The Orbist

Chapter 36

 Everything was prepared for. Okay, nothing was prepared for. We literally were diving into this without any plan whatsoever except hoping that Mr. Mac would blow off his face from opening a soda bottle. We slept on the street, and I suppose we were tired, like really tired, because we all woke up around ten. We had a lot of walking to do. After a long silence during our trip to the parkway, something popped up in Ralph's noggins.

    "I just realized something." He said aloud. "We don't even have to count on the scumbag opening the bottle himself, we've got my telekinesis. As long as the bottle is close to him, his life is as good as ours."

 This was joyous news to us, but it was still very possible that what we were about to try could result in all of our deaths. Also, Ralph only mastered his telekinesis in throwing things, and twisting the bottle cap might be too hard for him.

 All I've been through, it led up to this moment. The first time I saw Elian in that hospital, I remember Kael's words:

"You don't want to be confronted by Mr. Mac...especially when he's angry."

 My mind flashed back to all the good people who I met in this journey. Elian, Bryan, Levi, Ralph, Barry, Teo, Mr. Garty...

 Then my mind flashed back to all the terrible people who I met in this journey. Kael, Brock, Charles, Grant, Zoinks, Trent, Hassly..... and now Mr. Mac. I wasn't ready for this. But it was happening, whether I liked it or not. I was going to do this for Teo, and his dream of becoming a paleontologist.

 We finally arrived at the hotel at 11:55. Everyone looked at it, and I knew all of us were scared stiff. I looked to my side and gave a half smile.

    "I guess....we're here." I tried to chuckle. "This is....wow. Kind of horrifying."

 No one responded, but I knew they felt the same way. This was it. This was it. A white man with pulled back brown hair waited at the entrance, most likely for us. Oh god. This was going to actually happen. 11:57.

 We began to walk towards the door. The man caught sight of us sooner than I was hoping for and did a creepy grin.

    "I see you kids made it." He greeted us, then looked down at the bottle bomb I held tight to my chest. "I see you also brought a drink."

    "Mr. Mac asked for us to bring soda in his final letter." Ralph cut in.

    "Did he?" He chortled. "Please, follow me."

 Lucky for us, Mr. Mac's room was on the first floor, so in matters of escaping after we killed him, he made things a whole lot easier for us. We followed the man over to the room and he smiled and gestured us inside.

    "I'll wait out here." He nodded. "Mr. Mac would like to speak to all of you alone."

    "Thank you." I said, though I felt myself shiver. We walked into the room, one by one. Finally, the door was closed behind us.

 The room was nice. It had two beds, even a table with two seats. Behind the table, was a closed bathroom.

 Sitting on the table's second seat was him. Mr. Mac.

 He looked exactly how he looked like in the hotel, except now he was wearing dark shades, but even with them on, I felt his eyes piercing into mine. His red scruffy hair was puffed up a bit, and his Rubik's cube was right in front of him on the table.

    "Great." He gave us a small smile. "You brought the soda I requested." He held up his hand, and gestured me to pass it over. "May you pass it over?"

 I slid it across the table. He nodded in appreciation, and moved it next to him.

    "Do it now." Levi whispered to Ralph.

    "He could tell us things." Ralph whispered back.

 No, no, no. I thought. Ralph needed to use his powers right now and twist off the bottle cap.

    "I'm afraid I only have one other chair. Since Cayson is my favorite out of you all, I'd like him to be the one to sit."

 I sat down, not feeling even the tiniest speck of honor. I looked up at his shades, and saw my reflection looking back at me. Scared. Small. Cold. I wasn't going to let Mr. Mac see me that away.

    "Why don't you tell us why you're doing this? How you're doing this?"

    "Awful lot of questions." Mr. Mac responded. "First, I'd like a sip of this delicious soda."

 We all watched as he picked up the bottle bomb. Do it. Do it. Do it. Just do it. Do it and this would all end.

 He smiled at us, watching our expressions carefully.

    "Something interesting about the bottle, kids?"

    "No." We all replied unanimously. He chuckled.

 What happened next felt like it was in slow motion. His fingers turned around the sunk cap, and the bottle exploded. He shrieked as he fell backwards on his chair, and dropped to the ground.

    "Holy-" Ralph mumbled in awe.

 We quickly ran around the table and saw his corpse. His shades off, his facial features half-blown off. His burnt crusty lips in a frown. It was done.

    "Did we actually just...kill Mr. Mac?" Elian uttered.

    "Looks like." Bryan uttered with him.

 It was done. It was finally over. No more deaths of innocent, happy people. I couldn't give that 5 year old her mommy back to play Jenga with him. But I could make sure no one else would suffer. And we did that. I felt a tear come up. Suddenly, a voice echoed throughout the room.

    "Nopity nope nope!"

 We all raised our heads, and saw a twelve year old blondish-brown haired kid walk out the bathroom in front of us.

    "Who the heck are you?" Ralph asked, but at that moment I think we all knew who he was.

    "Oh, me?" He grinned. "I'm Mr. Mac."