by D L Jones
Chauncy walks around the room thinking… trying to figure out what things belong to Tre and what things didn’t. He finally sees something familiar. A backpack. One like the one Tre left at the kidnapping site. Chauncy walks over and looks inside. There were about 3 or 4 more plain cardboard boxes. He opens one to make sure it was what he was looking for… and it was. More Vials.
Chauncy quickly zips up the backpack and walks to the door. He notices security walking by, on patrol. He hides.
Tre’s speech continues…
“The Hypothalamus is only about the size of a pea. But its power and range of capabilities go way beyond its size.
The Hypothalamus controls a lot of things from different nerve reaction to what chemicals the body creates. And, how much, and, for what situation. It seems to follow a design… a design to keep our body and brains and nervous system on the right track. It seems like everything is on auto pilot and it does its job to perfection…
So we started thinking…
That little pea has its hands in everything, or almost everything. It doesn’t actually do anything but it organize. Keeps things on track. It's like the boss when it comes to certain brain and body activities and functions.
We started concentrating on that… the Hypothalamus… and what we found is that we can manipulate the Hypothalamus to think certain situations are in effect.” Tre said.
He then walks over to the side of the stage where someone hands him a dinner style silver plate with a plate cover. He holds it out in front of him and the audience looks on.
“We also took away the rules that the Hypothalamus used to correct those situations. In return… we can use that little pea to control a host of other functions throughout the body. That control is concentrated into this little vial, this little medical miracle.
We are calling it HYPO.” Tre said while pointing his pointer to the screen where an image of the vial is being displayed.
The audience applauds.
“We have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. To show you some achievements we have accomplished so far, I would like to introduce you to a little friend of mine.” Tre continued.
Tre walks over with the silver covered dish and sits it on a table. At the same time the screen behind him is showing a close-up image of the dish in real time.
Tre lifts the cover off the dish to unveil a mini cage with a little white mouse inside, eating a piece of cheese. The focus now turns towards the screen. Michael takes the stage and starts to narrate the video of the maze trials that is now being displayed.
Tre leaves the stage and walks towards his dressing room where Chauncy is still hiding.
Chauncy see’s Tre coming. He looks around and notices an open window in the room. He looks out of that window, then tosses the backpack. The backpack falls several floors and onto a giant decorative potted plant. Chauncy then watched Tre and waits for the right moment. He then walks out of the room and down the hall. He walks just far enough to where it wasn’t noticeable that he had just left the room then he calls out to Tre.
“Tre! Wow that sounds impressive!” Chauncy said.
Tre looks at Chauncy startled. He looks him up and down and noticed he is a little more jumpy than usual.
“He’s not his calm, cool self.” Tre thought to himself.
“Chauncy! You heard all of that?” Tre said.
“Yea… is that the stuff we_”
“SSHHHH…” Tre interrupted.
“Yes. No one knows about that... that we have used it. I would like to keep it that way.” Tre continued.
“Oh… Ok… So, everything you said on stage sounds good. But I’m curious. What are the side effects? Anything I should know?” Chauncy asks.
“Well… Yes. We found out a lot about Hypo since me and you last spoke. There are some side effects-”
“LIKE WHAT!” Chauncy interrupted.
“Keep your voice down Chauncy!
Like ummm… Its habit forming, causes aggression, sterility- “
Sterility?!? Are you saying I’m sterile?!” Chauncy interrupted.
“What does that even matter to you? Weren’t you already having issues in that area? But no. the side effects are temporary. When you take Hypo, due to the nature of the drug, the part of the brain that tells you to make sperm sort-of… stops. It stops giving those orders. We haven’t found the trigger yet to make it give those orders…” Tre explains.
“How long does that shit last TRE! HOW LONG!” Chauncy asks angrily.
“Damn Chauncy! What the fuck is wrong with you? You are starting to cause a scene.” Tre said.
Just fucking tell me! HOW LONG!” Chauncy demanded.
