PENULTIMATE: Yeah I lied. There's gonna be a chapter 39; I figured a way to chop this one in half sooooo...

Chapter 38

That Sunday comprised of Howard sitting on the sofa and avoiding answering Tristan's questions as to what was bothering him. He really just wanted the day to be over so he could hurl himself head-first into his work. Bainbridge had started forcing the keepers to not work at all on Sundays a few weeks ago, just so he could have an excuse to not pay them for one day. The animals did get fed, by Fossil, who wasn't at all happy about the arrangement, especially now that he'd also been assigned janitorial duties on top of that. The zoo really was heading downhill fast, and Howard racked his mind constantly for ways in which he could save the quickly sinking Zooniverse.

Vince hadn't left his room since the night before, and Tristan finally became fed up, as the dinner she'd prepared went ignored by both male members, despite her repeated calling. She sent a questioning glare Howard's way as she crossed the room and thrust open Vince's door. Her immediate stillness had Howard looking toward her.

"Um, Howard...he's not in here."

The man was on his feet and in the doorway, looking about the room. With a bit of trepidation he peeked in the closet, and then checked under the bed. The boy must've slipped out through the window and climbed down somehow. Howard wasn't too worried. Or, at least, he forced himself not to be.

Going to the window, Howard looked down and saw several cigarette remains resting there, ashes marring the clean windowsill. The windowsill which belonged in the flat that Howard and Tristan were paying for! Finally with something to take his anger out on, Howard began throwing curses as he moved around the small room, rummaging through the kid's closet and looking under the bed and in his bedside table.

"That's it, where are they? Thinks he can foul the air in my house? He knows better! Goddammit, where are they? He's not smoking a single one anymore, that is final!"

Howard reached the dresser drawer, which they'd moved from the Lodge. It sat in a corner, and Howard jerked each drawer open, throwing clothes and items out in his search. He meant it this time; the boy was officially quitting. He'd see to that!

Tristan still stood in the doorway, but Howard payed her no mind, because with a smile of triumph, he found them! Howard gathered the packs of cigarettes in his hands, standing and carrying them into the kitchen, where he threw them into the rubbish bin. Feeling a bit calmer, he turned to see Tristan sending him a sharp look, hands on her hips.

"Now what was all that about? You've just ransacked Vince's room. Clean it up, before he comes back and throws an absolute fit. Come on!"

Howard walked back toward her and entered the room again. It was true; in his rage he hadn't noticed how he was throwing things about, and now the floor was strewn with Vince's things.

Feeling a bit guilty now, Howard began mutely picking everything up. Grabbing a shirt, Howard started a bit at the angry gaping mouth that greeted him from under it.

It was Charlie. Or rather, a picture of Charlie. The drawing was blurred by the repeating lines that overlapped again and again to form a face with two staring eyes, pupils only pinpricks that pointed in opposing directions. This was unmistakably Charlie, but it was Charlie unlike Howard had ever seen him before. His mouth was opened wide as if in a shout of anger, teeth pointing out jaggedly. Howard bent down to pick the book up, a mix of curiosity and dread making his eyes itch to see what else the book had hidden within its pages. Hell, maybe in there lay some reason for Vince's insane behavior.

"Are you done yet?"

Tristan's voice caused Howard to jump slightly, turning quickly to look at the doorway. He still respected the boy's privacy enough to not want anyone else to see it. But the woman had moved back into the sitting room, and the volume on the tv went up a bit.

"Almost, just a minute!"

Making a quick decision, Howard hastily put the remainder of Vince's belongings away before walking casually out of the room, book tucked under his arm. He looked over at Tristan from the side of his vision, and noted that her eyes were on the screen. The man walked into their bedroom, placing the book in his own dresser. He'd take it with him the next day and read it there. It wasn't as if he had much to do there now, anyway. And once Howard read the book and searched its depths for answers, he'd put it right back, and hopefully the kid wouldn't notice.

