Cabinet Man vs. the New Kids on the Rock

Part six: epilogue

    "...Nobody knows how the organs got inside the arcade machine, or who destroyed it and why. All we know is that nobody will be playing this polybius machine anytime soon. Or ever, because it's been completely destroyed and cannot be repaired."

The radio announcer spoke with a note of disappointment--reproach, even--in their tone. Neil frowned. Despite himself, he almost felt kind of guilty now. However, that guilt quickly faded when he looked up from the old-fashioned radio on the coffee table and glanced between his friends, both of whom bore similar concerned expressions as they sat next to him on the sofa. All three of them were still alive and well, which wouldn't have been the case if they hadn't destroyed the Polybius. Still, that radio announcer did sound pretty annoyed about the whole thing...

"Boy, I sure hope the police don't find out it was us," he muttered.

Kevin gave him an assuring pat on the arm. "Relax, we didn't leave any fingerprints."

"Oh, yeah." Neil shrugged nonchalantly, all worries immediately assuaged. "Guess we've got nothing to worry about, then."

"Let's stop listening to this nonsense," Ryan interjected. He reached over and switched the knob off, silencing the news reporter mid-sentence. "You know what they say: radio is the devil's television."

They turned their attention to the TV, which they'd had on mute playing footage of a news report about the arcade break-in at the same time the radio talked about it. However, no sooner did they raise their heads to look at the screen than the news report abruptly cut to a cereal commercial. The new kids groaned in exasperation.

"Welp, guess that's the universe telling us to get off our butts and go outside," Kevin sighed.

Neil and Ryan looked skeptical. "You think so?"

"Sure!" He got up and moved to the window, drawing the curtains open. Outside, the sky was overcast, with the clouds rumbling in such a way that indicated it was going to rain soon, or possibly hail. "Nothing's threatening us anymore, and it's a beautiful day out."

After a moment, Neil nodded his agreement. "You're right," he decided. "Time to put our worries aside and have fun."

He and Ryan got up and followed Kevin out the door, into a world of new opportunities and adventure. They left the TV playing on behind them. Immediately after they walked outside and shut the door behind them, the commercial break ended and the television switched back to displaying a news broadcast, this time with volume all of a sudden.

"Breaking news update: new evidence has been found linking the arcade break-in to the group of filmmakers known as the new kids on the rock," a reporter was saying. "Police are en route to the new kids' clubhouse right now."

Somewhere in the distance, a police siren began to wail. As it turns out, living arcade machines aren't the only thing in this world looking to inflict unjust punishments for people's questionable actions.

~The End!~