Chauncy was so loud that Michael heard him on stage. He paused for a minute. A hush came over the whole convention center for a fraction of a second. Tre looked at Michael and gave him a go-ahead salute. Michael continued.
“It looks like the effects of the drug last about 4-12 hours but the drug stays in the system for up to 30 days.
It's been well over 30 days since we have had our incident, so you should be fine now. It’s completely reversed once the drug leaves the system.” Tre said.
Chauncy thinks back to the prescription that he saw on the counter at home just before he left. Knowing what Tre just told him, and that he has taken that drug almost every other day since the incident, he knows he couldn’t have been the one that got Rebecca pregnant. He has been sterile this whole time. He also realized that’s the reason she didn’t tell him.
“Chauncy, are you ok?” Tre asks.
“Good seeing you Tre, I gotta go.” Chauncy said as he walks away.
Tre walks into his dressing area and sits in his chair. He thought about the conversation he just had with Chauncy as he watched Michael finish up the demonstration on the monitor. After the presentation ended, Tre grabs his jacket from a nearby chair. He then reaches for his backpack. It's not there. Tre stands in a panic. He frantically looks around the room and noticed the open window. He runs to the window and looks out. He doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He leans a little further and looks down to see Chauncy below him. He was collecting the backpack that he threw out of the window earlier.
“CHAUNCY!!!” Tre yells out to him.
Chauncy was running and quickly turned the corner, never hearing Tre. Tre runs out of the dressing room to greet Michael as he is exiting the stage.
“Chauncy took my fucking backpack!!! Come on!” Tre says in a panic.
“Where is he?” Michael asks.
Tre points and runs while Michael follows. They run through the crowded exhibition floor, weaving through all the people wanting to ask questions. They finally make it to the parking garage but Chauncy is nowhere to be found.
Chauncy has escaped.
Tre takes a few steps in multiple directions, trying to get his thought together.
“Mike, I’ll meet you back at the office… I have to do something.” Tre said.
Tre runs out to the parking garage and gets in his car. He starts it and drives off, tires squealing. He pulls out his phone and makes a phonecall.
Chapter 16
Rebecca is sitting on the sofa watching tv. She hears her cell phone ring. She gets up and casually walks over to get the phone off the counter.
“Hello…” Rebecca said.
“Rebecca! Listen to me. ARE YOU PREGNANT?!” Tre asks seriously.
“What? Why are you asking me that- “
“Listen to me Becca! Are you fucking pregnant or not!!! ANSWER ME DAMMIT! ARE YOU PREGNANT?” Tre interrupts in a panic.
YES! YES! IM PREGNANT! WHY? What’s wrong Tre?” Rebecca said.
“This is important! Listen to me…” Tre said then paused.
“Who is the father?” Tre continued with his question.
Rebecca sits down on the couch and starts crying hysterically. Not knowing if she should come clean or not, but she responded in a way to try to feel things out.
“Why a
re you asking me this?” Rebecca pleads as she is crying.
“Listen to be Becca… Chauncy knows you are pregnant. He now knows that he isn’t the one that got you pregnant. He isn’t himself. You need to get out of the house… NOW!” Tre said.
Tre hangs up the phone and calls Michael.
“Tre… what’s happening?” Michael answered.
“Mike, do we still have access to that private plane? I need to get to Charlotte Now. Before Chauncy. And I think he is headed to the airport now” Tre said.
“Yes, He owes me a favor, I’ll set it up. Head there now and I will have everything set up by the time you get there” Michael said.
Tre hangs up the phone then makes another call.
“Hello, Lucy Waters speaking”
“Lucy. I need you to do me a favor. First, I need you to go into my office and get that black cardboard box from the locked drawer at my desk. I gave you the keys to that drawer about a week ago. Have it waiting for me at the front of the building, I will be there I about 10 minutes to pick it up.” Tre said.
“Will, do! Is there anything wrong Mr. Jones?” Lucy asks.
