Stranger

Grountin left the apartment building in a jovial demeanor, almost skipping away. Now with the information known, he could make sure that everybody he hates; that is, just about everybody he knows; shall receive proper retribution. He just about giggled at the thought as he traveled back to his hometown on foot. It was after dusk when a homely stranger approached Grountin, slouched with his hands in his hoodie pockets.

"Hey, man," the stranger spoke softly, "can you give me all your money?"

Grountin glanced at the man's pocket which was clearly portraying something with the shape of a handgun pointed at him. Whether or not it was an actual firearm; or really loaded, for that matter; was unimportant to Grountin.

He bursted into a fit of laughter, slightly annoying his attempted robber, saying, "Ahhahahaa! You don't even know who you're messing with! And the best part is I left all the money upstairs! Hahaha! All I have on me is $0.63!" He reached into his pocket to prove it; then handed the man the money, whispering one second prior to the man's azure-lit disintegration, "Was it worth it?"

He whistled as he walked through the darkened streets of the inner city at night, thereby having another random stranger feel comfortable approaching him.

"Look," the even-more-broke-appearing man said peacefully, "I haven't eaten all day. Could you spare about $0.50?"

Grountin snickered at the request, "$0.50?! That's not even enough for a vending machine, you dang liar! Haha!"

He charged blue energy in his hand as the stranger swore, "I already have some. I just need a litt- Oh, my lord! What is tha-"

The stranger was vaporized in a cerulean flash before he could finish his question by Grountin poking him.

"Dangit!" Grountin somewhat cursed upon realizing through the man's fears that the man was telling the truth, to his chagrin. "If I had his chan- Okay. Let's not try here."

Grountin, eerily focused, handswept the practically invisible remains into a pile and then scooped it into his other hand meticulously. He, as much as he could, anyway, inconspicuously went to a seemingly abandoned alleyway and began testing his abilities on the small clump of particles too miniscule to be seen by the naked eye. He started trying to rebuild the atoms and molecules he pulled apart, relying upon feeling alone; an arduous task. He finally succeeded in re-atomizing something, only for it to be a infinitesimally tiny droplet of blood.

"This is why nobody does alchemy," he muttered to himself. "So I'm out $0.50."

Grountin scattered the remains in the wind, lamenting the money that he had lost. The only thing stopping him from going back to get the money at the bottom of that bag he packed was the woman that annoyed him deeply.

"If she wasn't around," he pondered, "I wouldn't be stuck just eating electricity."

Grountin commenced journeying back to his family and friends again, wearing a giant smirk while imagining all the fun that they would finally have together.

He mumbled to himself, "Pretty sure I'm a shoo-in for every blue spark competition. Haha."

Grountin's pace slowed as he fantasized about all the havoc that he intended to wreak upon his discipline implementers. Any little rule they broke for which they chastised him would be paid back in full.

"Because I care so much," he mocked. "Just want to make sure tha- hyuhhhhh. Dang, I'm sleepy."

Grountin stopped off the side of the road to take a nap, charging his chest azure before doing so.

He remarked proudly, "Us dangerous creatures have to warn everybody with our colorful bodies. Haha," before he closed his eyes and began snoring a minute later.

Lightning struck his family's home, starting a fire in the living room. Seemingly out of nowhere, Grountin floated onto the recently punctured roof, laughing atop the building.

"Boy, I thought we told you to leave," Grountin's father said, clearly displeased.

Grountin stared at him with a wicked gleam in his eyes, shouting, "Boy, I thought I told you that I'd kill you!"

"I'm not a boy, and certainly not yours, so don't you ever call me that again!" responded his father. "And you never said you were gonna kill me."

"Oh, I didn't, girl?" Grountin inquired sarcastically. "Well, allow me to rectify that. I'm gonna kill you!"

Grountin grabbed some exposed wires behind the entertainment center in his room, filled his hands with blue electrons, and then madly dashed towards his dad.

"Wh-what are y-" his father stammered as Grountin was in hand's reach.

Grountin cracked, "What am I doing? Isn't it obvious?! I'm a bug zapper and there's something that's been bugging me for a while that needs to get zapped! Hahahaaa!"

"Grountin, come on," his father pleaded. "You know we did the best we could with you. You were just an awful child. You made everybody's lives worse. You always do. Why don't you just act right, boy?"

