*Hey guys, I'm back with another episode. This episode is by far the longest episode I have ever written in my entire book. It will put you through twists and turns like a rollercoaster ride. Just giving you all a heads up. The next part will come out today and the next episode will come out next week(if I'm not too busy with school). This is published on February 8, 2020. If you like this part(s), please comment and/or vote. I would love to see what you guys think. The intro song will always be One Foot by Walk the Moon. Enjoy!*

*Edit: I added a little African proverb that will let you understand further about what the flashback was inspired by.*

Flashback:

There was a loud thud from the other side of the bedroom door. Of course, the young ten-year-old red fur boy had an idea of what's going on. He can hear voices yelling at each other and he didn't even cover his ears. There was nowhere in the house he could go to avoid it. In fact, there's nowhere in this small town called Spillsberry where he could to go to avoid the fight. He's cornered in his bedroom with only one window open. When he looked out of the window, he can see a group of buff boys, who were older than him, waiting for him to climb out of the window. The boy climbed out of his window and tried to bolt for the streets but a pair of twins blocked off the exit.

The lead boy chuckled. "You think you can escape from us, Williams?"

The red fur boy didn't answer, his body stood frozen but he didn't wear a scared expression.

"Where are you going go, huh, Williams?" the lead boy strode up to the red fur boy and got in his face.

The red fur kid attempted to pass by the boys again, but one of the boys pushed him down onto the dirt. Before the red fur boy could stand up, the older boys began kicking him in the gut and beating him harshly. The townspeople who were strolling nearby the alleyway stood there and watched the kid getting beaten up by bullies. Some of the townspeople kept walking but some just watched and made no action to save the boy. Finally, a cop stepped in with an irritated glare at the boys.

"Alright, you had your fun! Go home before you caused further trouble!" The officer barked his orders. The boys were hesitant at first but they immediately strolled out of the alleyway. The cop picked the red fur boy by the elbow harshly. "Beat it, kid!"

The cop shoved the boy away from him. The red fur boy stumbled but he regained his footing quickly. He only turned to look at the cop, however, it freaked the cop even more that the boy doesn't seem either angry or grateful. He seemed calm...just calm. Not calm as in peace though. Calm as in confusion...confused about what he should feel right about now.

"Do you hear me?! I said beat it!" The cop gave one last order before he scared the kid out of the alleyway. The kid didn't seem phased though when he scurried out of the alleyway. He roamed around the deserted street while still hearing the yelling coming from his own house. The boy's mind was blank and he took a moment to look around the bleak town called Spillsberry.

The red-fur boy, whose last name was known as Williams, remembered Spillsberry as a growing population. There was one moment where Spillsberry held a grand celebration of the Green Eggs and Ham eating contest and most of the people living in the nearby cities like Floriana or Meepville would come by the town and became entertained by the celebration. He's forced to go to it once. Despite the fact that he blended in perfectly by cheering on the contesters and playing with the other kids, the emotion wasn't there to back him up on it. He truly never liked it for one specific reason. People.

"People are such cruel creatures," his father once told him. "They play gods and kings when all they did was to make us suffer. And here we are, getting to play the pawns. That's what life is, son...a chess game and there are two paths to choose from. One could either rule the world or become weak. So, which role will you play, Lloyd? A pawn or a king?"

The red fur boy, Lloyd Williams, continued to meander throughout the small town while throwing away that stupid memory of the contest. He found a county library where he snuck through the back door. He wandered down the aisle full of books and picked a couple of books off the shelves randomly. He knew he couldn't exit out since the librarian suspected him coming in through this way. She does seem confused but if she figured out what he's going to do, she would immediately report him. He has to be smart about this. He articulated that the librarian would go to the back door to close it since he left it open on purpose. When she got up from her desk to close the back door, he quietly skulked towards the entryway and ran through the streets as fast as he can. He immediately climbed back into his bedroom window while hearing his parents' disputes still.

