A/N : I just needed to post this one really bad. I haven't forgotten about leat-sa, so don't worry! This is just a crossover of ParaNorman and PH that I will update when I feel the muse.
A few notes and warnings before we begin, though(geez, I really seem to love that word :/). The characters in this might be OOC but I'm trying my best to get them in character. And about Will of the Abyss, for the sake of the story I named her William instead of the ever-popular Alyss. ParaAlyss doesn't sound nearly as good as ParaNorWill, in my opinion. Also, I see Levi as being the kind of father who gives out eccentric names (he did call her Will of the Abyss, after all) so in a modern universe it's quite possible that he'd call one by a boy's name.
Chapter the First :: Meet Will
The Curse of the Psycho Chain read the title spilling across the screen in dark red dripping letters. I smiled to myself and tossed another piece of butter-drowned popcorn into my mouth. I knew the trump chain would butt in halfway through the introductory credits because I'd seen this movie more than five times before due to the fact that it never seemed to get old. Sure enough, it did—just as expected—and my grin got wider as my left hand unconsciously snaked up to the purple rubber band that was holding my ponytail in place. Yanking it out with a flourish, my hair tumbled down around my skinny shoulders, long and white and annoying. I sneezed as a few strands got into my face.
"Are you sure this is an appropriate film for someone your age?" asked my companion, who looked suspiciously uneasy at the gore flashing across the television screen. Abandoning the hair tie on the coffee table, I shifted on the couch to face her. "Core-san. I am thirteen, going on fourteen in a couple of months. I am not a child anymore. I can handle horror movies."
Core Abyss looked properly abashed. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking." For a woman of fifty-one and friend of my mother's, I would have thought that she would think more before opening her mouth.
"WILL! No TV before you do your chores!"
"Yes, Mom!" I called back, snatching the remote and pressing down hard on the off button. The dying buzz of the television was accompanied by Core's complaining whining—her only company besides me was said television. Laying the remote on the table next to the hair band, I ran my fingers twice through my hair and tucked some wayward strands behind my ear. Most days I'd spend an hour in the morning brushing my hair and decorating it—after all, I had an outer image to maintain—but today was the weekend and I felt lazy, like tearing free of that 'perfect girl' society seemed to want me to be.
Bare feet met cold floor tiles. Core called out to my retreating back—"Ask Lacie to put on the kettle, I want a cup of tea!"— as I shuffled, half asleep, into the kitchen.
A steel ladder appeared in front of my face—Uncle Oswald must be fixing the light-bulb again— and I swerved around it and headed to the dishwasher instead. The trash can was kept in the cupboard to the left of it and I yanked the bag out, wrinkling my nose at the smell.
"Don't bring it near here!" My twin sister, Alice, called from her window seat at the table. "I'm eating chicken and the smell might put me off!"
"It might be good if I did that," I muttered, hauling the stuffed full bag to the back screen door. "You eat waaay too much meat—I don't wanna think about what it's doing to you." Luckily Alice didn't hear my comments as our mother, Lacie, was berating her for being rude. Alice didn't seem to be listening, though, as she tapped the screen on her iPod repeatedly—probably texting her boyfriend, Oz. It was a running gag in the family that rough, tomboyish Alice had a boyfriend but I was still lacking in that department even though I was politer and nicer than her. This fact also stung me a lot, even though I played up the façade that I couldn't care less. I hadn't ever told my parents but, personally, I was convinced my name is what put off any possible boyfriend candidates—I mean, who wants to date a girl called William?
I placed the garbage bag outside on the corner of the patio and went back into the house. As I passed the ladder my foot accidentally bumped against the base, causing it to quiver briefly. There was a clinking sound and Uncle Oswald glared down at me, holding a screwdriver in one hand and an old lightbulb in the other. I apologized, aware that I'd probably disrupted something, and Uncle Oswald wordlessly went back to his task.
Changing direction (I didn't feel like watching a movie anymore), I sank into a chair at the table, making sure that I was seated directly across from Alice. The latter had a saucer piled high with scoured chicken bones in front of her and I winced at her gluttonous appetite. My sister was my exact opposite in basically every way : I was pale, with colourless hair and pink eyes while she was tanned with chocolate coloured braids and purple eyes. Alice dressed in shabby clothes and didn't care what others thought of her—or if she did she never showed it—while I wore more girly clothes in public and always got anxious when someone glanced at me funny. I was the loner to Alice's popular—the loser to her winner.
"Hey, Mom?" I asked, trying to distract myself from the tauntingly obvious sounds of Alice texting. Lacie glanced up from where she was emptying the dishwasher. "Yes?"
"Core-san wants a cup of tea. Can you put the kettle on for her?"