Howard tried not to be too quick with feeding the birds and cleaning their cages. He was finished much sooner than normal, and sat in the shade on a bench, looking about himself nervously as he brought out the book, tucked inside the top of his trousers and hidden by his Keeper jacket.

The boy indeed hadn't noticed its disappearance, and had said no word to Howard on the bus ride over. Maybe this book would lend Howard some insight into the labyrinthine mind of the kid.

Opening the first page, Howard nearly smiled at the funny little drawings of animals running up and down the pages. Bollo could be seen sitting in a corner, munching on leaves. Many of the first pages were like this, filled with animals, occasionally intercepted by a small story. Howard didn't bother to read these, as they were almost certainly Charlie adventures, and he wasn't going through that again!

Less than halfway through things changed a bit. There were no more animal drawings. At least, not normal animals. Strange mutant creatures peeked up at Howard from the pages, and the man tried not to study them in too much detail. The drawings were becoming increasingly sketchy, with lines overlapping several times. And then came the pages that contained Howard's name.

Sometimes it was just his name, scrawled repeatedly over the page in different elaborate styles and colors. And sometimes Vince had gone so far as to even draw himself with Howard. Smiling and sitting around the zoo with the animals, looking happy. One such page had so much pencil lead on it, the paper had been torn through in a few places. It seemed to be Howard, but he was completely devoid of detail, scrawled lines thick and overlapping to the point where Howard wouldn't have known it was him, if it weren't for the featureless balloon of a face Vince had drawn. Around this image were lines, which took Howard a few minutes to read, as they were horribly messy, even for the boy. A few words were outright unintelligible.

"...'Value of your structured silhouette...Creeping around you like a Chinese Cadbury wolf'..."

Howard's eyebrows drew together, and he turned the page, only to gasp slightly. It was Tristan's face; that he knew immediately. And dotted over her was what could only be pencil stabs. Some small and light, but a few were harsh, digging into and tearing the paper. Howard was beginning to feel sick.

The page beside it was blank except for the line 'Ladders to the moon' written at the top, almost as though there was more to it, but the words hadn't been written in.

The next several pages comprised of rather disturbing drawings of the moon, with a warped and staring face. And the Hitcher, bony with his face completely devoid of detail, save for the white polo, which felt as though it were watching Howard very carefully. The man swallowed thickly, not able to stop his hands as they turned the page.

There were also a few Charlies, becoming increasingly blurred and messy, eventually only recognisable by his moustache and wide mouth.

And then Howard turned the next page and was tipped even further into this dark and horrid nightmare he wished he's never stepped foot in. Tristan was drawn on the pages, in several positions as she bled out, red marker bleeding into each page below. There were a few other figures, indistinguishable by their scribbled faces as they lay dying, but Howard's mind could only focus on the drawings of a certain blonde-haired woman. Within the pages she was made to suffer severed limbs, crushed bones and slit throats. Sometimes there was even the Hitcher joining her on the page, and sometime it was Charlie, no more than a scribbled mass of lines standing beside her as she lay on the ground, her rib bones poking up through her chest unnaturally.

Howard snapped the pink book shut tightly, fingers closing over it as if the contents would try to tear their way out. He breathed in and out heavily, not wanting to see the last few pages. He was done with this thing. He wanted nothing more to do with it, and didn't want the kid to have it back. It was only fueling his crazed behavior!

Howard stood and went for the nearest bin, throwing the book in, and walked toward the aviary without looking back.

Life in his flat became a bit hazy for Howard. Now he spent all his time there on the sofa, mumbling out replies to Tristan's questions and trying not to stare at Vince's bedroom doorway. The boy never came out, not even to eat dinner. Howard couldn't even bring his foggy mind to react much when Tristan snapped at him, yelling out questions as to what had come over him and the boy. Howard could only shrug.

The man didn't even crack a smile when Tristan came to him after a phone call, saying that one of the owners of Pieface Records had decided to give him a record deal. He'd be able to write weird songs professionally, so she'd said. Howard just barely stopped himself from laughing.