He heard a loud thud again but this time, it involved the glass breaking. He heard more screaming but it came from his father while continuing to hear the constant bang from the living room. But it finally ended. Lloyd strolled out of his bedroom with his books held in his arms and found his father standing over his dead mother's body.

His father shot a threatening glare at Lloyd, who doesn't know how to even react to all this. "If you know your role, you would walk away from this and not say a word to anyone. Got it?"

Lloyd nodded his head slowly in understanding and made his way to his bedroom with his shoulders tense. He closed his bedroom door while pondering about his mother who just died. She would get into a lot of fights with his father but she's no better than him. He could recall that one moment where his relationship with his mother was lost. He's only five when she slapped him across the face harshly. He cried his tears out but with each tear he shed, she slapped him harder and left some bruises on his cheeks. He didn't know why she did that...was that supposed to teach him a lesson? If that was meant for a lesson, then it made a bigger impact than expected.

The same couldn't be said about his father. He would come home drunk and beat his mother and then him. That's why he always had the bedroom door closed. His father was too over his head from that disgusting liquid to do some simple things like opening the door. However, he barricaded his bedroom door with his isolated chair underneath the doorknob just in case.

Lloyd had a fire stove that he built. Surprisingly, it's still burning the wood he put in...which kept him slightly warm. He closed his window and threw the books he stole from the county library in the fire to keep the flames going. However, the flames in his fire stove weren't warm enough for him.

~.~

Lloyd wandered through the library the next day but it's not for the books this time. He used a crowbar to barricade the backdoor. Luckily, the librarian hadn't noticed because of her hearing problems. Lloyd had a black eye from the early fight from the gang of boys. The same cop showed up and scared him away from them as usual. But he's in the library now. He bumped into a girl unexpectedly. Her books were knocked out of her arms and Lloyd jumped in to help her.

"I'm so sorry." Lloyd's apologetic tone sounded genuine but there's still no emotion behind it. He helped pick up her books while giving her a charming smile.

The girl was the same age as him with yellow fur and white neck, face, and short hair. She gave a beautiful grin back. "It's okay. Thank you for your help."

Lloyd began to walk by her. "No problem."

The girl seemed puzzled by Lloyd's sudden urge to leave. "Hey...you're that Williams boy, aren't you?"

Lloyd froze in position and turned around with a plastered smile. "Yes."

"I saw those boys beating you up in that alleyway today. However, by the time I was about to step in, the cop showed up."

"You...were about to step in?"

"Yeah...no one should get treated like that."

Lloyd immediately became charmed by the girl's personality and looks. "You're right. My name is Lloyd."

"Ava...Ava Abbot."

"It's nice to meet you, Ava."

"Nice to meet you too, Lloyd."

Ava walked away from Lloyd which made him smile for a brief moment. That smile immediately subsided and he went back to business. He shut the town down, blocked off all the exits, and now the one final touch. He emptied out gallons and gallons of gasoline onto the town. The streets were vacant that day, which was the perfect time to forward his plan that he has been planning for years. He entered through his house by the front door while carrying a full load of gasoline can. He poured it all over the house...including his bedroom and the living room where his father slept soundly while holding an empty bottle of liquor. He finally emptied out the last can towards the edge of town. He had the silver lighter in his hand and ignited the flames. He dropped it in front of him and the fire spread throughout the town like a disease.

The flames engulfed Lloyd's house along with that alleyway. The fire station tried to respond to the fire but Lloyd made sure that the tires of the fire trucks were flat and the water of hoses was empty. The police were about to call the outside for backup but he took care of that by shutting down the power and communication. There's no escape from the flames. The only thing that anyone in that town could do was scream. The longer Lloyd stared at the flames, the more he felt something. It wasn't any pity or remorse. In fact, it's the opposite. He burst out laughing. Hearing those screams gave him comfort. Hearing their suffering widened his smile. While the fire warmed his body, his laughter couldn't die down.

