Murderous Nature
Chapter 1 - Tea with Poe
The whispers. They would not stop. No matter what he tried, Skull Boy could not get the voices in his head to cease, so he decided the take a stroll around the house; there was no point in trying to sleep with the incoherent whispers constantly piercing at his non-existent ears, anyway.
Strangely enough, it seemed that if he continued in a certain direction, the voices would grow louder. Skull Boy wanted to take the ideal plan of going in the opposite direction to see if they would get quieter, but he figured that he could ultimately make them stop if he found the source. So, the young skeleton continued in the direction, making sure to turn whichever way would make them grow louder until he eventually ended up outside; he adjusted the waistband on his robe as he approached the tree that held Poe's house, glancing up to find that there was a light on inside.
Curious, he climbed up to the tree house and knocked lightly on the door, hoping he hadn't woke his neighbor. Luckily, Poe opened the door a moment later, wearing his nightgown and nightcap, and smiled at Skull Boy.
"Why, what ever are you doing up so late, Skull Boy?" Poe questioned out of concern.
"Why are you up so late?" Skull Boy inquired with a quirked brow.
"Fair point. I was simply doing some late-night reading in my pajamas. Would you like to come in?" There was an awkward pause when Poe stepped aside to let Skull Boy inside, but the said skeleton remained unresponsive as his eyes seemed to be locked in a thousand yard stare.
"Um, Skull Boy? Skull Boy?" Poe rapidly snapped his fingers in Skull Boy's face, causing the latter to finally snap out of it as he shook his head.
"W-What? Oh, sorry, did you say something?" Skull Boy asked sheepishly.
Poe's face flattened, "Yes. I asked if you wanted to come in."
"U-Uh…y-yeah, that'd be great. Thanks."
Skull Boy awkwardly took a seat on the chaise lounge in the living room, pressing his knees together, twiddling his thumbs and staring off in many different directions. All of these reactions from the teenage skeleton worried Poe quite significantly, for he had never seen him acting so off.
"Skull Boy, are you sure you're feeling alright?" Poe asked firmly, finally causing Skull Boy to look directly at him.
"U-Um…not really," the skeleton replied shakily.
"What's wrong?"
"I-If I told you, you'd think I'm crazy."
The raven smirked, "Try me, Lad."
Skull Boy still couldn't trust him, and he made his fears known as he immediately went back to staring at the floor. Poe didn't fail to notice Skull Boy's persisting paranoia, and came up with a new plan.
"How about this? I'll make us some tea to sooth those nerve, and then you can tell me what's bothering you."
Skull Boy thought about it for a moment, eventually looking Poe in the eye and nodding meekly. The said raven soon departed into the kitchen to start making tea, to which Skull Boy tried to calm himself by looking at the array of books on the shelves. He scooted down the chaise and leaned over the arm to squint, his eyes skimming over the titles in the dim light to find something suitable to read at this time of night.
And then he remembered the whispers. They suddenly bombarded his ears with sharp demands as soon as he looked at the very bottom shelf, to which he flinched and covered his ear canals, but the voices remained loud. Skull Boy forced one eye open to look back down at the bottom shelf, but he noticed something odd; there didn't seem to be anything on the bottom shelf.
"What are you looking at?" Poe's voice yanked Skull Boy out of his concentration, nearly making him jump out of his skin—or bones. The raven's once friendly face was now a stern glare, as he approached the skeleton and gave him his cup of tea.
"It's not polite to snoop, you know," Poe pointed out calmly while pouring tea for the both of them, and taking a seat in the chair opposite of the chaise lounge.
"I-I know, I'm sorry. I was just looking for something read," Skull Boy apologized frantically, trying to keep his tea cup from shaking so much in his quivering hands.
Poe's expression softened, "And that's fine. You can help yourself to any book you like—just stay clear of that bottom shelf. Nothing there but dust bunnies."
As Poe continued on, Skull Boy easily noticed how droopy the raven's eyes were becoming; if he waited long enough, he could began his search again after Poe fell asleep. What he doesn't know won't kill him, right?
It wasn't long before Poe set his tea cup down, and began closing his eyes while leaning back in his chair. Moments later, the room was filled with Poe's snores, and Skull Boy instantly shifted his attention to the bottom shelf of the bookcase. The whispers grew in volume again when Skull Boy carefully got down on his knees in front of the bookcase, forcing him to clench his teeth in discomfort.
But when he finally leaned down to see where the voices were coming from, he noticed a single tarnished book sitting on its back. Skull Boy slowly reached for the book, kicking up a heavy blanket of dust when he grabbed its leather cover and pulled it out. The skeleton was confused when he rubbed off the dust and checked all over the book's cover, but couldn't find a title or even an author's name.
He finally decided to end this mystery and cracked the book open, not only making the thousands of whispers he had heard earlier finally stop, but the book also leapt from his hands and turned the pages on its own. Skull Boy was bewildered as the pages seemed to glow and stayed right in front of him, and he flinched when the book stopped abruptly on a certain page. He slowly grabbed the book in curiosity; it didn't seem to fight him, and he read over the ancient words written on the pages. They weren't in English, but he could tell it was Latin.
Skull Boy had no clue why, but he couldn't fight the urge to read the set of words out loud, "Et mortuus es. Meus es tu. Ego sum Deus tenebras, et non estis mihi linter."
As Skull Boy whispered the words aloud, he failed to notice the shadows that licked at the edge of his eye sockets like flames, and they grew larger the more he went on. When he stopped, the shadowy flames disappeared faster than they came, and Skull Boy suddenly felt really light-headed. He tried to grab his skull and shake away the dizziness, but his eyes had already rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed. The book landed open and pages down next to the skeleton, to which more strings of darkness seeped from between the covers and entered Skull Boy's body with a hiss.
Poe never stirred during the whole event, leaving Skull Boy completely defenseless when he fell unconscious. The pale candlelight that once lit the room was soon blown out by an unknown force, covering the whole room in almost complete darkness.
Seems that Skull Boy would've been better off listening to Poe. Then again, if he had, the whispering never would've stopped. I wonder why they started in the first place.
Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!