Grountin, still smirking with clearly ill-intent, argued, "Don't wanna let you down, dad. If I always make everybody's lives worse, trying not to do that might turn you into a liar. We wouldn't want that now, do we?"

When Grountin's blue finger was only half an inch away from his father's face, his father closed his eyes and said, "Just promise me that you won't do this to your mother and sister."

Grountin cackled wildly, backing away from his dad, bent over with his hands on his knees; barely able to brace himself from completely falling forward onto the floor. He then re-encroached upon his former patriarch, blue sparks visibly emanating from his hand again.

"I, Grountin, promise to you, dad," he smiled with a v-patterned forehead, "that I will not do this to my mother and my sister."

His father exhaled, "Phew," in relief; then stood up straight, speaking sternly, "Now that we've reestablished things, there's some whippi-"

"Wait. You didn't let me finish," Grountin interrupted, still sporting a mischievous grin. "Only. The next word was 'only'."

Grountin's father had to take a moment to think back to the original statement Grountin had made.

Just as his dad's eyes widened and he protested, "No! Don't!" Grountin's dad no longer existed in physical form.

"Whoo! I got the blue spark, everybody! Ahhahahahahahaaaaa!" cracked Grountin.

"What's going on in here?!" his mother asked, stomping into the aflame house.

Grountin replied comedically, "I'm back! Didja miss me? Huh? Huh? Hahaha!"

"How could anybody miss you?" she disrespectfully replied. However, once Grountin reacted with a scowl on his face and cerulean lightning in his fist pointed at her, she specified, "Because your blue tint is so unique and pretty. You just stand out in an amazing way, honey."

"Haha!" giggled Grountin. "That's where I get it from, dad! Oh, right. Now where is he?" Grountin asked facetiously.

"Hmmm..." His mother mused, "Maybe he went to get a new whip, now that you're back."

"Ennn! Wrong!" Grountin joked, making a buzzer sound. "He turned blue, too! It was amazing!"

His mom was taken aback, stammering, "H-h-he's b-blue, too?! Oh, my gosh!"

"Aww, don't worry about it, mom," Grountin comforted her, patting her shoulder but still wearing a devilish grin. "Being blue isn't all bad."

"You made it seem pretty bad the first time," she stated bluntly. "If you stay here, I'll go grab a whip and we can get everything back in order. You're a bad kid, but you can get better if we try."

"Sure, sure," Grountin agreed ostensibly, "but just one thing: when he turned blue, he kinda went invisible after that, so I don't know if you're gonna see him when you walk around. You might step on him by accident."

His mother, walking a bit slower now, plainly said, "Well, if he doesn't want to be stepped on, he better just say something. Right, hon-"

"Oooh! You just stepped on him! That sucks!" Grountin boomed as his former matriarch placed her foot in the about the same spot as where her husband was recently disintegrated.

She felt around the area, confused as to why she heard and felt nothing like a person being harmed.

After a while, his mother smiled, jesting, "Maybe we need to get your eyes checked, Grountin. But seriously, okay, you got me. Now grab me the whip so I can discipline you for tricking people. Even if you were joking, I didn't give you permission to trick me."

"Well, technically," Grountin gradually explained, "I didn't trick you. Everything I said was in some way true."

His mother, totally befuddled, incoherently uttered, "But how co- There's no way th- Boy, I'm getting tired of your tricks and jokes!"

Grountin began glowing with stored energy, advancing upon his mom, mocking, "What's the matter? Your son tricking you makes you feel blue?"

"Not my preferred choice of w-words," his mother gulped before nervously responding, accurately perceiving the threat that Grountin truly was again.

"Hey, if it makes you feel better," he spoke slyly, "you both get to go the same way."

His mother wailed, "What did you do?! Honey?! Where are you?"

"In hell. With you," Grountin answered the question meant for a person no longer physically existent while giving their wife the same fate. "And now it's time for that witch!"

Hours later, his sister returned home, muttering disappointedly, "Oh, you're here again."

"Indeed," casually replied Grountin.

"I oughta whip you for shaming our family like that," she argued. "Killing all those people. You're a horrible person."

Grountin chuckled, retaliating, "And you have a horrible pussy. Emphasis on the 'whore' part. Hahahaha!"

"Why, you little..." she pounced at him, throwing a punch at his stomach which just turned blue before connection.