BigSkillet.The_Screw_.tex
1\chapauth{BigSkillet}
2\chapter{The Screw That Turned}
3
4``{\ldots}and his little heart, dispossessed, had stopped,'' said a man in
5a powdered wig that was reading a story to a group of people.
6Everyone else in the group was scared except for one, and he stood
7up.
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11``That story sucked and the ghosts were gay,'' said the standing man,
12who took a badge from his coat and showed it to the storyteller. It
13read 'Luke Bavarious, P.I. PhD.'
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17``I should arrest you for being so boring,'' he said, drawing his gun
18and aiming it at the storyteller.
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22``Oh bother, please don't, old chap,'' said the storyteller, who was
23British. ``It isn't my fault, it's a true story and it really
24happened that way. And it all happened in this very same house on
25this day ten years ago!''
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29When he said that everybody else got scared because it meant they
30were in a haunted house, but not Luke Bavarious. He just grinned
31and put a cigarette in his mouth.
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35``You all stay here, I can handle this. I can arrest those ghosts,
36and I'll show them the letter of the law the hard way.''
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40``Oh Luke, you're so brave,'' said one of the ladies who was sitting
41in the room.
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45Luke Bavarious fired his gun into the air and then lit his
46cigarette on the still-hot barrel. ``It's all in a day's work,
47ma'am,'' he said, ``and I like my work.'' With that, he left the
48room.
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52Luke Bavarious walked down the hallway with his gun drawn. The hall
53was dark with shadows, but his glowing cigarette gave him all the
54light he needed. Suddenly, outside of a window, he saw a shape.
55Luke recognized it as a man, but the hallway was on the third
56floor. There was nothing outside for him to stand on except the
57darkness. It was one of the ghosts that the storyteller had warned
58him about.
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62``Stop where you are!'' said Luke Bavarious, aiming his gun at the
63window. The ghost stayed outside the window, an evil glimmer in his
64ghostly British eyes.
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68``Put your hands up. You're under arrest for haunting this house and
69I think you molested a kid in that story,'' Luke continued, but the
70ghost ignored his order. Luke fired at the ghost, two bullets
71shattering the window with a thunderous crash. When the smoke
72cleared, the ghost had vanished.
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76Suddenly, he turned, and at the end of the hallway was another
77ghost. It was smaller but still British, and Luke recognized it as
78the ghost of the boy that had died.
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82``I've defeated the ghost that killed you, there's nothing to be
83afraid of now,'' Luke said, approaching the boy.
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87``Please don't feel that I've been bad,'' said the boy. Luke stopped
88and aimed his gun at the boy because his sixth sense told him it
89was a trick. ``I had no intent to harm when I stole that
90letter.''
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94``You're under arrest for stealing,'' Luke said. Two shells hit the
95floor as he fired into the boy's ghost. When he went to inspect the
96boy ghost's body he found a letter in his hand. It said: ``To my
97dearest Luke. Please forgive me my son. Sincerely, the
98ghost.''
99
100\pagebreak
101
102Luke Bavarious dropped the letter and screamed as he felt his heart
103stop from the true horror that was his fate all along.