"Kate, will you tell me a story?"
"Okay, I'll tell you one." Karen settled next to Kate, resting her head on her older 'sister's' shoulder. "Once upon a time, there were two girls who lived together. They were very close, but they were forced to work as servants to horrible people. The younger sister was beautiful and kind, but her spirit had been harmed by the masters. The elder, however, refused to let that happen and made a plan to rescue them from that awful place. In the middle of the night, while the masters lay sleeping, the elder sister took gold from the safe and left the manor with the younger in tow. They were free, and they lived happily ever after."
"I like that story," Karen mumbled, nodding off. Kate moved the ten-year-old to her bed and sat awake in her own.
I'm sixteen. I can earn my GED and get a job. I just need to make myself an emancipated minor. And bring Karen with me.
Time to make my story a reality.
Kate poked her head out of the bedroom. None of the other foster girls were awake, and it appeared that Mr. and Mrs. Weatherhead had gone to sleep as well. She grabbed her backpack and flashlight and slipped into the hall and down the stairs, counting her steps as she always did in the darkness.
The safe is in the floor of the living room. Four steps right, two steps forward from the kitchen.
Quietly, she gripped the square of false boards that rested above the safe. She gently set it down without a sound, then began turning the dial.
Three to the right, four to the left, five to the right again.
She grabbed the flashlight she'd stashed in the waistband of her pajama pants and shone it onto the contents of the now-open safe. There were several stacks of cash inside, along with the deed to the house, birth certificates of Mr. and Mrs. Weatherhead, and passports. Kate breathed deeply before grabbing four of the stacks and stuffing them into her bag.
This is for Karen. And me.
Just as quickly as she'd opened the safe, she closed it and shut the false floorboards. Kate once again counted her steps as she made her way upstairs, her flashlight now turned off to avoid shining lights into the rooms of those who were sleeping. She slipped back into the girls' room and knelt on her bed, glancing back at Karen.
Your bag is packed. Mine is packed. We have money.
Let's get going.
Kate grabbed the sheet-rope she'd made when she'd first made the plan to escape and lowered it, dropping her bag and Karen's onto the ground outside. Quietly as she had entered the room, she lifted Karen up and carried her out the window.
"…Kate…?" mumbled Karen as her sister landed on the ground.
"Shh… be quiet. We're getting out of here." She handed Karen her bag and put her own backpack on. "Let's start moving. With any luck, we'll find a way out of Greeley and find somewhere else to live." Kate held out her hand. Karen nodded silently and took it.
Together, the two sisters started down the road.
On the highway running through Greeley, a Jewish family was driving home from visiting family in New Jersey. Kyle sighed as he stared out the window; it was the middle of the night, but his parents had taken advantage of his recent license and had him drive during the day so they could drive through the night.
"Greeley is so drab," Sheila commented. "Not enough out here to interest people in staying, so they leave when they get the chance."
"Just a lot of farms," agreed Gerald, nodding as he drove. Sheila suddenly leaned forward in surprise.
"Gerald, stop the car!"
Her husband slammed on the brakes and Sheila got out, Kyle sitting up and getting out, too.
"Are you all right?" Sheila asked.
It was then that Kyle saw what had freaked out his mom.
A pretty girl about his age with long, dark brown hair was clutching a little girl about Ike's age. Both of them were carrying backpacks and panting heavily, presumably because the car had almost hit them.
"W-we're fine," stammered the older girl.
"Where are you girls going this time of night?"
"Anywhere but here." Kyle stepped forward.
"We could give the two of you a ride wherever you need to go," he offered.
"It's the least we could do," added Gerald.
"All right, then," the older girl agreed, nodding. "I'm Kate, and this is my sister, Karen."
"I'm Gerald. This is my wife, Sheila, my older son, Kyle, and my younger son Ike is asleep in the backseat."
"No, I'm not," Ike yawned, getting out of the car.
"Come on, boys. Make some room for the girls," Sheila instructed her sons. Kate got into the back row with Karen, leaving Ike and Kyle to take the middle row.
"Where are you guys going?" Karen yawned.
"We're heading home to South Park," Kyle told her. "Where do you guys want us to drop you off?"
"Actually, just take us straight to South Park," Kate replied. "We're looking to make a fresh start, and a new town sounds like the best place to do it."
