T.J.

“What?” T.J. asked him.

“Come on. I’m a shaman, not an idiot. I can sense your aura all the time. As soon as you came into the shop, I knew it was you. But I had to check.”

“Check how?”

“I went to visit the reapers and also Death. I was told everything. But what I want to know is, why didn’t you come and tell us straight out?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just didn’t know how to say it. I saw that Vince was depressed and I didn’t want to send him over the edge.” Howard told him. “I thought that if I just came out with it, you all might throw me out.”

“After everything we’ve seen over the years, unlikely. Come on Howard, think about what’s happened to us before. We’ve had a lot stranger happen to us. I mean, you almost caused Nanageddon, you escaped from the Hitcher twice, you were stranded on an island and had really real illusions about coconuts…”

“How did you know about that?” Howard asked.

“You’d be surprised what Vince lets out when he’s pissed. And you were kidnapped by Old Gregg…”

“Please don’t mention him. I’ve got mental scars that will not fade away.”

“So when are you going to tell Vince who you really are?”

“In my own good time. I’m not sure how he’ll react.”

“I think he’ll react worse if you let him get to know ‘T.J.’ more, he’ll trust you that way but when you tell him, he’ll react badly because he trusted you more. You can’t really win. I think it’s best if you tell him now.” Howard nodded.

“I guess your right. I’ll tell him in the morning. I just hope I don’t get a fag butt in the eye.”

“What? He started smoking again?” Howard nodded.

“I will be getting him off them again though. Don’t you worry. Good night Naboo.”

“Night Howard. And… we’ve missed you around the loft. You better tell him then things can get back to normal.” Naboo smiled.

“Let’s hope.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day, Howard opened up shop at 9am sharp. At 10 minutes past 9, Naboo came in through the mirror in the back room with Bollo.

“T.J.?” He called out Howard’s cover name, just in case Vince was here.

“Yeah Naboo, I’m through here.” He called back. Naboo came in, Bollo right behind him.

“Have you seen Vince at all?”

“Not since last night and that was before I spoke to you. Why?”

“Cos he didn’t come home last night. He wasn’t there when I got back last night and when I checked this morning, his bed hadn’t been slept in.”

“Come on Naboo, he’s done this before.” Howard said, putting out some stock.

“That was when we all got out of our heads. How much did he drink last night?”

“About 4 pints of Becks, what he usually has when he goes out. He wasn’t pissed, he was normal.”

“So where is he?” Naboo asked.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Vince opened his eyes and looked around. The last thing he remembered was walking down to the loft after going out with T.J. and someone hitting him over the head with something wet, knocking him out cold. He looked around his surroundings and saw a creepy underwater cave. He stood up and saw just a few lights around, lamps of fire. He started to make his way towards the light around the corner.

‘Naboo will find me, he’ll come rescue me with Bollo and Howard…’ His thoughts stopped there. This was the first time something like this had happened without Howard here to save him.

He walked down the cave until he hit a T junction. He went with his gut instinct and turned left. He reached a wider cave, with a pond, table and a bar?

“Hey Vincey.” A voice echoed through the whole cave.

“Who are you?” he asked back, looking around.

“Not important yet. But I know who you are, you’re the one who is gonna bring my Howard Moon back.” He saw a figure in front of a light, but he couldn’t see his face. He could see a fish flopping around in his hand. So that was what hit him last night.

“Sorry to tell you, but Howard’s dead.”

“No he’s not. He got himself a new body.” The figure came forward and Vince saw his face. One that Howard had always described with horror.

“And Old Gregg likes it.”