Calm Before The Storm

The moment Annette finally escaped the ruckus, she broke out into a run back towards the warehouse.

On her way there, the enormous display above her was still televising the event live, much to the astonishment of everyone else on the street corner.

When she took a glimpse up at it, Annette saw that the police cars had already arrived. How she didn’t hear the sirens while she was leaving, she only had ideas.

Driving it out of her mind, Annette found herself back at the warehouse. This time, she barely even noticed the disgusting implements in the first room.

“Elvira!” She shouted as she banged on the steel door. “It’s me! Open up!”

Annette didn’t even bother with the swordfish password. It was just a matter of getting the ones inside to recognize her voice.

…

Sinbad buried his head into his hands as he sat waiting for someone to post his bail.

It felt like forever since the last time he’d been behind bars. Now that he was once more, the terrible memories came flooding back.

Looking out through the bars, he saw a cheesy motivator calendar hanging up on the wall. The policeman checking it seemed to ignore his presence.

Now Sinbad was trying to comprehend what exactly happened to him earlier. It’d been over a year since the last time he’d done this. He mostly knew things ended badly, and he never remembered doing any of it afterwards.

Finally, the door to the station opened, revealing Marc pulling out a checkbook.

“You got a pen I can write with? My dad forgot to give me one, I think,” he said as he approached the front desk.

…

It wasn’t often that The Builder worked in their room with the TV on.

As they gutted the headless clone they picked back up from earlier, they kept an intent watch on the happenings of Bridgeport.

Somewhere near the end of the broadcast, the footage was played again. It was there they quickly had a glimpse of blue leaving the screen.

“What the…” In a fit of rage, The Builder threw the corpse down again and quickly pulled their knife out. Without thinking, they stabbed the TV through the screen.

“She is getting a serious talking to when I get back!” Pulling their blade out, The Builder then ripped open a portal back to Bridgeport.

…

Sagebear was dressed in canine finery as she was led out for her walk, looking positively darling.

Behind her, Dennis held her leash gently as Blaise told Shark where they were going to go. Then, after telling him what he needed to do while they were gone, she joined the two of them.

“Ya know where the pizza place is, right? And we got the dog treats for Sagebear?” Blaise asked him when they were out on the sidewalk.

Dennis nodded, and pulled out a bag of treats to hand to his wife. Sagebear seemed to sense right away that there were tasty things behind her, given how she looked at them and wagged her tail.

“Eh, Blaise?” He couldn’t help but notice something familiar about the dog’s outfit. “Wasn’t that the same outfit she wore the day we took the boy to the psych ward?”

Taking a closer look, Blaise realized that it was indeed the same outfit. They had put it on Sagebear as an attempt to cheer up Shark.

…

It was still hard to think about that day, when Shark was left at the psych ward for 72 hours. Dennis reassured his son that the time would fly by, but it still hurt to know he had to go there.

Blaise remembered her stepson crying, and begging not to be left there. Then the crying turned to screaming, as the telltale signs of a tantrum flared up and could be heard.

For Dennis, Shark was calling out for his ‘Daddy’. After he did, there came the pounding on the doors.

The 72 hours that had passed after that felt like 72 months to them. When Shark was released, he came out with an untold amount of joy, and hugs for his parents.

“He’ll be all right by himself at the hotel, right?” Blaise asked him now.

“Hm?” Dennis nodded again, as he watched Blaise pull out a dog treat. “He should be. He’s got the TV to occupy him until we return.”

…

After he was released from jail, Sinbad kept himself at Marc’s side as they located Sinbad’s truck.

“The old man’s going to be beyond ticked at me when we get back, isn’t he?” He quietly asked as they got in.

Marc just made an ‘I don’t know’ sound before properly answering him. “He isn’t the type to get angry. At worst, he’ll just scold you, probably.”

“I hope so.” After that, about half the truck ride back home was in silence. Then Marc decided to ask the burning question:

“What even happened to you back at that place, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Sinbad just shrugged as he kept his eyes on the road. “Nothing you should freak out about, bro. Hopefully it won’t happen again.”

Silence descended upon them again, as they reached the complex they lived in. It stayed quiet between the two half-brothers as they took the elevator back up to their complex.