A bit of levity, methinks, Gazzy. Although, perhaps it isn't smart to post a chapter when I'm half-asleep.
Chapter Five:
We Are In Love . . . Right?
"Gaz, are you okay?" Cloak said, turning away from her and approaching the wall again.
"I think so -- what are you doing?" she replied at once.
"I was able to reach you by touching this stuff with my Mark," Cloak said, not even bothering to turn around, and speaking over his shoulder.
"And?"
"You're forgetting about the others, Gaz."
"You mean they didn't manage to escape?" she said, alarmed.
"It got us all. But I do get the feeling the fact that we managed to escape it . . . It's craw, maw, jaw, or whatever, is serious news."
"You think we're the first to think to conquer our deepest fears would set us free of this creature, or whatever it is?"
"Probably not," Cloak answered cooly, about to place his Mark upon the crystalized surface as Gaz mirrored him, "but perhaps the only ones who realized to do it in time."
"What about those without fear?"
"That is an impossibility," Cloak said, thrusting his hand forward. "Despite what some people may say to the contrary, no one is without fear. Fearlessness is recklessness."
As soon as both their Marks made contact with the surface, the two endured a bright flash of light, and then saw a rather nice cafe that Parker sat at, looking perfectly contented, as Helen came prancing up, singing:
"Been thinkin' for a while
And there's somethin'
I gotta tell you . . ."
Parker shrugged it off, as he continued to peruse his paper, "Eh, I'm kinda busy."
Undeterred, Helen sang:
"Been thinkin' that our love
For each other has grown so very strong.""Aren't you going a little too fast?" Parker said, genuinely alarmed now. But, Helen continued:
"It's plain to see
We're building
Our worlds together.""Uh, back up a minute." Parker said, still trying to be reasonable. But, Helen persisted:
"I'm looking at your eyes right now
And I can tell you feel the same --"Then she tackled Parker into a very tight embrace, as he gasped (while desperately wishing he had his armor on), "You're choking me!" as some background chorus sang:
"We are in love!"Parker broke free of the embrace and stood away, as if this was a side of Helen that he neither knew about and did not particularly like. Then he turned, and sang:
"I think I'm gonna run away . . ."this was followed by the chorus singing the same lyric. Then Parker ran, eventually hiding in a rundown shack, looking fearfully at his cellphone as he sang:
"Did you tap my phone lines?!"After the disembodied chorus said the same lyric again, Helen confessed that:
"Yes, I tapped your phone lines."Then Parker sang:
"I won't lie,
You're a very pretty lady."[/i]
Helen gushed as she said, "Thank you!", but Parker continued:
"But you're crazy, crazy, crazy . . .
You make me wanna move to Bolivia.""Oh, I'll go with you!" Helen said as she inexplicably had packed bags in her hands and horrid-looking violet sunglasses on with a lurid sunhat.
Suddenly, it shows Parker in the shower, shampooing his hair, as Helen's recognizable silhouette is seen through the shower screen. Parker sang:
"You know, I'm thinkin'
I should get a restrainin' order."Helen comments, "Those are so hard to enforce."
Parker continued:
"'Coz your car's parked
Outside my thread
Every night last week!She commented, rather unnervingly, "Your neighbors are sweet."
Parker continued:
"You're the reason why I have
To keep my shades drawn!"To which Helen replied in a rather stalkerish way, "I'll watch you through the chimney!", even though Parker's thread possessed no such thing. Parker sang:
"I've installed an alarm system,
With motion-feed detectors."But Parker flees when Helen says, "I have the code.". All the while the chorus repeated that one lyric over and over again. Parker pleaded:
"Give me just five minutes!"But when he clicked on the light of the closet of which he hid, she was there, hearts in her eyes, claiming:
"I think that was five minutes!"Then Parker burst out of the closet, and fled to his thread, only to find . . .
"Did you just move in with me?"The answer Helen gave was:
"Yes, I just moved in with you."Then the chorus sang their final reprise, and Parker declared loudly, "NO . . . WE'RE . . . NOT!!"
From there, the Helen's voice changed from stalkerish to undeniably seductive. "You love me, don't you? Don't you?"
Here, Parker faltered, but Gaz and Cloak channeled their strength into their Marks and tried to get Parker to be able to hear them. It didn't seem to do anything at first, and Parker seemed genuinely discomforted.
"You killed a man for me," the false Helen said, taking on more of an appearance similar to that of Other Mom in Coraline. Parker saw that and heard encouragement from his friends, and looked straight at the beast, and said, with ringing tones, "Your are NOT my Helen. She is not so starved for attention to be demanding it of every second of my time."
"You killed a man for --"
"Further proof that you are not who you pretend to be. Helen knows the truth of what happened. And it wasn't nearly as simple as your making it out to be. Now, GO AWAY!!"
With a flash, all three were out, and on their feet. All still covered with goo, although the goo on Cloak was beginning to dry out. Cloak looked at Parker and wondered what made him fearful of an overly-needy or stalkerish women. But he didn't ask. He thought it would be too personal.
