He swung his head back in a jerky motion he now could see the stars that perched in the night sky, the majority of them were hidden behind the clouds but that just made the ones he could see stand out brighter. It was cold out, but the air held a gentle and crisp warmth along with its thick dewiness, a rare and wonderful courtesy one could only find in the crux between spring and summer.
He pushed back onto his elbows the pointy joints pushing into the blanket beneath him and took a more comfortable position relaxing his neck back to stare into the sparkling stars and inky black sky. He balanced himself onto one elbow and took a swig of water before letting himself fall completely into a lying position. The gentle air gave tender touches to his hair and clothes a sweet smell of flowers that came with was welcomed. He relaxed into the blanket letting his muscles fall taut.
Footsteps to his left crunched through the grass and he could hear a couple of voices, muffled from the distance, probably just some friends having a night out from the surprisingly loud laughs that erupted and wavering tones he had to guess they were drunk.
He waited for the footsteps to scamper off but when they just got closer and closer he fixed his glasses and sat up, looking for the people.
But there was no one.
This was the first time.
The second time was one of the most perplexing.
It could be seen as normal if one thought it be, he had only thought of it as a strange miracle.
The fireflies spelling out his name wasn't that weird, it didn't look that much like his name, it was just a coincidence that the fireflies didn't have shadows, just a little bit.
That the fireflies glowed blue.
That they should have been blown away with the strong wind, the freakishly cold wind.
That it looked exactly like his name.
The fireflies spelling his name out in big blue letter while the cold wind blew.
'John Egbert'
That they all disappeared after he saw it, that there was no fireflies actually there, that he could see someone disappear behind the tree lines.
It was just coincidence, chance, and his eyes playing tricks on him…
Right…?
The third time was only the night after, it had started out as a normal night, talking to friends online, joking with Dave and the others, and his window was open to let the sweet night air waft through. He was never worried about intruders despite the generous amount of horror movies he had watched before.
He had lived in the middle of practically nowhere, a tight knit community in the corner of Washington he walked a mile to school and back, houses were spread out at least 20 feet from each other, several people had huge gardens and forests connecting to their house, there were some farmlands when you went far enough North and several of the homes were empty; School had a good 450 people or so. The low crime rate brought up no reason for him to be scared.
He also lived on the second floor and they had generously tall ceilings, so he doubted anyone would climb up the twenty feet up the side of the house.
Wind was blowing harder than the night before and there were very few clouds so the dark expanse of the sky spread overhead and the bright stars looked like diamonds, brambles of trees shook and quivered sounding like a maraca, dead leaves presumably being torn from branches shuffled against each other. Crickets and cicadas were buzzing together, the winds of nature's symphony.
Dave had chosen the name TurnTechGodHead probably for a mix of his love for turntables and his own narcissism, he had chosen EctoBiologist, because well…that's another story.
TG: Dude there's fucking apple juice
TG: It's fucking Christmas up in here
TG: Dude?
TG: Yo, Egderp?
EB: Dave, you can't expect me to reply right after you send you message, I'm not as fast a typer as you
TG: Ok, back to the main subject
TG: I thought we didn't have any apple juice
TG: I should totally bust out some sick rhymes
EB: Oh gog no
EB: Dave seriously
EB: Dave I'm serious please no
TG: Fine since you are so nicely asking my dear princess I won't bust my sick rhymes to blow your anime panties off from under your ironic anime skirt
EB: Dave I don't wear skirts and I don't wear panties
TG: …
EB: What?
TG: ….
TG: …..
TG: You sure about that?
EB: Dave oh my gog no
TG: So you're…not sure
EB: Oh yeah Dave I wear my long socks too
EB: and my hair is perpetually in perfect pig-tails, no brushing needed
EB: I have giant eyes too like they're so big SO big :B
TG: Exactly and I'm the stuttering slightly perverted freakishly nice guy with 5 girls coming onto him but he's so oblivious to their advances it hurts.
EB: -rolls eyes- :B who might these other girls be
TG: Well Rose and Jade duh
Rolling his eyes at the mention of their mutual online friends he kept typing.
EB: That only accounts for 3 girls Dave.
