Issue #131
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note : while this is a stand-alone story, it is part of a four part series so if you haven’t already, I would encourage you to start from the beginning. Click here to go back to the first installment. Thanks for your interest and support!
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Ronnie sat forward in his chair, jumping at the notification on his screen. This kid just wasn’t giving up, and Ronnie was loving every minute of it. This was the why he stayed home at night, listening to his parents parade around upstairs, fussing around the house for no particular reason. This was why he didn’t waste his time or money on the likes of a girlfriend. All he needed to fulfill himself was the hours spent on these comment threads, ripping a new one into the backsides of the culturally illiterate, and all the mono-syllabic idiots of the world. He leaned forward and began reading the reply.
I don’t understand why you care so much what other people like, why don’t you get over it? Is your life affected so much by it that you have to be so completely rude and disrespectful? Just move on.
Ronnie laughed, the laugh of a predator that is being granted a new food source. He grinned with what he imagined was a cruel glint in his eyes, as he leaned forward to tear into this mild-mannered moron.
Sorry, I guess you don’t hold yourself to any kind of standards. I guess I just expect too much from people, and should just discuss cartoons and children’s books so that you could follow along with the stories. Maybe we can find someone to hire to pre-chew your food for you as well.
He clicked send, and sat back, laughing at the thought of this kid was at the other end, sputtering and waving his arms at computer screen, at the ridiculous statement that he had just been subjected to. Sometimes, he liked to imagine that he could hear chattering all around the Internet, as spectators served witness to the atrocity that was being handed down. He didn’t even really care that much about what this moron thought about the movie, it was about the fight for him. This was about his amusement. This was about setting off a bomb in a room of high strung nerds, and watching them scramble around like ants. This was about one place where he could push people around instead of being the one pushed.
While he waited for the next absurd reply, he reached to his left and took several more Jalapeno Poppers from the bowl, and crammed them into his mouth, chasing it with a fistful of potato chips and a mouthful of soda. The night was young, and he had already picked out some fresh bait. If the rest would end up like this dolt, he was going to be in for an epic evening, bought at the slim expense of other people’s dignity and self-respect.
Ronnie clicked on another thread he had been lurking around in, and rolled his eyes at yet another idiot going on about how the movie was actually good, if you accepted it for what it was. Right, because God forbid we hold the people who make these films to a higher standard. He cracked his knuckles and went to typing his reply.
This movie serves no value. All it is is explosions, and more explosions. The movie is a piece of shit and the only people it appeals to are mentally challenged knuckle draggers, who can’t be bothered to do more than pick peanuts out of the little dirty wooden bowl at their local drinking trough.
He was already laughing, before he even got to the end of the sentence. He looked at the other posts and comments and imagined an explosion, radiating outward and taking the little people off of their pathetic feet as his rage spread like fire.
The minutes ticked past on the tiny readout at the bottom of the screen. The message boards seemed to be hitting a natural low, as people wandered off to do other things. He didn’t want to be the sole person, hanging around and looking for anyone who might be paying attention to him. He was the one who deserved their respect and attention so, he closed down the window in his browser and switched over to the DVD he had sitting in the tray, starting it playing as he did so. Sitting back, he picked up the plate of food and commenced his campaign to transfer all of those calories and fat from the plate and into his stomach. He had seen this movie so many times, that he could recite it from start to finish. He knew it so well that he could deliver all the lines himself and his timing would be so good that you could turn the movie back on, at any point, and he would be perfectly synced. It was the one sci-fi franchise from his childhood that he still kept coming back to.
He had just stuffed more food into his mouth, when he realized that his monitor had started to rock, back and forth on the desk. Ronnie frowned, reaching out to grab hold of it, but it only seemed to vibrate more violently, now sliding back and forth, in addition to the rocking. The picture of the movie was starting to glow more brightly and he thought he heard a kind of buzz in the air. Then, with a sudden explosion of sound and movement, something popped out of the screen, a heavy object of some kind. It hovered up in the air for a second before crashing to the ground. Ronnie jumped , first at the sight of a large ball of limbs hitting the floor, before arms and legs popped out of the thing as it started to get to its feet.
Whatever it was, it had just jumped out of his computer.
But even that wasn’t enough, as the little monster began walking towards him. It raised what looked like a tiny metal cylinder of some kind and as Ronnie heard a popping sound, a bright beam of energy emerged from it and the thing held it aloft like a sword.
Ronnie took in a breath, and several steps back when he realized what he was looking at. The short stature, the pointed ears. It scowled an expression of anger at hate at him, before raising the weapon and charging.
“Jesus!” Ronnie yelled, but there was nowhere to go. He backed up a few more steps into the desk and was trapped as the blade of energy came down to bear on him. He screamed as he felt the searing heat pass through both wrists, cutting, and cauterizing at the same time. His awareness slipped at that point, and the only thing he could be sure of, before the end, was that there was more heat, more cutting and above it all, the maniacal, hich-pitched laughter.
Seven states away, Brett Campor withdrew from his computer, and took in a deep breath to compose himself, watching as his body converted back from the digital matter, back into solid form. This one had taken a lot out of him. He didn’t do it this way very often, as it was so much more work to manifest himself as an actual character. Still, it was definitely worth it. He shut down his browser and severed the connection with Ronnie’s computer, leaving nothing else of himself behind.
There was a lot more work to do.
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