“Yes, a lot is wrong right now! Also, I must make an emergency trip to Charlotte, using the private plane. Please set up a rental car to be waiting for me at the private airport in Charlotte. The same one I used last year for the convention.” Tre said.
“I’m on it…” Lucy said.
Tre’s car picks up speed as he drives recklessly, passing any car that appeared in front of him. He eventually gets to the building where Lucy is waiting in front. He gets out of his car just long enough to grab the box out of Lucy’s hand and go. He speeds off out of the parking lot. He opens the black box and takes out the single vial that was inside. He looks at it for a second then puts it in his pocket. A few minutes later he arrives at the private airport.
The plane was already running, and the pilot met him at the front gate.
“Follow me Mr. Jones” Said the pilot.
Tre followed him down the walkway. They eventually end up at the plane and Tre enters. The pilot entered the cockpit, and the plan heads down the runway.
“This flight should take about an hour Mr. Jones. No public aircraft leaving around this time would get there before us.” The pilot assured Tre over the intercom.
“Thank you.” Tre said.
The plane took off and was in the air. Tre reached over and opened a cabinet and grabbed a bottle of liquor and a glass. Poured himself a drink.
Chauncy’s flight lands and he in now in a complete rage. He decided he needs more proof before he goes home. He makes his way through the airport parking garage to his car and heads to the HD shop. Once in the HD shop, he heads to his office. In a rage, he throws the backpack he got from the convention on the floor. He then opens the drawer and takes out the remote. He turns on the surveillance monitors. He goes over to his computer and type a few things into the keyboard. All the surveillance monitors flicker off and back on, going from the Store’s cameras to the cameras he has at his house. He types a few more things on the computer and it backs the computer footage back a month. The monitors are showing the footage in fast forward but there is a lot of it so he walks over to the cabinet and grabs a bottle of vodka.
Chauncy sits down, pops the top on the bottle and start to take deep swigs as he stares at the monitors. He does this for hours where he only gets through the first week of that footage. Everything is normal until one scene. He sits on the edge of his chair watching. Rebecca opens the front door and her old personal trainer, Jeff, enters the house.
Chauncy takes a deep breath, pausing the video. He is bouncing his feet nervously and sweating. He takes another deep swig from his bottle of vodka, which is almost empty. He presses play on the remote.
Rebecca is seen motioning for Jeff to follow her, they make it to the Livingroom and Jeff grabs her from behind. She turns and kisses him. She continues leading him to the bedroom. They have sex.
“AAAAAUUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!!” Chauncy yells.
He then tosses his desk on its side and kicks a trash can. The trash can go flying into one of the mounted surveillance camera, breaking it. He grabs the backpack off the floor and runs through the HD shop to his car. He opens the trunk and tossed the Backpack inside. He then looks at the backpack for a few seconds. He opens it and grabs a couple vials of Hypo.
SLAM
The trunk door slams and he starts jogging towards the shopping center down the street. The shopping center where Jeff’s gym is located.
The doorbell rings at the Peters Residents and Rebecca nervously looks out the window. She see’s its Tre and lets him in.
“Tell me, what’s going on? I’m so scared. What do you mean Chauncy isn’t himself?” Rebecca said.
“I can’t explain in detail right now. Something happened that night we were kidnapped. He hasn’t recovered.” Tre said.
“What happened Tre? Tell me?” She pleaded.
“The guy you was sleeping with, can chancy find out who he is? Where is he?” Tre asks.
“No, I was never with him here… Oh wait…” Rebecca said.
“Don’t tell me you fucked him here! You know this place is wired with security cameras?!?” Tre said.
“What?” Rebecca asks surprised.
“YES REBECCA!!! There’s one, and there’s another one… there’s another one!!!” Tre said as he walked around pointing out the cameras in the house.
“How did you not know?” Tre continued.
“Is the guy someone that Chauncy knows? By now, he has probably looked at the camera footage and saw you with him. Does he know who this guy is if he see’s him?” Tre said.
“It's my Personal Trainer, Jeff, Chauncy knows him. He’s at his gym right now.” Rebecca said.
