A Fragrance of Apples

I have been working a a short story titled "A Fragrance of Apples". It stars all the people that I'm good friends with here, or that I like to joke on or with. :) It has been a fun little creation. I'll need to wind it up soon though. Keep it tight. Keep people interested. I've lost motivation a couple of times, but am working on getting it back.

Here's the cast and a bit of part III:

Cast

Aaroneous (Aaron)
Army Amy (Amy)
Geoffrey (Geoffrey)
Houtan of Hermanivka (Houtan)
Houtan’s Bride (Parisa)
Jaredo (Jared)
Kentonion (Kent)
Khatkillyou (Khat)
Laurendo (Lauren)
Leilinguist (Leila)
Luciqua (Lucia)
Papa Joe (Joe)
Sholeshabang (Sholeh)
Rayvahid (Ray…Vahid)
Rafita (Rafaan)
The One Who is From Africa (Zimbabwe)
Vafalusive (Vafa)

Guest Stars
Bubs (Nathan)
Jackal (Roya)

*******************************************************************************

Part III

Page 124

The taste of blood and sweat mingled with that of the apple tinted smoke that permeated the room. Red dripped from his nose and brow, oozing down his check and neck. Geoffrey, no longer able to open his eyes, spat out the dry blood that began to collect and harden in his mouth. The cold and dark of the cellar room finally began to settle on him as some of his senses began to return. He didn’t know how long he’d been here. It felt like days. [Chinese] So, how do you feel after an hour and a half of torture? rasped a deadly voice from the dark. Whoever it was, they were obviously a smoker. A second person, a woman, translated from another side of the room. Geoffrey could barely open his mouth, and when he tried, trails of blood and saliva prevented him from forming words. All he could do was let out a grown of utter pain and exhaustion – the beatings had been intense, and he remembered vaguely being hit by a book. The man began to speak again, and Geoffrey was able to discern one name: Leilinguist. How he despised her now. The man started to speak again, “It must be Chinese” Geoffrey thought; and then he heard the familiar bubble of water boiling, another gust of apple flavored smoke filled his nostrils, and Geoffrey realized – Rayvahid!

Geoffrey heard them walk away, but heard more than two pairs of feet moving around and surmised that there must have been more people watching. These were his last thoughts as darkness descended. Hours ticked by, and the slow but steady sun began to rise. There was one window in the furthest most corner of the room, and it was through here that a single ray of light found its way into the cellar to penetrate the eye of Geoffrey and awaken him from his painful sleep. As he slowly roused himself to sit up prop his back against the wall, he was finally able to look around. He scanned the room with half open eyes, and suddenly let out a gasp! Someone else lay gagged and tied, like a roped calf, in the far corner of the room across from him. He’d never seen this man before. But with his shaved head and slight features he looked like a small child.

Geoffrey crawled and rolled his way over to the small figure to get closer – he was fast asleep, but his breath came slow and forced. Blood covered most of his head, and Geoffrey was sure his clothes must be originally some other color. A small book lay beside him – it too was caked in blood, but Geoffrey was able to make out the title: “Bleed for the Father; The Life and Struggles of Houtan”. Geoffrey was astounded! Why did this individual have a book concerning the same subject as he!? The broken spine of the book allowed the small paperback to rest open. Page 124 lay before him, and he read the first lines:

Even as a young teenager, Houtan was a fighter and the most noble of all boys in the small village of Hermanivka. He welcomed a battle and always came out victorious. He also loved apples and often helped his neighbors and friends during the harvest season…

Geoffrey was confused. This description did not fit at all with the biography that he was reading. In his, Houtan of Hermanivka was described as brutal and vicious, but also easily manipulated. One paragraph in his book described him as if he was “a blind, red duck with razor sharp teeth, being led around by an invisible hand”.

Footsteps echoed down the corridor, and Geoffrey panicked and scurried back to his original spot and feigned sleep. The door burst open causing Geoffrey to automatically jump, as person upon person filed into the room. He stared with wide eyes has his brain finally began to click and recognizable faces flooded his sight. There, standing before him, scowling and jeering, were Luciqua, Laurendo, Rafita and Aaroneous.

“Ooooooooooh, someone’s awake. How did you sleep you little slobber box. You’ve wet your whole front”, mocked Luciqua.