Time stopped. Or, at least, it seemed to. Everyone froze, the kitchen silent except for the buzzing of the refrigerator. Oh great, I thought, here we go again.
Lacie was the first to react, talking over the sounds of Alice trying to beat the family puppy, B-Rabbit, for stealing her chicken in the background. "Will-san, we've told you before. Stop making up stories. You need to get over it. Core died six months ago."
The loud blaring of my alarm clock was the first thing that greeted my ears in the morning. I moaned in half hearted protest and yanked the covers up over my head. The alarm didn't quit, however, and I blearily propped myself up in bed. Slamming my hand down on the machine seemed to work, as the siren screeching stopped almost immediately.
I slid out of bed and placed my feet on the wooden floor. Holding back a yawn, I trudged over to the mirror on my dresser to get a good look at my not-a-morning-person self.
My white hair was tangled and spiky, like a nest put together by a lazy bird. Large dark bags hung under my eyes, which were their usual colour of ugly pinkish-red. My flimsy red pajamas with their misshapen white hearts were so small on my lanky frame that it was unsightly. Sighing with anguish, I sank back down onto my mattress and buried my face in my hands.
My bedroom door creaked open and I glanced up, raking my fingers through my hair to appear at least a little presentable. A head with choppy dark brown hair glanced in and I groaned. Alice.
"Mom wants you downstairs in ten." She informed me. "And try to not take so long in the bathroom, we leave for school in thirty minutes."
I nodded briefly to show I understood and Alice ducked back into the landing hallway. A few seconds later I heard her footsteps on the descending staircase and her calling to Lacie about wanting sausages for breakfast.
After I had closed my bedroom door—which Alice had left hanging ajar—and yanked down the tan blinds on my window I crossed over to my wooden dresser, which stood alone in the darkest corner of my room, and began to open and close drawers as I searched for the proper clothes to wear today. Unlike Alice, I didn't just snatch whatever I saw first because I had a more sensible routine.
Once I was in the bathroom located down the upstairs hallway, my morning schedule commenced. A pale blue shirt with darker rose patterns and matching blue skinny jeans were yanked on, hair was carefully combed, face was splashed with tap water, teeth were brushed—I took a brisk moment at the mirror to pull a creepy face with the toothpaste and saliva hanging out of my mouth like monster drool—and then I snatched my notebook and iPhone off my dresser drawer before dashing downstairs, the echo of my bedroom door slamming still audible.
Alice was already at the table when I arrived. My sister was clothed in her baseball uniform—reminding me that her competition was today—and her hair was in a sloppy ponytail. She was shovelling eggs and sausages into her mouth while being hunched over the table like a starving animal.
Something wet licked the back of my leg and I winced before turning around and giving our Black Labrador Retriever, B-Rabbit, a hasty scratch behind the ears as I slipped into my seat.
The instant I sat down, Alice sprang up. "Imma go text Oz," she announced around the egg in her mouth. "He's gotta pick up Liam and Sharon before the game and I'm gonna tell him so." And with that, she rushed away to her bedroom.
I sighed heavily and picked up my fork. Was it too much to hope that I'd get a best friend or —maybe, possibly, highly unlikely—a boyfriend before I graduated high school?
The walk to my high school was as dreary as you could possibly imagine. Alice had access to the only car and thus she was convinced that it was hers. Meaning that I wasn't allowed to drive it.
"Good morning," a young woman greeted from her lawn chair as I passed by. "Would you like to stop and have tea with me?"
"No, sorry, Mrs Rainsworth. I've got to get to school." I responded, waving to her while subtly trying to ignore the fact that she was hovering above her chair and not sitting in it. Keeping my head down, I strode past the house at a brisk pace.
"Call me Shelly!" The ghost said to my back but I kept walking. People glanced at me oddly from time to time and I knew what they must be thinking : look at that weirdo girl who talks to thin air. I definitely don't want to be near her. Let's stare and make her feel worse. Well, probably not the last one but it sure felt that way sometimes.
Pandora Academy. A large high school for such a small town. Teenagers milled around outside, exchanging gossip and I was pretty sure that I saw some drugs switch hands too. The punk group lounged against the side of the building, cigarettes in hand. No one seemed to notice me, the unnaturally white girl standing awkwardly at the edge of the crowd.
Hesitantly, I started forward. Bell was going to ring soon and I definitely didn't want to be late for play rehearsal. "Excuse me. Coming through. Please move." Some kids shifted, but most just kept on chatting to their friends and pretended that I wasn't there.