There was to be a celebration in honor of this event, the owners of Pieface had insisted, and even let Howard choose the location. The man didn't know any places to throw a party, and so had said the Zooniverse, fully believing they wouldn't go for that. When they agreed he knew he couldn't take it back without looking like a fool.

It was to be set up on a Friday, and Bainbridge had gladly agreed to close the zoo down for the event. Howard suspected he was going to use it as an opportunity to find as many 'donators' for his zoo as possible.

In just a few short days Howard was walking through the zoo gates to find bright decorations draping over animal exhibits and around lamp posts. They all seemed so out of place in the desolate environment, and Howard felt incredibly nervous as the realisation of what was happening finally began to dawn on him. The boy and Tristan were there, as well as the zoo staff and several people Howard didn't recognise.

"Ah, Mr Moon! There you are! I've heard so much about you from my business partner."

A man came gliding into Howard's view, his posture straight as a board, and his hand felt so rigid as he shook Howard's that Howard barely contained a wince. Nonetheless the man seemed unaffected by his own body, and smiled pleasantly, introducing himself.

"Good evening, sir, my name is Hamilton. You've already met Arthur, I hear. He sends his regrets that he can't make it today, but you should know he's been pushing to get you a deal for several months now."

"Really? Wow, uh, th-thank you. Thank you very much."

The man gave Howard another smile, nodding to Tristan at his side before walking off to join the small crowd gathering around Bainbridge, who was relaying another of his adventurous tales. What a tosser.

Howard spent a few hours chatting with his friends. Gideon, Joey and Tristan all looked equally as bored as Howard, and they all shared a good laugh about that over their wine glasses. Howard then looked around and noticed that he'd lost sight of the boy. Vince had spent the entire time sitting on a bench, flipping a feed spade and ignoring even Naboo's attempts at conversation.

Howard excused himself, moving away from his small group and walking around the zoo in search for the kid. He still couldn't shake his protective need to know where the teen was at all times. Spotting Fossil, Howard walked quickly toward him. The man was entirely on his own, which was a bit odd, staring at the ground with a pensive expression. Maybe he'd spoken to Vince.

"Um, hi, Mr Fossil. Have you by any chance seen Vince running around?"

Fossil looked up at him, face blank for a second before clear distaste was scraped across it.

"Don't ever talk to me, Moon. Or I'll fly up the walls and I'll spend money on it!"

Fossil seemed genuinely on edge over something, which was strange. But Howard had other worries, and so dismissed it as Fossil still being cross over the whole gorilla suit thing. Jesus, the man sure could hold a grudge. Howard made to step away, but Fossil's voice brought him to a stop.

"He went that way."

Howard turned back to the man, seeing which direction his hand was pointing, and was fast-walking that way, Fossil and his odd behavior swept aside in Howard's mind. He rounded a corner, and found himself walking the familiar path toward the Lodge. He should've known better.

With a grim expression Howard opened the front door, stepping in slowly as he looked about the room. Vince sat on the old couch, which had gathered a thin layer of dust in the months of their absence. Howard sat down beside him after far too many hesitations. He looked ahead at the space where the tv used to sit perched on the low table.

"Vince, uh...I know that...things are bad. And they're awkward, but...is there any way past this? This...I don't know what to call it...Um, look. I promise- I swear that we will sit down once we're home and talk about this. It's going to be horrible, and we'll probably shout and kick things, but...I just want us to talk again. Is that alright?"

Howard now dared a look over at the boy, who was also having trouble pulling his gaze off the floor. He looked Howard in the eye for a brief moment before nodding.

"Yeah."

"Alright. Well then, why don't you come out to the party, hmm? Come on, everyone wants to talk with you. I'll even let you have some wine."

"Don't want any."

Despite his words, the boy rose to his feet and followed Howard out the door and back to the crowd of people, all of which Howard noticed were surrounding Bainbridge. Howard's skin prickled slightly as he saw that literally everyone was standing around him, even Naboo and his friend Pete.