“Where’s the gym?” Tre asks.
“About 2-3 blocks away from the HD shop”. She answered.
“SHIT!” Tre said.
Tre heads to the front door in a hurry.
“Becca! Call the police and have them go to the gym. Then get the fuck out of here… go to your friend’s house, your mother’s house. Somewhere where Chauncy can’t find you!” Tre warned.
Tre jumps in his car and drives off. Rebecca calls the police and starts packing clothes into an overnight bag.
Chauncy gets about a block away from the HD shop then stops. He jogs back to his car and gets in. HE pulls out of the parking lot recklessly, He reaches in the back seat of the car as he is driving and pulls out a second bottle of vodka. Takes a deep swig.
“She going to cheat on me??? After 10 years?” Chauncy said.
“TEN YEARS!?!” Chauncy yells.
Chauncy swerves the whole way but makes it to his house. He crashes the car onto the lawn, knocking over the mailbox. He stumbles out of the car.
Tre is parked about a block away, looking at the house as he figured Chauncy would show up.
Chauncy walks into the house.
“BECCAA!!” Chauncy yells.
“GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!!!” He yells again.
There’s no answer.
Chauncy walks in the kitchen and opens the refrigerator door, then slams it shut.
“REBECCAA!!”
He kicks the trash can and trash flies all over the kitchen. He then sprints out of the kitchen to the bedroom, falling on his way then quickly standing. He looks around then walks back to the front of the house.
“You don’t have to be here Rebecca!” Chauncy said.
“I know where your boyfriend is… I’ll pay him a visit.” He continued.
Chauncy walks out of the house and gets into his car. He spins tires, digging up the front yard trying to get back to the street.
Chapter 17
Rebecca left the house as soon as Tre left. She packed up an overnight back and decided to go to her friend Lisa’s place. She arrived at Lisa’s house and rang the doorbell. Lisa opened the door and gave Rebecca a big hug. She then looks both ways outside, scanning the area and
motions for Rebecca to come in. She closes and locks the door.
“Girl, you sounded really shook on the phone. What is going on?” Lisa said.
“I don’t know. Chauncy somehow found out I was pregnant. Now he knows I was cheating.” Rebecca said.
“You were cheating? Why?” Lisa asks.
“I don’t know Lisa. It was a dumb decision. I am stupid.” Rebecca says crying.
“So that’s why you hadn’t told Chauncy about you being pregnant… it's not his?” said Lisa.
“No… I don’t think so… I wasn’t sure.” Responded Rebecca.
Rebecca sits down on the sofa and puts her head in her hands. She starts crying. Lisa grabs Rebecca’s overnight bag and takes it in the other room. She then comes back with a hot cup of tea. Hands it to Rebecca. Rebecca takes the tea and takes a sip.
“Did you guys get in an argument? I still don’t understand?” Lisa said.
“No, Tre called and told me to get out of the house. He said Chauncy is furious and isn’t himself.” Lisa explained.
“How the fuck is Tre involved? Did Chauncy seem like he isn’t himself?” Lisa said.
Yes. He has been strange for a while. I told you he had gotten very aggressive. And the snapping my head off at every turn. The scary sex… and He’s been sleeping all day… Something isn’t right.” Rebecca said.
“Becca, I still don’t understand what Tre has to do with all of this. You haven’t seen or heard any talk about him almost the entire time you’ve been married to Chauncy, now he is here coming to your rescue?” Lisa said.
“I know, it just happens that Chauncy saw him recently, if it wasn’t for that, he probably wouldn’t be involved.” Rebecca said.
“I’ve known you for 7 of those 10 or so years that you have been married. I know you’ve mentioned Tre, he was Chauncy’s best man. I’ve seen the wedding pictures… but you always spoke about him like you didn’t have much for him, like you hated him.”
“Well I don’t have much for him. Like I said, this situation is really the first time I’ve dealt with him since what he did before Chauncy and I got married.” Rebecca responded.
