Wee Weasel Tales: Fiendish Friends

Ostracised Ostrich - Part 1

This is the first part of eleventh chapter of the triquel; Fiendish Friends! This chapter is made up of readers' introduction to Ozzie in the asylum ... in the past.

Some thugs appear and attempt to beat him up, but they've picked the wrong chap to beat up! I hope that you guys like it! 👍

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In the asylum's library, back in the past, a day later ...

It was a very rainy day in Nevada ... with the kind of torrential downpour not normally expected at that time of year.

But inside a certain asylum ... its staff and inmates just carried on with their regular schedules and activities.

One inmate was quietly reading a novel inside the asylum's library: a dimly-lit, dismal place with rather dusty books.

It wasn't the cleanest or tidiest place in the asylum ... but the library was blissfully quiet.

Not many people visited the library, due to the general disdain of the inmates towards such a place.

Dr Fine had tried to promote it in the past; as a place of 'self-healing' and 'reflection' ... but her efforts unfortunately fell on deaf ears.

Even though this particular inmate didn't care much for 'self- healing' and 'reflection' either ... he liked reading books.

He was a tall, gangly, young man in his early thirties ... with a shaved head, scarred throat, intense light blue eyes, and sticking-out ears.

The young chap's name was Oswald, but he preferred 'Ozzie' for short.

Ozzie was so engrossed in his book that he didn't sense the two ominous shadows creeping up on him between the bookshelves, with malicious intent.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Look what we've got here, cap'n! Fresh meat!"

The jeering shout made the young man jump a little, but he tried to keep his calm composure. Ozzie then subtly glanced to his left, and right ... to see who had spoken.

Two other male inmates were now standing next to him; one on each side. The one on the left was a lean, light brown-haired, dark-eyed man in his mid-thirties ...with a scarred face.

The other guy, on the right; was a much burlier, heavyset man with dark brown eyes and short, curly, black hair.

"Hey, newbie!" the aforementioned 'Cap'n' spoke in a fake friendly voice to Ozzie. "Me and Donnie are this here place's welcoming committee."

The tallest man's face screwed up in contempt and disgust as he realised what was going on.

Having been in a few places similar to this one previously, Ozzie knew how these so-called 'welcoming committees' worked.

Newbies were swiftly cornered and taught who the 'bosses' were, and to obey them at all times.

The ignorant thugs responsible usually 'taught' this knowledge by literally beating it into the newbies.

"Looks like somebody did a number on your neck there," Cap'n said mockingly, chuckling as he poked at the scars on Ozzie's neck.

The aforementioned chap quickly moved his neck out of range in response, scowling deeply at the other men. He really, REALLY hated people bringing up his scars in conversations!

The scars on his neck, in question ... came from a tragic and painful past, one that Ozzie usually didn't discuss with others.

The tallest guy just quietly  turned his back on the irritating idiots, and went back to reading his book. If those fools had any brains, they wouldn't bother him again!

However ...

"Hey! What's the matter with you?" Donnie demanded with a frown, suddenly shoving Ozzie backwards ... very hard!

"It ain't polite to ignore people like that! You need to learn some respect. Take him back to the stacks, Cap'n.

So we can teach him some manners!" the scarred man continued, his frown turning to a devilish smirk.

Dropping his book in the process, the grimacing, tall chap staggered back ... right into the grip of the now chuckling Cap'n.

"Easy there, fella! We ain't gonna hurt you ... much!" the bigger man said, sadistically.

The two conspirators then turned and headed deeper into the aisles of bookcases, looking around once of twice ... just to make sure that they weren't spotted.

Cap'n pulled a struggling Ozzie along behind him ... while Donnie led the way forwards.

———

In a 'dead end', in the asylum library, a few minutes later ...

Ozzie grunted in pain as he was bodily thrown roughly into a table and chair, which lay at the end of a library aisle.

Dazed slightly from the impact, the young man slowly slumped to the ground ... groaning loudly.

"I like my meat tenderised a little, ain't that right, Donnie?" came Cap'n's mocking voice from somewhere above him.

Ozzie instantly sat up, grimaced, and quickly shook his head a few times to clear the dizziness.

Luckily, the dizziness disappeared quickly ... giving the young guy time enough to gauge his current situation.

Ozzie could see that his two smirking attackers were standing right in front of him, while a bare wall lay behind.

Full bookshelves stood parallel to the young man on his left and right; stretching from the bare wall to beyond the wicked miscreants.

His lip also hurt a lot from accidentally biting it when he hit the table.

"Hey! Don't this guy look familiar?" Cap'n's voice abruptly snapped Ozzie out of his train of thought, causing the harassed man's irritation to rise.

He glared up at the bigger, more muscular man for a few seconds ... before looking away once again.

Ozzie didn't want to be familiar with Cap'n and his 'mate' Donnie in any way!

Unfortunately, looking up at his aggressors again ... had only given them another look at Ozzie's facial profile.

It was all that the two thugs needed anyway! Donnie grinned crookedly in delight as he bent down to look closely at their scowling victim.

"You know what, Cap'n? You're right! We saw this guy on the news the other night!" the ferret-like chap remarked, clear glee in his voice.

"Yeah! They did a whole documentary about him - 'The Midnight Strangler'!" Donnie dramatically said, with fake admiration.

What do you guys think of Ozzie's introduction? Vote and comment if you like it! 👍