#4 - Glass of Milk

Tyson woke up and couldn't see a thing. It was so bright he quickly shut his eyes again. Eyes closed, he reached down to feel around him. He ran his hands up and down a plethora of garbage. "What the hell," Tyson muttered. He put his hand up to his head like a visor and opened his eyes. As they adjusted to the light a soft breeze kissed his face, providing a source of energy for Tyson. Finally able to see, Tyson looked all around him. Bottles, cans, glasses. That's all he could see. His saw familiar Jim Beam, good ole' Miller Light, and his favorite mugs from Cece's that said "This is my GoGo Juice." There was a sea of this trash. No. Not a sea. A mountain. And Tyson sat right at the peak. Frozen in fear and shock, he sat for hours staring the the piles of empty containers below. "This is hell. I'm in hell," he said to himself. After what felt like days of sitting paralyzed he heard it. "Call me Mr. Rattlebone. Holy Ghost who haunts your home. They don't know you like I know you. Call me Mr. Rattlebone." He finally woke up.

Tyson sat up with a jerk. Immediately his head was swimming.

"Hey buddy welcome back!" Joe the bartender said. "You had me nervous man. Let me pour you a stiff one to take the edge off that headache. On the house man, on the house."

"No, Joe. I'm alright," Tyson said, pulling himself up.

"Whao man. That two-by-four has you really messed up. You refusing a free drink? Thats unheard of man."

"I'll take a glass of milk and some Advil. Please and thank you," Tyson said, rubbing his forehead. He was shaken. Shaken all the way down to the bones.

#3 - K.O.

The walk from Cinema 23's back door to Pointe Place Apartments was a common one for Tyson. Although always mediocre, free movies couldn't be argued against. Tyson had dated a girl who cleaned old popcorn out of the movie seats. When the girl moved to chase her acting dream she gave Tyson a key to the back door and he hadn't paid for a movie since.

Credits rolled and the four other theater occupants stood up and left. Tyson strolled to the back door chuckling about how cliche the movie had been. When he swung the door open the wind caught it, slamming it into the wall it was hung on. "Whoa they weren't joking about this storm," Tyson thought to himself. He had heard about a storm coming but hadn't though twice about it. "Another great reason not to go to work!" Tyson yelled to himself, walking home, pushing against the oncoming winds. Tyson began to enjoy the swirling of the winds in his wild hair and against his rough face. He was counting time between flashes of lighting and claps of thunder. FLASH "1..2..3..4..5..6..7," BOOM. 7 miles away. FLASH "1..2..3..4.." POP. And just like that Tyson was knocked out by a rogue two-by-four.

As he laid on the cold cement, winds swirled, lighting clashed, and thunder pounded.

#2 - Sketchy Old Man

When Monday evening finally rolled around Tyson couldn't shake the mysterious feeling he had been contemplating all day. Something stirred in him every time he thought about the conversation that unfolded between him and the old man. Pointe Place was a town of people who kept their heads down and went about their business. It surely was not a town where old men walked into Cece's asking for information on an undisclosed topic. This was unheard of in Pointe Place, especially to Tyson.

"I need you for what you know. For what you have done," the old man, Master Gooway, had told Tyson. This was a jolt to Tyson's system. What had he done? Did the old man know something Tyson didn't? What DID Tyson do?

The conversation progressed and Gooway tried to butter Tyson up. "You are the wisest man in Pointe Place," the old man said smoothly, trying to calm Tyson down. Tyson may have found himself being hugged by the seat of a barstool more than most, but he was not an unintelligent guy. His brain worked fast and he understood when things weren't right.

Tyson sat at his regular seat after Gooway left for the library and thought to himself, "This guy is up to something. He knows something I don't and I need to figure out what it is." Tyson, being intoxicated half the time, knew how to walk the streets of Pointe Place quietly. It would be easy to follow the new comer around the find out what he was up to.