Writing Prompt: Greg was not amused.

Happy Thursday everyone. Let’s jump right into our prompt. Timers set and off we go.

At least I know why Greg was not amused. Although he may come up with some dark humor yet.

Thursday, August 14^th: Greg was not amused.

Greg was not amused.  He held up the top of the lap top and looked at the busted screen and smashed keyboard.  He heard the giggles down the hall and tried not to let it get to him.  This was hardly the first item his stepbrothers broke, but he was certain it would be the last.

‘At least the last valuable item.’

He had stayed at home as long as possible to save money.  He worked and then purchased a place of his own.  It contained a house several out buildings and a lot of land.  Some of that land was taken up with apple orchards and others with vines.  There was a space for a large garden in the back that he planned to deal with once he moved in.  Prior to moving in there was structural work to be done on the building itself to make certain it did not fall over in a heavy wind.  The property had not been lived in for a number of years and the extra work needed to bring it up to the standard where it could be occupied was why he got the property at so low a cost.  Once the building itself was sound, he replaced the wiring and plumbing.  Everything was brought up to code and he even added a few bells and whistles.  It passed inspection and the decorative installations began.  The paint went on the walls, the flooring went on over the subfloor and even the appliances were now in place.  Everything was functioning as it should. 

As he had no real furniture of his own he picked up a bedframe kitchen table with chairs and a chest of drawers at a thrift store.  He then added a new mattress and box spring.  It would feel a bit like camping out in the mostly empty house but he figured he could add the rest as he went.

‘I’m certainly not staying here.’ He decided. 

He looked at the laptop screen.  It was shattered beyond all repair.  There was in fact a hole in the center of the screen.  He suspected that should he try to use it, sparks would fly and circuits would burn.  He wondered if they realized they were actually doing him a favor. 

A few days prior he started suspecting someone was monitoring his lap top use.  He knew he left it at the house a couple of times before and thought someone might have added something to capture his keystrokes and possibly find his passwords.  Once he started the house purchasing adventure, he switched his bank accounts and had only been using his phone not his lap top to check them. Prior, he noticed small amounts of money going missing each month.  Something small, something he could easily convince himself he spent somewhere and forgot. 

Recognizing the pattern, he changed the passwords and only used his phone, even before the switch.  It was a few days later he overheard the conversation that led him to believe someone was monitoring.  He could be gracious and decide they were just trying to figure out what he was up to since he never spoke about his plans.  But the small missing amounts stopped. 

He had planned to take his laptop to someone to check out before taking it to his new home, and in all reality he might give the laptop to his friend Mike to search, but now he decided he would just buy a new one and not worry about taking any of the old baggage with him.  He wondered how his not paying into the family expenses each month would go when he stopped living there.