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

Chapter the Thirty-Third: Fear and Cheddar

The morning after the most recent of the heinous crimes of Leavitt, Magnolia had finished battling her skirts, and was now moving towards the door so that she may protest before she arrived at work. It truly irritated her how Montague would always warn her of the consequences; what the man failed to understand was that life was not about living a long time, but living a life of fulfilment! Truth be told, Magnolia did not believe it to be particularly fulfilling to dilly dally about waiting for the moment deemed appropriate when one could instead act immediately; she could die tomorrow, and so could Montague, but he appeared to fail to realise such matters!

As Magnolia placed her hand upon the doorknob, she heard murmuring emanating from the bed in place of the usual snoring. The protest of today could wait. She crept back towards the bed, and she knelt beside her husband, who, in the midst of his slumber, bore a slightly troubled expression.

"Magnolia," he murmured. "You cannot go downstairs, for it is unsafe."

Magnolia sighed. Montague had been gripped by the notion that everybody in this household would be murdered by Leavitt, and he refused to accept that what he regarded as premonitions were, as a matter of fact, utter nonsense.

Montague turned towards Magnolia, his eyes still closed and his eyebrows still furrowed. He reached out and grabbed Magnolia's shoulder. "You cannot go downstairs," he repeated, "for it is unsafe."

Magnolia's heart began to quicken. Was he awake? As she stared at his screwed up eyes, she told him, "Montague, please don't engage in such silly behaviour!"

Montague's legs struggled with the bedsheets as though battling the absurd fears he experienced, or as though he were running away from them. His breathing had quickened alongside this; the snores had been chased away by his fear.

"Montague..."

"YOU CANNOT GO DOWNSTAIRS!" Montague suddenly cried. "I DO NOT WISH FOR YOU TO DIE! NO, THIS IS NOT NONSENSE! YOU MUST LISTEN!"

"MONTAGUE, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!" Magnolia screamed. "I AM NOT GOING TO DIE!"

"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!" All of a sudden, Montague kicked forwards and propelled himself out of the bed and onto the floor, knocking Magnolia down with him.

At that moment, Montague awakened from his troubled slumber with a gasp, panicked myopic eyes darting about the room as though Leavitt lurked in the shadows. Once he realised he had awoken, he seized his thoroughly perturbed expression and imposed his familiar expression of nonchalance upon his countenance. But, despite his best efforts to appear calm, it was evident to Magnolia that emotion still crashed within him.

"I'm sorry," Magnolia apologised, stroking her husband's cheek. "It's okay, I'm here."

Montague did not change his expression, though Magnolia could see him swallow. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words emerged. Having established that now was not the moment for words, he shook his head, and profound sadness settled in his eyes behind his calm mask. Though he was clearly upset, he continued to be certain of the nonsense regarding Leavitt, and it appeared that he would not change his mind in regards to that.

"I shan't die, d—"

"Then you must listen to me," Montague interrupted. Emotion had crept into his voice, and it had caused it to quiver slightly. "We must leave this household immediately, and we must move elsewhere, lest Leavitt murder us."