"Hoo Hoo Hoo"
He was brought from the conversation by something, he wasn't able to pinpoint the high pitched squeak until it sounded again, like a shrill shriek, a playful one though, like little bells of laughter, very annoying, high pitched bells.
He decided it was the wind chimes outside and watched for his friends reply.
TG: Well then Jade's grandpa and Rose's mom must come to the battle for this sweet anime Strider
EB: EW
EB: that's gross Dave like really really gross I mean I's get it if your brother went after the grandpa and the mom but not you that's just gross man
TG: oh nah man anyway I got to go
TG: trolls
EB: oh…
TG: yeah I'm gonna out troll him though
EB: go easy on him don't kill the poor boy…or girl
"Hoo Hoo Hoo"
This time he high pitched shriek was closer, he still brushed it off as some wind chimes, but he could still feel the creep of freezing fear up his spine, he did watch horror movies after all, a lot of them.
Walking over to the window he pushed the white sill closed and as he did so there was a little giggle that reverberated in the room, a giggle, not something he could brush off as wind chimes.
He tried to ignore the little blue light that shone in the window.
Just some wind chimes, just the computer.
"Hoo Hoo Hoo"
It wasn't outside this time and the little blue light shone brighter, he walked over to the computer as he heard a small ping reverberate signaling a message, he opened up pesterchum, the chat site he used, and looked at the new message, a troll apparently, someone named… carcinoGeneticist?
CG: LUMPSQUIRTING SHITSPEWING BULGESUCKER
CG: BULGESMOKING BULLSHIT FUCKLICK
CG: HEY BATSHITNOOKSMOKINGSHITMUFFIN
CG: I'M FUCKING TALKING TO YOU
EB: uhhhhh…
CG: WELL THAT'S A VERY INTELLIGENT REPLY YOU FUCKING GLOBEFONDLING CROTCHSTAINED NOOKSTAIN
EB: uhhhh, who are you?
CG: I'M SMARTER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN YOU AND I'M HERE AS YOUR GOD TO WARN YOU
EB: my cursor is hovering dangerously close to the block button
CG: FINE DON'T TAKE MY WARNING I'M SIMPLY HERE TO SAY YOU'RE IN TROUBLE BECAUSE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE NOT ACTUALLY THAT BAD
EB: thanks?
EB: what kind of trouble
CG: WELL YOU LITTLE FLOWER CHILD ASSFUCKING SHITDICK YOU HAVE JUST BEEN DIGGING YOUR OWN GRAVE BY ububoiinimknhvrdytfu
CG: njnjbgfxrtuihjjbgedsrv
CG: OK4Y WH4T H3 M34NS TO S4Y 1S TH4T YOU SHOULD GET OUT OF TH3R3 WH1L3 YOU ST1LL C4N
EB: why are you here?
CG: B3C4US3 1 W4NT TO B3 1S TH4T SUCH A CRIME, YOU'R3 D3NY1NG 4 BL1ND G1RL TH3 R1GHT TO S1MPLY H4V3 4 CONV3RS4TION WITH YOU
CG: TH4T'S SO RUD3, YOU'R3 STILL 4 D1SGR4C3 TO 3CTOB1OLIGY JOHN 3V3N WHEN…
CG: -G4SP- YOU D4R3 TO T4K3 TH3 T1TL3 OF 4N 3CTOB1OG1ST WH3N YOU'R3 NOT
EB: uhhhhh…
CG: nubououblbljbljblblugblu
EB: uhhhhh
CG: ALRIGHT YOU BLITHERING IMBECILIC CLOWNASS FOOTSUCKER, JUST LOOK, YOU ARE IN TROUBLE SO TRY TO STAY IN PUBLIC PLACES YOU SHOULD BE GLAD SOLLUX FOUND YOU BEFORE CROCKER DOES
EB is typing…
EB has stopped typing…
He was going to ask what the troll had meant, if this was all just a ploy, maybe the blind girl and him were the same and this was just some dumb ploy, but then…how did they know he hated Betty Crocker? How did they know his name? Was something actually going on? Did they have something to do with it.
And then there was the fact that "Carcinogenecist" was very…strange.