Present:

The red fur man couldn't stop laughing. It's a running joke he always played with himself. He continued to laugh even when he heard footsteps coming into his office behind him.

"Jeckles, is there something funny?" A hollow voice called from behind him.

Jeckles, the red fur man, ended his laugh with a sigh while staring at the camera screens. "You wouldn't get it. Why are you here? I'm sure you're not here to say hi to me."

"We hacked into the tracker. We found the man you're looking for as we speak."

Jeckles turned to face the hooded assassin staring at him. "Lovely...just lovely. I want you to find him."

The assassin nodded his head while taking out his wrist blade.

"And bring him back alive," Jeckles finished his instructions, causing the assassin to put the blade away. "We need him alive."

"How come, sir?"

"You'll see. Just bring him here."

"What if he resisted?"

Jeckles chuckled. "Then knock him out. It's that easy. Now, go."

"Yes, sir."

The Ghost walked away from Jeckles. Jeckles sat back on his chair and stared at the golden cage containing two women mice, who were a mother and daughter duo. They seemed frightened the more they heard Jeckles laugh.

~.~

Guy's Dream:

Guy groaned in pain while his migraine raved on.

"When will this headache end?" Guy could hear his own thoughts again, which shocked him even more.

"What?" He muttered underneath his breath. "What's happening?"

Guy realized soon that he's in a dark cramped space. He began to breathe heavily in panic and frantically examined his surroundings. He can see an orange light slightly from outside. He moved his hand around the wall next to him but it turned out to be a door instead. He immediately pushed the door open and crawled out of the small cramped space. He took some time to regain his conscience by staring down at the tile floor and his hands, waiting for the headache to go away. The headache got better slightly but it's enough for him to lift his head up. He slowly swept his gaze around him. He's back at Stovepipe High but he can barely recognize it.

The walls were now covered with thick weeds and the floor was messy. Guy slowly stood up to his feet and glanced back at the place where he came from, which was the bottom locker. He saw an orange light again but it's coming from the brown wooden door in front of him. He looked both left and right to notice the darkness and weeds blocking off the path. Guy shifted his focus back at the door, his gaze tensed. He reached for the doorknob and slowly turned it. As he was opening the door, he heard voices that were unfamiliar to him.

When Guy opened the door and stepped through, he realized that it led him into the cleaner hallway of Stovepipe High. It's just like how he remembered it except for one thing. The fact that there was nothing outside, just the golden glow. However, he noticed himself, his teenage self, opening the bottom locker with a panicked expression written on his face. Guy stepped towards his teenage self with a gulp. Teenage Guy let someone out of the locker. It's no surprise to Guy, as an adult, that it's Jeffrey who stumbled out of the locker. Guy heard snickering behind him while turning his head to see the good ole Billie Grayson snickering at both his teenage self and his little brother.

"Where were you?" Jeffrey uttered, causing Guy to turn his head at his teenage little brother.

Teenage Guy raised his brow. "What--?"

Jeffrey bolted out of the doors again but this time Guy, as an adult, chased after him.

"Jeffrey, wait!!" Guy called out while chasing after his little brother. He eventually ran into the light, which led him somewhere completely different. It led him into a diner, more specifically, Donna's Diner in Glurfsburg. He widened his eyes in shock and whipped his glance around him.

"Wait, what's going on?!" Guy shouted to himself while noticing his past self, the grumpy man, sat with the newspaper in front of his face and a briefcase by his feet. Donna, the waitress at the front counter, went to take his past self's order.

"Just oatmush, dry...and a spoon," Guy's past self requested bitterly but it wasn't intentional at Donna...well, maybe it was since she kept throwing questions of adding something else to the food he wanted to eat.

"Sadmen's special," Guy uttered to himself.

"Why am I visiting my past? What's going on?"

Guy covered his head, getting a sudden migraine again.