Kyle glanced back at the older girl as the car sped down the highway. Karen's eyes had already drooped and she was falling asleep on her sister's shoulder. Kate herself was starting to nod off and Kyle suspected that something was up besides them wanting a fresh start. They were obviously exhausted from some kind of ordeal, and they smelled like… Dr. Pepper?
Why the fuck do they smell like soda?
"What are we going to do?" Gerald asked Sheila in a hushed voice. "We can't just let them out when we get back to South Park."
"We're going to let them stay with us for a few days while we figure it out," Sheila replied, her voice at the same volume. "They both obviously need showers and some decent food."
"All right."
Kate felt somebody shaking her.
"We're here," a voice she barely recognized said. She opened her eyes to see the red-haired boy from the night before.
"Oh, thank you," she mumbled, sitting up. Karen was rubbing her eyes sleepily. The two girls got out of the car and Kate started to pull her sister down the street.
"Uh, no, you guys are staying with us for a few days," Kyle told her. "Come on."
Kate and Karen followed Kyle into the house, where he led them to the guest bedroom.
"You two can sleep in here for now. Sorry there's only one bed, but we can get a sleeping bag or something."
"One bed's fine," Kate replied, setting her backpack down. Karen did the same.
"Well, welcome to South Park, I guess. The bathroom's down the hall, and food's in the kitchen. I'm assuming you know how to cook."
"Yeah, I do. Just out of curiosity, what's the school like in this town?"
"Pretty good. Why?"
"For Karen. She's got to go to school."
"What about you?"
"I'm going to get my GED and a job to help pay for an apartment."
"Okay, then. My parents are taking me and Ike out for breakfast if you two want to come."
"Actually, I think we're going to stay here and get some sleep, if you don't mind. We didn't get much last night."
"Great. See you guys later."
Kyle left and Karen got into the bed. She fell asleep almost immediately and Kate dug into her backpack. Inside was her phone, which the state had provided when she went into foster care, and she decided it was time to bust the Weatherheads for the Dr. Pepper waterboarding they'd been doing for so long. Kate dialed 911, pressing the appropriate button to make her call anonymous.
"911, what's your emergency?" the woman on the other end asked.
"Um, yes, I'd like to report child abuse in Greeley, Colorado. Steve and Margaret Weatherhead are waterboarding children with Dr. Pepper in their basement." She rattled off the address.
"I'll contact child services. Thank you for letting us know."
Kate sighed in relief.
Bye, Weatherheads…
Deep in another dimension parallel to our own, there was a city known as the Nightmare City of R'lyeh. This was the home of the eldritch horrors that were written of by H.P. Lovecraft, including the ruler of them all, Cthulhu. To mere humans, and most other races, these beasts of legend seemed most horrific and terrifying. Inarticulate monsters that destroy all in their path. There is no reasoning with them, as they only know death and destruction. And all knew that one day, Cthulhu himself would escape the city that was his prison, and rise against the mortals who had sealed him and his people there.
And even now, he waited.
But, Cthulhu was not alone, even among his people. Sixteen years prior, a sect of his cult had succeeded in transferring his power into a human infant. This child was taken from his human parents and brought to R'lyeh by members of the cult who'd escaped arrest, and as such, he'd been raised by his power-father. Son of the Old God that he was, he'd been allowed to retain his human name so that he would be able to fit in among the humans and free his power-father from the Sunken City.
"Kenny."
Kenny looked up at his father, who was staring into the distance.
"Yes, Power-Father?"
"It is almost time for you to begin what you were born to do."
"Where should I begin?"
"Your birthplace. There, the people are more corrupt than anywhere else on Earth. We will begin destruction from there."
"Yes, Power-Father."
Kenny stood. As a half-human, he was able to leave the City of R'lyeh when most were confined to the boundaries. He was even able to summon portals to other places, which he used to set up new sects of his power-father's cult. Quickly, he opened a portal to the town he'd been born in, which he'd visited often in the sixteen years since his birth.
South Park, Colorado.
So this is a random story I had an idea for.
Kate is my OC, and I thought it would be fun to have her be Karen's sister while Kenny is the power-son of Cthulhu. Side note: 'power-son' and 'power-father' means that they are related purely by their powers. 'Body-mother' and 'body-father' means Carol and Stuart McCormick, who created Kenny's form.
Oh, and happy Halloween! As I type this, I'm sitting outside the Student Activities Center on my college campus wearing a Jack Skellington onesie.
So long and thanks for all the fish!