Reed's Needs and Deeds

Submitted into Contest #58 in response to: Write about someone who purposefully causes a power outage.... view prompt

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Adventure Funny

Reed’s Needs and Deeds

Reed Carson had lost his treasured computer that had all of the important information on it. Then later on, he had found out that someone had stolen it. Not just anyone, but the evil Chloe Wong, his arch enemy. The girl hated him with a passion and would stop at nothing go destroy him.

The Harrison household was heavily guarded. Her father had been a high-ranking officer at the Pentagon before retiring into civilian life and one of the perks was full-time bodyguard for his family at all times.

Chloe walked around school with these burly dudes and no one messed with her. They sat in on the classes and didn’t take notes. They just crossed their arms and tried not to fall asleep.

He knew she had it because the girl had bragged to the wrong person and he had been tipped off.

Now, he had to figure out a way to get into the mansion without getting caught and retrieve his precious computer. All of his writing and music was on it and he hoped that she had not thrown it in the garbage.

She was evil like a serpent.

He stalked the place out for a few days and then realized how it had to be done. The entire house ran on a central power station. There was backup, but that was okay. The only way to render the entire security system useless was to purposefully cause a power outage.

There were several ways to do it. He wasn’t going to climb a pole and cut off the wires for fear of getting electrocuted. He could see himself writhing on the ground while the evil Chloe stood there and pointed at him laughing herself silly.

He did some research on the Internet and at the library but couldn’t figure out how to cut out all of the power. It was going to be very difficult. He couldn’t target just that house because it was too obvious. He had to target the entire neighbourhood and maybe the whole state.

He thought about it for a few days and then had a brilliant idea. There were power boxes and he just smeared them with peanut butter. It was hard work, but there were a couple of dozen that had been attacked. The squirrels were drawn to it and it was only a matter of time before they did something stupid.

The plan didn’t work.

He couldn’t wait for a storm because that would take forever. There was always the option to ram a car into a utility pole but that was dangerous. There was always the dig in where he could cut a cable. But that was extremely harmful and he could get electrocuted.

The idea of one telephone pole going down would not guarantee what he needed. But what if a bunch of them went down? 

It was a brilliant idea.

He located the poles that were near Chloe’s place and realized that he might be able to take a bunch of them down all at once. That would work best.

So one night, he snuck out and grabbed the axe he had hidden in the bush. He went to work and chopped at the poles until they were just about to go and then stoped. It would be like a bunch of dominoes.

There were twelve poles that were going down and this guaranteed no power for a long, long time. He had attached a series of ropes to all of the poles and then attached it to a tree that was bent almost backwards. The tension on the string was crazy.

And then, he chopped the rope and it snapped causing the dozen poles to be wiped out. All of a sudden every street lights and houselights all over the city went out. It was a true domino effect and he couldn’t believe it had worked so well. 

He put on his mask and headed for Chloe’s fortress of solitude. The place was dark and he watched as the security goons had evacuated the house for safety purposes. This was working out better than expected.

The place was almost empty except for a couple of security hounds that weren’t inside but outside.  

He slipped into the house and armed with a heavy duty flashlight started to prowl the enormous stately mansion. There were many rooms and it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

He started in her room or at least what was supposedly her room. He didn’t know it but she had three of them; this was how wealthy they were.

After searching the three rooms and turning them upside down there was no computer.  

“It has to be somewhere.”

He kept looking and was exhausted. It wasn’t anywhere to be found 

Maybe the tip was a false one? Maybe she hadn’t stolen his computer. And then he thought that if he stole it back she would know that he had done so and maybe put the whole thing together and get him in serious trouble.

He panicked.  

That was when he knocked over an antique vase and caused quite the commotion. It alerted the security goons that were standing guard outside. They rushed into the house.

“We have an intruder. I repeat we have an intruder.”

Now he was really under pressure. He had to get out of there as fast as possible because they were paid very well to protect the family and they would at any cost.  

He made his way to one of her rooms and slid underneath the bed. The very large men with the very large muscles could be heard running up the stairs. 

He was in total darkness and trying not to breathe too loudly. 

Then he turned around and saw something. He smiled.  

Reed reached out and picked up his computer. He opened it up and then hugged it. The little witch hadn’t throw it out after all.  

Now he had to get out of there in one piece. 

Reed thought about it and then he realized that the back up plan was going to have to work.

He picked up his phone and looked for it the right app. Ever since he had found out that her father was in the Pentagon and had specialized in explosives, Reed had developed an interest in them.

It was a good thing.

He pressed the button and there was a loud explosion outside of the house.

“We have an explosion.”

They ran out of the house just long enough for him to get away.

He slipped out of the window that had been the entrance.

Reed made it home and then plugged in his computer. His father had bought a generator years ago after the last power outage, and there was enough juice to charge things up. It would take time and all of the data was hopefully intact because despite the fact she thought she was so clever, there was no way that she could have broken the code.

He waited until the computer was fully charged and then felt relief as everything was still intact.

He smiled because he realized that there was nothing she could do about it. How was she going to accuse him for stealing a computer that was in her possession?

The only thing to do was to hatch a plan of revenge. 

It wasn’t going to be too hard. In the chaos and confusion, he had managed to find her diary.

He held it up and laughed hard and long.

September 11, 2020 22:02

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