Dixon had found purchase up on top of a bench, and stood over the crowd, face entirely too happy, even for one of his false heroic tales. And that was when Howard saw the glint of sequins as clouds shifted and the lowering sun came peeking out. Bainbridge held within his hands a sparkly pink book, with little punks designs across it.

Howard's throat seized, and he found himself unable to call out, unable to tear his eyes off of the object within Dixon's possession. The man was now turning the book around, and everyone laughed and commented at a Hitcher drawing.

Howard began staggering slowly forward. He willed his legs to move faster, but they seemed dead. Dead and rotting and becoming stiff as Bainbridge flipped to a new page and began reciting a Charlie tale, much to the crowd's amusement and slight horror.

Finally reaching the backs of the people at the edge of the crowd, Howard gripped their shirts tight as he shoved them to the side, not able to distinguish faces or voices as people cried out indignantly. He only saw Dixon and the book.

Reaching his target, Howard didn't bother exchanging glares or jibes. He simply shot out his hands and ripped the book out of the man's grasp. Bainbridge jumped down from the bench, looking startled and then angry, before finally settling on amused. He sauntered a little around Howard, who had the book tightly gripped under his arm.

"Oh? Is that your book, Moon? You must not have wanted it. See, Fossil recently came to me with news of a special find. As he was taking out the rubbish for the night he noticed something shining from within one bag. Why, it was a book! And a very interesting book, indeed. Now just give that here, Moon, and we'll have no further trouble."

Bainbridge held out his hand calmly, and Howard turned away from it, brain unable to fully process his words before they were out.

"No! You can't read this book, it'll upset Vince."

Bainbridge's eyebrows rose, and several murmurings broke out among their captivated audience.

"Oh? And what does he have to do with it? Hah! Knew the book was a bit too girly even for you, Moon. It's Noir's, isn't it? Figures. But my my, doesn't the boy have quite a mind in that head of his...Where is the little nutcase, anyway? When you see him, Moon, I want you to tell him he's fired. There'll be no place in my zoo for psychopaths with little infatu-"

Bainbrige's speech was cut short as there was a loud thwack! sounding in the air, and Bainbridge's head shot to the side, followed quickly by his body as it hit the ground. Standing behind him was Vince, readjusting his grip on a shovel. Dirt still encrusted it's edges, now accompanied by flecks of blood. The boy looked down on the unmoving Bainbridge, and there was a brief incredible moment of stillness. Time itself didn't freeze, but everyone else did. Absolute stillness and silence, for a second. And then a scream, followed by more, and then everyone was backing away, scattering in a panic as Vince came at them, shovel landing harsh blows on any who got close enough.

Before Howard could react he found himself standing alone in the zoo centre, a few bodies lying around him, groaning in pain. Screams and shouts filled the air as people scrambled down the various pathways, in their fear becoming lost, even those who knew the layout by heart.

Howard found he could move again, and quickly looked down around him, making sure no one looked dead or familiar.

"HOWARD!"

Recognising Tristan's voice from far off, Howard sprinted forward in the direction it had come from. Now everything was mostly quiet, only a few isolated shouts. Everyone was hiding, it seemed. And no doubt some had found the gates and escaped. Hopefully someone had thought to phone the police. Howard tried to slow down his endless string of useless thoughts as he heard the sound of metal on metal. He ran around and corner, just in time to see Vince deal Joey a vicious blow to the stomach with the handle end of his shovel. The boy quickly rotated it in his hands, and Howard tried to cry out as he watched Vince strike the felled man across the face with the shovel blade, blood freckling across the ground.

Now there was only Tristan, cornered in a dead end, back pressed into cage bars. Vince stepped over Joey's unconscious form and brought the shovel up, ready to dish out the same treatment on the woman. Tristan screamed, hands raising in an instinctual act of defense. Howard suddenly found his voice again, rising in a shout that rattled his ribcage.

"VINCE!"

