Sudden Lunacy

Mission impossible

After about fifteen minutes, Conroy was able to catch up to Marcus, talking several quickly paced small steps to keep up with his long stride. The two now seemed to be completely abandoned, not a single soul in sight, most of the animals laying in pitiful agony in their too small cages. Marcus was extremely surprised that the place hadn't been reported yet, and as they walked past spilled purses and bags, he pondered if he really wanted all the trouble that would come with reporting it.

Random purses and bags lay spilt all over the muddy concrete. Souvenirs covered in unhealthy concession food fingerprints lay broken, and trampled. There were even a few loose shoes and a mangled, brown toupee.

"Where did all the people go?" Conroy asked. He didn't look as if he had been crying and you never could have guessed it unless you saw the tear and snot covered sleeves of his jacket. A curious look came across his face and he paused, stooping down to pick up a child's teddy bear trampled to bits. He looked at the ratty fabric with a slight frown as he ran his fingers over a large tear. His teddy bear had been torn in the same place once.His granny had sewed it back up. He hoped the kid who had lost it had a granny that could sew. He gently sat it back down, placing it face up instead of face down as he had found it.. There was garbage and spilled belongings everywhere, and Marcus didn't let it bother his conscious too much to pick up some dropped IPhones.

"Hey Marcus! That's stealin'!" Conroy exclaimed. .

"No, If you carelessly drop something worth more than all your monthly bills combined, you deserve to have it.... repossessed." The man laughed, taking the phone back, and placing it with the dozen others that now filled his hands. MArcus had found out that two of the most expensive things in the world were phones and drugs. Sure, he didn't use anything beyond a cigarette during the week, but on the Saturday nights when he did use, the bill could get very hefty. He had actually managed to spend over a grand the previous month and was still hurting financially. If a dozen people wanted to mysteriously vaporize and leave their phones, it was his gain.. "I wonder where they all went. The people I mean."

"I have a bad feelin' about this....." Conroy muttered nervously, letting his eyes dart around with worry. There was no good reason for hundreds of people who paid 20$ to see a zoo that received stunning reviews online (By the employees unbeknownst to all) to suddenly just leave. Conroy's hands started to shake. "I w-w-w-wanna go h-h-home."

Marcus, now satisfied that he had picked up all twenty-seven IPhones that were lying about nodded waving his hand towards the bathroom. "Fine, fine, we're headed that way, just go pee before we go. I will not have you messing up my seats."

"But I-I don't have ta go!" Conroy pouted, looking at the wooden bathroom door covered in algae and what looked like burnt paint. It was freaking him out. A light bulb flickered inside, and he was sure the red covering the metal walls was not rust. "The only 'go' I have ta do is home!"

"Well, suck it up and just go anyway! You know how kids are! We will be five minutes away from here, and you will want me to stop so you can go to the restroom in some shady gas station."

"You like those gas stations." Conroy pleaded, not wanting to use the bathroom that probably had more things living in it than the actual zoo. Marcus did in fact like those shady little gas stations, Conroy believing he did for the snacks and not the desperate women who worked by the front door..

"Don't be a brat! Just go Conroy!"

''I can't Marcus!" Conroy said quietly. "That bathroom is dark! I don't like the dark!There could be m-monst-ters a-a-"

Marcus fetched his keys from his pocket and ripped off a small flashlight. He tossed it to Conroy and with no athletic ability whatsoever, Conroy missed it compleatly and had to go chasing after it as it rolled away. "Here take this, Just go!Make a mission or something out of it. Save the space princess from the evil broccoli men, or whatever idiotic game you were going on and on about in the car."

Conroy smiled, revealing the gaps left by his lost teeth. He couldn't help but laugh, feeling a sense of warmness that his father listened to something he had told him for once. "Okay, but I think the princess is actually evil, so I need you to keep guard for her evil monkey clown spies." He said with a sudden serious expression that caused Marcus to roll his eyes. He really didn't want to play these games with Conroy right now, but wanted to move things along.

"Yeah, sure, whatever you want kid, just hurry things up in there." He said while leaning against the wall next to the door, having to help Conroy open the heavy door. He had decided to go on with the charade instead of upsetting the boy. He honestly had felt really bad about the talk they had in the insect exhibit and was trying to make up for it as best as he could.

"Wait Marcus, do you have your rainbow banana gun?" Conroy whispered with seriousness written across his face, spanning his hands out infront of him to help illustrate how crucial the matter was.

"What the heck.....Conroy look......"

"The rainbow is for the clown part, and bananas for the monkey part!" Conroy scolded, getting way into the game. "Try to keep up Marcus! We don't have only our lives to worry about!"

Marcus rolled his eyes again. "Locked and loaded, Conroy." He muttered with a tinge of annoyance in his voice. His temper was coming back and it took everything in him to shove it back down.

"Good." Conroy nodded. " 'Cause the fate of the galaxy now rests in our hands." He quickly spun on his heels and crossed through the door to the bathroom. He let out a sigh as the importance of his mission sunk into his chest, the fate of the whole universe resting heavily on his shoulders.

Once inside, Conroy felt the need to slowly walk into the restroom, not wanting to alert the ninja broccoli of his presence. He flicked on the flashlight, creating a small beam in the room which was already light enough for you to clearly see everything.

Walking quietly in the shadows that casted along the wall, he listened quietly before soundlessly jumping over to use a stall for cover. Conroy tightened his grip on his flashlight pretending it was an imaginary sugar gun, ready to shoot the broccoli as soon as one vegetable found itself unlucky enough to face him.

"Ready or not ninja broccoli, It's time for your just desserts, so we have to clear the plate..." He quietly whispered in his best 'cool, macho hero' voice, really wishing he had brought his awesome spy glasses. Kicking in the first door revealed absolutely nothing except a toilet seat that appeared to have more fur than any of the actual animals at the zoo. Okay, so the broccoli ninjas and monkey clowns weren't suddenly the scariest thing in the bathroom now.

There were five more stalls left, but as Conroy kicked through each door, he found the toilets proceed to get dirtier and dirtier. With the last door left, Conroy hesitated before kicking it through.

Was that breathing he heard?

Surely the toilet wasn't dirty enough to gain consciousness.

Was it?