Suddenly I was shoved from behind, hard, and I lost my balance. "You're such a klutz." A voice drawled behind me as I began to collect the items that had scattered and place them back into my backpack. I was bleeding from both knees and my palms were scraped up, but that really didn't matter. Don't let them see that they got to you was my motto and even now I was going to follow it. Top brand name sneakers and the dark pink hems of jeans crossed my line of vision and I instantly knew who it was.
"C'mon, guys, let's go inside. Big Sis did a good job at showing that girl her place." High pitched giggling followed that statement, as Lotti Baskerville and her two friends walked away.
The yard was clearing and I blinked back the tears that threatened to surface. The bright red of blood stood out against the pale hue of my skin but I tried to ignore the stinging. With a muttered curse I stood up and limped to the doors.
The hallway was nearly empty as I staggered in, clutching my ripped backpack to my chest. A few teens hung around their lockers, whispering to their friends and generally just stalling for time. As I passed, a couple of them caught my eye. A lanky boy with dark reddish brown hair and a headband with two black felt cat ears stuck on was arguing with another boy, this one dressed head to toe in black except for the gold piercings in his ears. From the way that they were pointing and yelling it seemed that they were fighting over the locker. I'd seen the guy with the piercings around here before but the guy with a cat ear headband was a stranger. Maybe he was new?
I fiddled with my combination lock and crammed my ruined backpack in before any more stuff could fall out. It wasn't really my business anyways. As I pushed close the metal door to my locker, I noticed letters that spelt out L-O-S-E-R were emblazoned across its surface in black spray paint. Sighing, I turned away from it and headed for class. There wasn't really anything I could do about Lotti and her nasty, biting comments but try to not let it get to me. I wasn't confident and strong like Alice, so going to her or my mother were out and Father would just say to do what I was doing now. Was it wrong to dream that I grew up in a different family? One with Core or my biological father, perhaps?
"Hey, are you alright?" I glanced up to find myself face to face with the stranger boy from before. Up close I could see that his eyes were red; a deep shade of crimson that was like mine yet wasn't. For while my eyes were slanted and half closed his were open and naïve.
"Y-yeah." I muttered, pushing him away. I wasn't weak enough that I needed assistance yet he didn't seem to get the message.
"I'm Cheshire. Cheshire Nekono. Wanna be friends? What's your name?" The boy's multitude of questions directed at me felt like needles.
"...William Baskerville...I mean, Alice Abyss." I responded, compelled to use the name that I always wished was mine for some strange reason.
Cheshire tilted his head to one side. "Will...Abyss?" I was about to correct him when his face suddenly broke into a grin. "Will of the Abyss! Yeah, I'll call you that! It sounds like some cool title or somethin'!"
"...actually...I'd prefer if you called me Alice..." I muttered, tapping my index fingers together nervously. Cheshire didn't seem to hear, though, as he was staring at the timetable that was jutting out of one of my textbooks.
"You're in the play too?" He asked, grabbing my hand before I had a chance to argue. "C'mon, let's go to the gym together!"
And that was probably how I got into this whole mess to begin with. With Cheshire being the start of the rollercoaster that would become my life.
"But Barma-sensei!" Lotti called out from the stage. "I don't understand why I have to be the ghost!" She crossed her arms and sent me a death glare, like her being the villain was somehow my fault.
Rufus Barma strode over to the stage and stuck his paper fan under the girl's chin. "Because..." He began in a threatening tone. "It is The Red Eyed Ghost and you have red eyes. Do you get it?"
Lotti's scowl deepened. "Of course I get it, Barma-sensei, but William and that new kid have red eyes too! Why can't one of them play it? I wanna be a juror..." She muttered the last part under her breath.
Rufus' face tightened and a tic mark appeared on his forehead, bright red and pulsing. "Because I gave you that role, Charlotte, and them their roles for a reason! Do you understand?
"Now to begin," Rufus pointed at a girl with long brown hair tied into pigtails. This girl would start the play off as she was the character playing the leading juror, an old woman named Jiri. "Sharon, if you will..."
The pigtailed girl held her script aloft. "Red Eyed Ghost, do you admit to having killed and murdered innocent, hardworking townsfolk or do you have any words to say in your defence?"
Lotti grimaced and glared at her paper as if she could turn it to ashes with just her mind. Her attempt at laser vision seemed to be a failure, though, so she flung her script to the stage floor hard and stormed out of the gymnasium.
"Miss Charlotte Baskerville! If you do not come back this instant—" Rufus let his threat hang unfinished in the air and when she didn't return faced the class again. His gaze slid to me and I held my script tighter in sweaty palms.
"Miss William—" as always, this statement brought around giggles and muffled laughs— "Since Charlotte has so kindly abandoned us, would thou care to play the Red Eyed Ghost instead?"