13/31 (Kinda On Hold)

IX: Death March

"Thank you, Lord Motionless," I say as he pulls me to my feet, off the uncomfortable floor, that somehow I know he enjoyed seeing me on my knees upon.

"You can stop calling me that, you know?"

"Thank you, Chris," I correct, "it will take some getting used to, I apologize in advance for any slip-ups."

He smiles down at me, "it's alright."

"Would it be too much to ask, If I could retrieve my belongings and my cat," I ask him.

"Well, I mean you live here now, it's kind of obvious you need your shit."

"Ever so eloquent with your words," I giggle.

"Aren't I always?" He laughs.

"Like the finest poetry on concrete."

He takes my hand and guides me out of the sprawling throne room, down the hallway and to a bedroom.

"I'll have them bring your things to your bedroom," he says.

I look at him in confusion, "my bedroom?" I inquire.

"Yes, your bedroom." The same look of confusion on his face. "Did you not think you were getting a bedroom?"

"No, I did not."

"Did you think I'd make you sleep on the floor or what? I'm not that cruel."

"Perhaps it was rather foolish of me to make such assumptions," I laugh at myself.

"Don't assume. It makes an ass out of you and me."

"Wow, Chris. The last time I heard that, I was passing from my Mother's own lips."

He laughed, "now I know where your intelligence comes from."

"And now I know where you get your witty statements from."

"Hmm, and where do you think I get it from?"

"I would say your Mother, but something tells me, it's just you."

"I'd like to claim that it's just me, but others say otherwise."

"Well, I haven't heard any others say otherwise, so we'll just say it's you."

"I don't want you to meet the one's that say otherwise. Hell, I don't want you to ever meet the ones that lay claim to that."

"You are referring to your brothers, I presume?"

"You'd be correct, they're...they're just not very pleasant people to be around. Each one of them thinks they're the most charming man in Hell...my father and I don't think so."

"You cannot expect to go through life without your family Chris, as much as I may suffer at the hands of my own family, I still love them and know that they will always be there. Could you imagine keeping your own children away from their Uncles, or even your wife someday? Cutting off your family doesn't make the problems go away, it simply exacerbates them," I state.

"I could imagine it, though, I would never do it. My mother is too much of a family woman to allow one of her sons to cut his brothers from their lives."

"Then your Mother is correct, perhaps you ought to try harder when communicating with them. They're your brothers, one day they will no longer be in existence, and if you withhold things from them, it may haunt you forever."

"My mother would be in love with you," he laughed, shaking his head slightly.

"She sounds like a woman I could get along with, perhaps one day we might encounter one another."