CHAPTER NINE!

Mortimer regained consciousness a few moments before they arrived.

"Sleep well?" Billy asked jokingly. Mortimer shrugged slightly and sat back down on a chair. Billy didn't didn't question the silence, assuming it to be lingering effects of the sedative, as Mortimer was not one to shrug.

Billy was feeling rather tired himself, and at no small wonder. According to a clock he kept on the BWB control board, labeled 'Home Time', it was almost half past two in the morning!

The upside of this, however, was that the vast majority of the residents in his suburb would be asleep, and the remaining too tired to distinguish the difference between a lawnmower and the BWB's engine on stealth mode.

Carefully, Billy lowered the rocket onto the make shift landing pad on his shed/workshop's roof. He turned the engine off, opened the door, and scrambled down.

Billy heard the BWB's door shut as he opened the back door of his house, where he was greeted immediately by a young girl in watermelon print pajamas.

"I expect my hush-money to be in cash, please," his younger sister, Becky Blaze, requested as she held out her hand.

"B-Becky!" Billy stammered, taken completely off guard. "Wh- What are you doing up this late?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Now pay up, or I'll tell Mom and Dad all about your rocket; which I'm pretty damn sure you're not allowed to have!"

Billy couldn't help but start to panic.

"Now Becky, I'm- um... I'm sure we can work something out here!"

Having grown increasingly curious about the commotion, Mortimer walked over. Seeing him, Becky pointed and yelled,

"Hey! You're that weirdo kid from up the street! I always knew you were an alien!"

Her voice was raising with every word, Billy was positive it would wake not only his parents, but half the neighborhood at the very least and-

Suddenly, there was a small flash of bright red light, and Becky fell to the floor.

Though he knew it would be unnecessary, Billy looked over at Mortimer.

As suspected, his nemesis was calmly putting away his gun.

"You shot my sister!" Now Billy's voice was beginning to raise.

"It was a favor, and if you don't keep your voice down, you'll wake your parents and I'll have to shoot them too."

Billy could only stare at him in shock.

"She's only unconscious. She'll wake up in half an hour with a migraine and no memory of what happened."

With that, Mortimer turned and left. Billy stood there for a moment, then picked up his sister and carried her back to her bed. He tucked her in, then went back outside to tarp up the rocket.

Once everything had been taken care of, Billy had gotten ready for bed and had checked on Spot, he crawled into bed and fell asleep.

It was good to be back in a comfortable bed with proper blankets.

The End.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

EPILOG:

Far, far on into the reaches of time...

This message was broadcast across the galaxy...

"The application: Existence

Has encountered a fatal error and needs to close.

You will lose all unsaved data,

Do you wish to report this problem?

YES / NO

The Writer's Note At The End Of The BOTE

Well, it's been a year, it's been a ride. A mild and uninteresting ride, but still, a ride none the less.

You know, while I was writing, I kept thinking about what CIITBOTE would be like as a 'Choose Your Own Ending' game. In one ending, I had Rayton get The Eye, rip out one of his own with his teeth, then shove The Eye into the empty socket. In another, Billy doesn't get the message and walks past a window only to see Mortimer's corpse floating in space. And of course, there's the ending where Billy get's The Eye and tortures the life out of Mortimer. 'Payback', I think.

What I'm saying is: DON'T EVER LET ME MAKE THAT. EVER. PLEASE. FOR EVERYONES SAKE, PLEASE. EVERY ENDING OTHER THAN 'CANONICAL: YOU FOLLOWED THE STORY TO THE LETTER!' TURNED INTO SOMETHING GRUESOME. TRUST ME.

I'm really thankful for your supportive reviews, helpful critiques, and general awesomeness. Thanks for reading, even though it wasn't worth the year it took. I really appreciate you guys. All of you. I want you to know that, even if I can't pronounce your username, even if you guest reviewed and I can't reply, I want you all to know that you've been awesome.

Now here's the bad news:

There's a sequel.

To those of you who feel that eyesight is unnecessary in humans and would like your retina burned out ASAP, here's some good news:

There's a sequel.

The sequel is called LOWTSAR, and the first chapter will be up tomorrow.

Thanks again guys, I really mean it.

-Bablet

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