Laurendo guffawed from behind her.

“Rafita! What?....why?...what are you doing!” Geoffrey shouted.

“Eet looks like you’ve got ze rong end of ze steek cuz” whispered Rafita, as he crouched in front of Aaroneous. “Ju mest rownd wit ze rong guys”.

Geoffrey could not believe his eyes. Rafita his cousin, leering at him in a way a wolf does a lamb.

Suddenly, Aaroneous reared back and ran into Geoffrey at full speed, pinning him against the wall.

“You like that punk, eh?” Aaroneous shouted into his ear.

“No, no I don’t” Geoffrey shouted back “get off!”.

“Erroneous!” Aaroneous screamed back “You’d better zip it eh, or you’ll end up like your precious friend here!”

“What, I don’t even know who that is” said Geoffrey

“You don’t know!” squealed Luciqua with joy and malice.

Laurendo sniggered from behind her.

“Eets jur preshus Dan” said Rafita who was now hanging from the pipe that extended across the ceiling.

“Who” said Geoffrey confused... he knew no Dan.

“Dan!” shouted Rafita who had flipped upside down and was hanging by his legs.

“Not Dan you freakin monkey…eh. It’s your beloved Don” said Aaroneous.

And it hit Geoffrey like a bag of sand, the kind that you put up to prevent floods, that this small, bald little figure trembling in the corner was none other than Don Joe, Papa Joe…The Joe. “What barbarians!” thought Geoffrey. It had come to this. The most wise and learned figures of the town were being taken out. What did this mean? And Geoffrey became suddenly very scared. Don Joe was who he was going to go for answers. Papa Joe was going to make it alright! After Amy “the one woman army” had turned him away, Geoffrey had been trying to think of other ways to see him. Now he saw that they were both prisoners, and each had to rely on the other – that’s assuming of course that he would ever wake up.

Geoffrey thought about Vafalusive also. The last thing he remembered they had been drinking tea with Jaredo, Bubs and Vafalusive as they explained everything. That’s when hell broke loose. But now Geoffrey found himself in a situation that looked grimmer than he could have ever imagined. Those he counted as friends were either taken out, lost, or had turned on him. The ties that had bonded them were slowly dimming away, and the covenant of trust and brotherhood was becoming a thing to be relegated to the past. This was the history of man, he said sardonically to himself. He found it somewhat hard to believe that this was actually being played out in such a real way – he never thought it would come to this.

As the four argued over what they should do next, Geoffrey started to feel extremely ill - no sleep for days and that pizza couldn’t have helped. He never gets one with everything. He shouldn’t have eaten Kentonion’s stupid “gift” – but then again, it’s always dangerous to refuse something that Kentonion gives to you. Either he wants you to do something, or he wants something from you – regardless, he’s a treacherous man to cross. Bickering back and fourth, no one saw Geoffrey as he writhed in pain as wave up on wave of pain began to shoot through his stomach and up his chest. “What had he eaten” he thought. He vomited once…he vomited twice…this was enough to elicit a smirk of glee from Laurendo, who then turned back to the argument…and on the third time, as he hurled into the corner, something came out – a small case 1 millimeter in length. It appeared to be metal of some kind, but it definitely was something to be opened as Geoffrey saw the hinges on the side. Geoffrey realized it would be too dangerous to open there so he stowed it away in the inside pocket of his waist coat.

Footsteps were heard coming down the hallway, and Sholeshabang peered in. “Hey, you screw-ups, he wants you all upstairs. Have you gotten the information yet?” she asked.

“Chill out” said Luciqua “we’re working on it. We just thought we’d have our fun first”

Laurendo grinned evilly from behind Luciqua’s shoulder, causing horrific shivers turn run down Geoffrey’s spine.

“Chill out...chill out…yeah, sure, I’ll pass that message along”, mocked Sholeshabang as she turned to leave.

“Yeaaah. Time for some fun” whispered Aaroneous as he cracked his knuckles and bared his teeth.

As the band of four miscreants closed in on Geoffrey, no one noticed three things: Sholehshabang’s steps had stopped prematurely, the Don had disappeared, and something, softly and gently, began to float down out of thin air, cutting through the musky apple scented room, to land in the midst of everyone – a paper, but more specifically…a map.

To Be Continuted...