Leavitt Stafford and the Awful, Terrible, Not Very Nice Plan.

Chapter the Thirty-Second: The Downfall of Dr. Rupert Stephens

There was a silence filled by such a dreadful apprehension that neither the doctor nor the surgeon could gather the courage to so much as move. How could it be that Leavitt Stafford, the man who had contributed so fruitfully to the ambitions of his employer, had been... a homosexual? How could it be that he, who was so perplexingly courteous to all, could have committed such depraved acts? Meanwhile, Leavitt himself could scarcely believe that such a dire occurrence could have transpired! Of course, he had possessed frightful suspicions that something dreadful would indeed occur, but it was just so terribly sudden.

Leavitt knew that he was likely not long for the noose. He, however, could not allow himself to be cast into such an unspeakable situation...

"...Leavitt?" Rupert eventually spoke. "Leavitt, what the devil? WHAT THE DEVIL?"

Before Leavitt could bring another thought to his mind, he pulled his legs away from his employer and aimed yet another kick between the boorish man's legs, causing him to shield himself in agony once more. Leavitt did not dilly dally; he hoisted his skirts and fled. He fled across the sea of books, he fled out of the bedroom and down the stairs, and he fled towards the kitchen. He required a knife. He required a knife immediately, and he needed to plunge it into the chest of Dr. Rupert Stephens.

As the maid watched such horrors from the pantry which she had scuttled into moments before the arrival of the crazed homosexual surgeon clad in crumpled feminine garments, heavy footsteps thundered down the stairs. "LEAVITT BLOODY STAFFORD, YOU SODOMITE," the contemptible doctor roared. "HOW BLOODY DARE YOU CAUSE ME TO ENGAGE IN HOMOSEXUAL ACTS? HAVE YOU NO SHAME?"

Hiding the knife behind his back, Leavitt marched towards his employer. "I'm terribly sorry," he apologised, and he made to stab the man.... but was promptly thrown to the floor and kicked in the ribs.

"IS THIS WHY YOU BECAME A SURGEON? SO THAT YOU WOULD BEST KNOW HOW TO COMMIT A MURDER?" Rupert seized the broom which the maid had abandoned the moment he had delivered the order, and he struck the knife from Leavitt's hand before beating him with it. "WHAT MORE WOULD I EXPECT FROM A HOMOSEXUAL? YOU'RE DEPRAVED, THE LOT OF YOU!"

Leavitt had curled into a ball in order to shield himself from the incessant strikes. He could not so much as protest, for what was there to protest against? After all, he was planning to murder his own friend, and he was planning to murder the maid, and he was planning to murder Magnolia and Montague and flee once he had seen his own brother thrown in prison. Leavitt was indeed morally depraved, and he knew of this very well indeed, but what more could he do? He could not allow the gods to continue their horrors! The acts he committed were indeed unacceptable, but they were for the greater good, and Leavitt knew this very well indeed!

"Dr. Stephens!" cried the maid of the frightful doctor. "For goodness sake, you shall get yourself killed!" She, of course, did not truly care for Dr. Stephens. She did, however, care for her wages.

"I SHALL KILL THE RUDDY MAN MYSELF!" Rupert bellowed, his strikes becoming more extreme by the second.

The maid decided that it was about time she took matters into her own hands, and so she seized the unthinking arms of her employer. Though she was promptly hurled into the wall, this was all the time required for Leavitt to spy a means of escape! And so, as Rupert uttered the most unspeakably vile imprecations against his adroit surgeon, Leavitt swiftly reached for the knife and clutched it as though his life depended on it, which it indeed did.

"NOW LOOK WHAT YOU BLOODY DID!" Rupert condemned his maid, and he promptly shoved her away. After he did so, he took many steps backwards himself, but it was of no use; Leavitt was crawling towards him, the sheer fire of the moment distracting him from the pain of his injuries.