All Good Boys Should Mind Their Mothers

[Evangeline Carter]

Momma had always warned him to be careful of the computer. “All the time you spend on those video games,� she would cluck as she bustled through his room, collecting bowls, laundry and twinky wrappers. “You’re going to go blind, starring at that screen.�

Pick up your room.
Open your blinds up and let the sun in!
For the love of St. Peter, Brandon, take a shower and change your clothes!

After a while, you stopped hearing it.

“Be careful of that computer,� she said. “Don’t give your name out to anybody, don’t open emails from people you don’t know…� Brandon would always nod as she continued with her battle cries, blinking occasionally to create the illusion of attentiveness and mumbling his noncommittal replies. “--And stop leaving your glasses next to the key-board. You’ll get electrocuted if you dump it.�

“Right ma.�

“And if you go on any porn-sites--�

“Ma!�

“I’m just saying, Brandon. I know young men have their needs and I--�

“That’s so gross!� Brandon blushed beet red on the site. Had she nothing better to do than to sit around and mull over the nature of his ‘needs’ and his methods for satisfying them?

Finally, the old gorgon left him to his peace. A quite, rainy Sunday afternoon, editing the profiles of his role-play characters and polishing their statistics.

“Be careful of your computer!� he mimicked to himself as he scrolled through an index, bobbing his head to the Flyleaf track playing from the speakers of the old Mac. Female screamers were so hot. The very thought sent his hand darting for the diet DR. Pepper can poised ever so precariously on the edge of his desk.

In that moment, the screen came alive, a pop-up leaping to the center, the audio pouring through the speakers. “Congratulations! You’ve been selected to--�

But Brandon heard no more. His hand had knocked the can in his surprise, and in many agonizing flickerings within his brain, he comprehended its path as it fell to the key-board, spilling over his other hand. A spark leapt up, and a jolt shot through the young boy’s body.

Before he could even hear his own yell his head hit the floor, ushering in a sea of darkness.



What he felt next was the soreness in his muscles. An ache in his head. A dull roar in his ears. Groaning, Brandon pushed himself to sit, gazing around dumbly at his blurred surroundings. ~Glasses must have been knocked off. Damn it.~ He fumbled, grimacing as something wet slithered from his hair-line to his cheek. Blood? ~How long has it been since mom vacuumed in here?~ The floor was gritty and damp.

~What the frig?~ His fingertips finally brushed the smooth frames of his spectacles, and he slipped the things on, blinking in the light.

And then he stopped, heart racing.

“H-holy…�

Definitely not his bedroom.

Trees. More trees than there were action figures on his wall, their trunks wide -- he doubted he could have gotten his arms even halfway around. There was a sky -- a sky that went so much further than his tiled ceiling did.

And here he was, sitting on the forest floor, jeans muddied, palms scuffed.

“What the hell is going on?�

[Apollo]

The crackle in the air wasn't from the aproaching storm like he had thought. Listening to his heart in his ears he tuned it out. Getting closer to the ground, there was no movement. He took out his small throwing knife and stuck it in the most solid part of the eart around him, putting his ear up to the end.
One solid thump then nothing. Something hit. . but what? He pullled out the blade, tucked it back in his belt and ketp on moving quietly through the trees. His cloak making the only noise as it moved around him.
The began running, still staying quiet, jumping into the treetops to escape the sucking noise of the mud, so as to not reveal himself further. Coming upon the site of the racket he watched a boy. . .at least he thought it was a boy. . . with the strangest clothes. . .Where did he come from? The man climbed down further to get a better look. . .Just a peak. . .that may have been a bad decsion or destiny had it's way with him.

[Evangeline Carter]

"Mom?" Brandon pushed himself shakily to his feet. A wince broke out over his face as he gazed around. What the hell? "Anna?" Somehow he could see his elder sister having her hand in this -- admittedly elaborate -- prank.

"Come on, guys."

Quite the figure he cut; not at all tall, not at all impressive. In fact, Brandon was decidedly unimpressive. His skin was pale, his hair unkempt and his t-shirt, bearing some unoriginal Monty Python quote, was not in the least flattering. It did little to hide the slight pouch of his gut, nor to conceal the fact that there was nothing defined about his arms. Brandon was a boy of the husky variety.

And this husky boy was currently bent awkwardly by the aches and complaints of his back and hind-side.

"I know you jerks drugged me!"

That's right. Talk to the trees. Obviously, screaming answered all problems.

It had to have been Anna. Anna and some of her friends. They'd all waited until he'd fallen asleep to the hum off his hard-drive and...

And...

"Guys?" They couldn't have carried him off. All of her friends were too prissy to handle nerd-flesh. Brandon was becoming more frightened by the second.

"Anyone?"

[Apollo]

Watching the boy calling out to people was awkward. The man got down on the ground and got as close to the boy without being seen before yelling at him. . .still couldn't be seen. .. he enjoyed doing this a lot. . .
"What are you doing here?" The man stood still, knowing it was more likely not to be seen.

[Evangeline Carter]

"Holy-F$%#!" Original words, for a geek. The boy leaped a good five inches as the terror of the disembodied voice overtook him. Loosing any color left in his face, he staggered away from where he suspected the source originated, wheezing.

"Wh-" his throat began to swell with panic, his hand fumbling in his pockets for his inhaler. "Wh-who's there? Come out!"

Words he immediately regretted, jamming the mouth of the inhaler to his lips and releasing a puff of the anti-inflammatory medication down his throat. After all, who was he to assume he wanted to meet what ever had so pleasantly snuck up on him?

[Apollo]

Slowly creeping on the boy being scared he stood behind him as he was bumped into. Wrapping an arm around his neck he kept the boy close with his longer knife around the boy's neck and his throwing knife at his back. "Now calmly tell me how you snuck into my fief without me knowing it. . .and you get to live." Hopefully the bluff wouldn't be caught. This boy was to young to be a spy, so the question was how he had gotten here. Magic the most likely. . .though the man would spit on any magic user before knowing anything else.

[Evangeline Carter]

"What the heck is a feif?" Wheezed Brandon, his hands wrestling the powerful grip of his captor. "I just -- loosen up -- I just f-fell here, mister, I swear." The conclusion that this was one of his sister's friend was making a comeback, at this point; Anna would most certainly have employed one of the jocks from the football team to pull this off, though where he'd gotten his hands on the knives was harder to guess.

"Just let me go! Anna, mom's going to ground you for a month!"

[Apollo]

The man gripped tighter for a second before letting it relax a bit more. "I have no idea with who you are talking to but I can assure you that I know niehter your mother or this Anna. . ." He began walking backwards to his home for somewhere to keep him.

[Evangeline Carter]

"Well then you're luckier than most," Brandon wheezed without thinking. "Just let me go, jerk, the joke's over." His pudgy hands were wrapped tightly around the gauntlet, trying to pry it away from him. "J-jeez." He still had no perception of what had occurred, or the danger he had fallen into.

"If you're from Henburg's chess-team, I'll seriously get you guys thrown out of the tournament." The Henburg geeks had a mean-streak a parsec long. They had pranked Brandon's chess-team before.

[Apollo]

"Feel the blader under your chin, and one on the small of your back. . .the people you know. .. would they do this to you?" Finally reaching his house he covered the boys eyes with a cloth and threw him into the basement.
"Tanis what. . .what are you doing to that boy! You were supposed to be here by noon and it is far past that." She yelled. He flinched and found her in the kitchen like all women. . .standing with her arms crossed, weight on one foot and tapping the other.
"I. . .I can explian."
"Yes you do. . ." I'm in trouble. . .again. . . he thought to himself.