The boy paused, and Howard took that moment to dash forward and up behind Vince, grabbing hold of the shovel and using it to pull the boy against him. He successfully trapped one arm, and Vince kicked out violently, using his free arm to reach up and deal some painful scratches across Howard's right eye and cheek. Howard heard sirens in the distance, quickly getting louder. If only he could contain the kid until they arrived. Then he could calm Vince down. Then they could all go home and he and the kid would have that talk and then everything would be resolved and the boy would apologise for acting on like he had and Tristan and Moose and everyone would forgive him and Howard would forgive him and-

Pain erupted in Howard's right knee, and he found himself pitching forward, grip lost, crashing to his knees in the dirt. Vince staggered away from him, staring down at the man as Tristan dove for Howard, gripping his arm and crouching in front of him, as though to shield him from the kid. Vince stared at the two of them, and then down at the shovel lying between them; his body twitched as though to make a move.

His intentions were interrupted as police officers came bursting from around a corner, guns pointing, shouting words Howard couldn't make clear. And then the kid ran. He skirted just out of the officers' outstretched hands and vanished around the opposite corner, cops in quick pursuit.

Howard rose to his feet, disentangling himself from Tristan and ignoring the throb in his knee he ran to catch up. It was now quite dark out as the evening had become night within a matter of seconds, and Howard heard the men and women's shouts as they searched about for the boy.

Howard found himself bumping into people as he dazedly wandered around, looking behind shrubs and in bins. After what seemed an eternity, a glint of blue irises caught his gaze, and Howard was reaching forward into the darkness beside the gift shop, hand making contact with warm skin before the boy shot away from him, attempting to run as Howard pursued him.

The older man grabbed the boy by his shirt, pulling him close and turning the kid to face him. Vince struggled against him, panicked and primal, as an animal. Howard grasped the boy's face tightly in his hands, angling it up so that he met Howard's gaze.

"Stop this, alright Vince, please just stop this! It's alright! It's okay, it's just me, Howard! It's Howard! Vince?"

The boy's arms went limp at his sides, and he no longer fought, just stared blankly up at the older man.

Bright beams of light were suddenly on them, and Vince and Howard squinted their eyes in the direction of its source. Officers were aiming torches and guns at them, shouting at Howard to step away, and for Vince to raise both hands.

Howard quickly turned so that he was blocking the boy from their view. He really didn't want one of them to accidentally shoot off one of their guns and hit the kid. He raised both his hands to show he meant no harm, ignoring the repeated orders to walk slowly toward them. They had to understand. They had to realise that this was all just a big mistake. A misunderstanding, and that Howard had it all under control. Howard would fix this. There was no need for police involvement.

"It's okay! He- he doesn't know what he's doing. He didn't mean it! I'll take him home straight away and...he didn't mean to hurt anyone!"

"It's over. I hate you. It's over."

Startled, Howard looked over his shoulder down at the boy, who'd spoken the quiet words as his hands clamped over his ears, eyes staring at the ground.

The officers were now moving toward Howard and around him, grabbing the boy and pulling his arms behind his back. Howard followed closely behind, not able to stop himself from grasping the kid as they moved, being pulled and pushed away repeatedly by officers as the gates came into view.

"Please, you don't have to do this! You're being too rough, he's not even resisting! Look, I can walk him to the car-"

"Sir just please stay back!"

Howard was held back firmly as they guided Vince down into the backseat of one of the vehicles, lights flashing overhead, making things difficult to see. Suddenly Tristan was in his face, looking petrified and asking him if he were alright. Howard just stared dumbly after the car containing Vince as it drove off into the darkness.

(And so concludes my favorite Boosh song, Married on the Morrow. Hope you guys picked up that that's what Vince has been singing in small bits ever since like chapter 13. I know one of you certainly did ;) The song really sums up this entire story, and is by far my favorite Boosh song, from the radio series. Anyway, next chapter will for sure be the last, so if ya have any hate/love/questions you'd best make them known in the comment before the curtains close over this tale.)