checked the TV screen. The words remained on the screen. William glared at the screen another moment before he wandered out of his room.
The kitchen was a mess as William rummaged through the cabinets. Lots of Costco-size boxes: crackers, Pringles and a huge box of Twinkies. William spotted a jar of peanut butter. He grabbed the nearest bowl, pulled a bottle of Hershey's syrup from the fridge, and poured it all into the bowl.
Just as he was about to throw the syrup bottle in the trash, something in the bottom of the can caught his eye. He reached in, pulled out a bill for XBox Live subscription. It had been canceled.
William lounged on the couch and watched "The Price is Right" as he spooned the peanut butter from the jar, dipped it in the bowl of chocolate syrup, and devoured it. He brought up a two-liter of Mountain Dew, and took a big swig to wash it all down. "Come on, bid a dollar. One bloody dollar," he said to one of the contestants.
"I'll bid one dollar, Bob." The contestant said.
William belched as he raised his spoon, and saluted the screen. Suddenly a grave concerned look crossed his face.
The toilet flushed and William opened the door, did up his jeans and leaned against the frame, spent. He stood there a moment, absorbing the silence of the house. He eyed a door at the end of the hall.
William's hand rested on the door knob as he tried to decide if he should enter or not. He finally decided to enter.
There was a cherry wood desk and plush leather chairs. On the desk lay his father's reading glasses that sat on a stack of papers next to an antique typewriter.
The walls were filled with framed; poster-size covers of the books his dad had written. On another wall was a family portrait of Ethan, Joyce, and himself at the age six.
William took it all in from the doorway; he couldn't make himself go into the room. He gently pulled the door shut.
William sampled some rap clips on iTunes. He liked what he heard and moved the cursor so he could buy the song. The screen account popped up and he typed in his password.
He waited patiently for access but bold red letters popped up: "THE APPLE ID OR PASSWORD YOU ENTERED WAS INVALID OR INCORRECT..." William retyped it again. Same thing. Then like everyone does to be sure, William typed his password at a rate of one key per second. Again the same thing. William fumed; he smelt a rat.