"What's going on with me?! Why am I like this?!"

Guy couldn't shut his mind up with all the questions racing through his head.

"Afternoon, Donna," A familiar voice spoke up.

Guy perked his head up quickly. "Sam?"

He turned around to notice Sam with a soft smile on his face and carrying his briefcase.

"Love what you've done with your fur," Sam complimented as always to people.

Guy softened his gaze at Sam.

"Oh, you, same as it always is," Donna replied, flattered.

Sam turned his head to glance at Guy's past self and gasped dramatically. The past Guy became creeped out by this while raising his newspaper to avoid eye-contact with Sam.

"Whoa, wow!" Sam ran up to the briefcase next to Guy's past self and put his briefcase next to his. "We're briefcase buddies! It's like...finding a matching snowflake."

Guy chuckled a bit, remembering back on how cute it was...first off a bit creepy but now he thought it was cute. Time was frozen suddenly, letting Guy wander around the diner. He instantly noticed weeds growing behind him in the diner, which scared him. He busted through the door next to his past self and closed it quickly.

Guy sighed deeply in relief, though he knew that he couldn't keep the weeds from spreading after him for long. He looked up just in time to see his past self again but this time...he's with Michellee in the quiet cart of the train. Michellee was just done counting beans when his past self was staring at her lovingly. Although, when she glanced at him, he went back to paint watching rapidly.

Guy walked up to them with a smile on his face. He remembered that his bond with Michellee strengthened by the tiny whispers they told each other. His past self was trying to assure Michellee that he's safe even though, in the end, he felt bad for lying to her. His heart was in the right place but his actions were questionable. Again, time froze while hearing the screeching sound behind him. Guy turned around immediately and saw the weeds growing through the door that he closed.

Again, he sprinted towards the door on the other side while the weeds spread faster after him. Guy opened the door and shut it tightly. He kept moving slightly to finally realized that he's in the interrogation room in Meepville where he saw his past self yelling at Sam for telling him lies about Sam's criminal past in front of Mr. Jenkins, the chickeraffe that they were supposed to rescue.

"Why do you have so many aliases?" Guy inquired harshly at Sam.

"Because nobody's ever--" Sam paused while his lips quivered. "Because nobody's ever...wanted me to stay the same...nobody's ever stuck around this long."

There's a brief pause with Guy had the look of pity on his face but he saw that his past self didn't.

"Well, there's a reason why no one has stuck around this long, Sam," The past Guy began to growl.

"Oh no, you're going to make it worse."

"Believe me, I know, because I tried. I tried you as a friend and you don't fit--!"

"Stop it! Stop it!"

"You don't fit anybody...not even your own mother."

Guy's eyes trembled, he didn't want to be reminded what he said to Sam. He already apologized to Sam and they both made amends. Guy was supposed to move on but...it bothered him that he even said that to Sam, considering his doubts about his mother wanting him. He shut his eyes closed tightly.

"Why did you say that? You're a failure...that's all you are. That's all you will ever be."

The words in Guy's mind were harsh but he's used to it. Well, he's supposed to be used to it.

Guy found himself tearing up with his fists clenched to his sides and his stance frozen still. He didn't hear the weeds growing around him. He felt something around his legs tightly, causing him to snap his eyes open. He saw the weeds wrapping around his legs and crawling up to him. Guy struggled to get out of it but he couldn't. He switched his gaze over at Sam, who rode on Mr. Jenkins out of the isolated room.

"Sam, wait! You can't sell him!" Guy's past self shouted with a lot of remorse marked on his face.

Guy reached his hand out for Sam but the weeds wrapped around his outstretched hand. "Sam! H-Help! Someone!! Anyone!! Please--"

The weeds wrapped around his throat and his face but they don't cover his sight and mouth yet.

"Please...help."

The weeds covered his mouth and sight. Everything around him turned dark.

To Be Continued...