Howard

   Hey guys!  I, Owen Tucker, am still alive!  Pretty amazing, ain’t it?  I really thought that Asian dude was gonna do me in.  I really wish I had gotten his name before I got rescued though.  That would’ve been nice.
   But, y’know, I’m not gonna talk long here.  I’m sure you all want to get to the journal thingy to find out how that dude cemented my legs and all that good junk.  I was kind of wondering about that myself.  Then I found out, so I’m not wondering anymore.  You’re still in the dark though, aren’t you?  Man, that must be rough.  Not knowing and all.  Gotta be simply terrible.  Yup, just awful.  Really nasty.  Mhm.  Yyyyyyyyyup. 
   Okay fine.  Here’s the journal thingy.
   7/30/12:  On this date (that being the 7th of July in the year 2012) I was on my way to visit my castle-house HQ.  Which, incidentally, I had decided to name Howard.  Yes, that’s right.  Howard.  Because whenever I was in the house, it just seemed to have so much personality.  I can’t really describe it, but it was there.  So I named it Howard. 
   Anyway, it’s about a ten minute walk from my house to Howard, and only about five minutes if I go fast.  Wilfred was tagging along with me, and I’m afraid he didn’t really approve of the name Howard and he wasn’t afraid to say so.
   “Why’d ya hafta choose somethin’ like Howard?  Why coold na find yourself a gud name?  One tha reelly goes weth a bang.”
   I sighed.  This was not the first time he’d brought it up.  In fact, it was about the twentieth.
   “Because Howard is an awesome name.”
   “Ach.  Son, ya ‘ave no taste.”
   “Is that so?  What would you suggest then, oh wise fly?”
   “’Ow shoold Ah knoo?  Ah’m a fly, na a ‘uman.  You lot are sapposed ta be all brilliant an’ all, right? Ya’re always braggin’ aboot it.”
   I nodded. “That’s right.  We are.  And in my brilliance, I saw that Howard was an amazingly epic name that fits the house perfectly.  So if you got a problem with it, that’s your problem and your problem alone.”
   “Ach.  Wha’eva.”
   That was his reply for whenever he knew he was beaten.  He would never admit that, of course, but I knew it.
   With really great timing we finished the argument right as we arrived at Howard. 
   “Hey, Howard,” I said as I went in the door, partly to annoy Wilfred, but also because I thought Howard appreciated it.  The first part was definitely accomplished.
   “Why d’ya say tha?  Et’s a ‘ouse.  Et can na ‘ear.  Et can na respund.  Et ‘as na feelin’s!”
   I shake my finger in the general direction that I hope Wilfred is flying. “Watch it, buddy.  Someday you’re gonna regret all the mean things you’ve said about Howard.”
   Wilfred sneezed.  Well, it might’ve been a snort, but it really sounded like a sneeze.
   “Like tha’ll ‘appen.”
   I shrug.  “Y’never know.”
   Last time I was here, before I had gotten kidnapped, I noticed a door on the second floor that led to a staircase.  I hadn’t the time to check it out then, so that’s where I was headed this time.  It only took a second to get there.  I stuck my head through the doorway and looked up the stairs.  It was dark, but I could see a light up at the top so I started up.  I went up and up and up and up and up and up and up and up and up and up.  Then I went up some more.  The stairs seemed to never end.  Eventually I sat down for a rest.  I glanced down the stairs and was surprised to see that the door now looked as far away as the light at the top. 
   I groaned. “What’s with these stairs?”
   I felt Wilfred land on my knee. “Ah doon’t knoo, laddie.  But thay sure goo on a loong wey.”
   I sighed as I got back to my feet.  “I wish they would just end.”
   I took a step and blinked in surprise.  I was at the top of the stairs standing in the doorway to a small, circular room.  The wall was covered in big windows, the majority of which were broken, allowing the sunlight to stream in.  The room itself was bare except for one thing.  A big ol’ rock was sitting right in the center of the place and this really cool looking—thingy, was stuck in the middle of it.

   To be continued…if you dare…