There was a few giggles as he swiped through the web, his lungs choking up to his throat, little bits of laughter slowly fading beyond his walls growing muffled, disappearing, but when they would grow to be far enough they would once again return next to him.
After the fifth time they had completely gone away, they didn't return for five minutes he deemed it safe enough, he saw the blue light fading in the reflection of his screen, about to turn aroun-
"Hoo Hoo Hoo"
Legit, right next to his ear, he felt his heart slam into his ribcage and he felt panic rushing through him, adrenaline in his veins. He swiveled around and he saw a wisp of blue in his peripheral vision, he had done the motion so jerkily that he had flung out of his chair and hit his head on the desk.
He saw a big burst of blue that looked almost like a face, taking the slight shapes of lips and the little button nose, eyelashes frilling out, eyebrows crinkling there was no recollection of a pupil though
before it disappeared, he could see the thing blink, it let out a big smile with plump lips, completely letting out large bursts of laughter all the while.
He passed out.
Coming to consciousness his head throbbed in pain.
He didn't expect to see someone next to his hospital bed.
He didn't expect that someone to have maroon eyes.
He didn't expect that someone to insult him and disappear.
The throbbing pain returned and he passed out again.
It was a week after that when the fourth occurrence happened, this was the most important one that had happened so far
He had not left his window open anymore due to the newly found summer heat and paranoia that creeped up into his mind. After the accident his dad and friend Jade had freaked out, Dave laughed his ass off about the stitches he had on his head due to it hitting the desk, Rose had prodded him with several questions, probably from her love of the supernatural.
He hadn't told anyone about the one when he was out the night prior, he presumed Rose already knew. She had named her online handle TentacleTherapist for reasons beyond him, he got the latter part due to her strangely vast knowledge of psychology but the reasoning for the tentacle part, because he knew there was some due to this being Rose, …he had no idea what it was.
TT: So this has happened prior, right?
EB: yeah but only once it was really weird, unless…
TT: Hmmm…
EB: uh what
TT: I'm prodding you to disclose more information, if you can, it's simply my way of showing interest. I mean, what does it imply when you say unless?
EB: well I was just chilling out one night and I hear a lot of laughter not the same as the time where it was in my ear it just sounded like a bunch of drunk teens I thought they'd go the other way but they kept coming closer so I turned over to look at them but then the laughter stopped and there was no one there.
TT: Well that's very intriguing, is that all?
EB: actually no right after it happened I was about to leave I mean I was freaked out but I couldn't leave for some reason and like…well I think I saw someone or something
TT: Go on.
EB: well it was this guy, and well… it was more like his shadow was on the ground but there was no one like standing there…
EB: I thought it was just my eyes playing tricks on me and then for some reason I could move then and like…so I just sort of left I mean who knows it might've been some speakers someone set up as a prank or just the natural sounds and it happened to sound like that… it was
EB: So I brushed that one off as a couple of coincidences it was before the really weird one happened
EB: There were these…fireflies? I think and they um…they were blue and
TT: And?
EB: they spelled out my name
EB: the freakiest thing Rose was just like he had these two lights on his face one red and one blue I think….I think they were his eyes, the other guy I mean… and when the fireflies were there…there was another guy…he had these bright red eyes
EB: and well…
EB: I think I saw the red eyed guy while I was getting my stitches
He looked out the window and mourned the loss of the spring wind, the summer heat wafting through with the sickeningly sweet smell of cut grass. He got up to close his window, but as soon as he did something caught his ankle causing him to fall.
That something that tripped him was still holding his ankle in a vice grip.
(I promptly freaked the fuck out when I saw a gray clawed hand reaching around my ankle, I mean I was fucking scared, so yeah) HE promptly freaked the fuck out when he saw grey skin and yellow nails.
Thrashing about you kicked up at the 'thing' yelling some obscenities at it, for once in your life you wished that your dad didn't have a night shift and that the houses weren't so far away from each other. You kicked up at the hand but did nothing as your foot touched…nothing?
"Oh my cod, just shut the fuck up."
Did he just make a fish pun? That was a he…right? The guy with the weird nasally voice.
"Uhhhhh…"
You could cut through the air with a knife, not without some obvious trouble due to the fact the air was just so tense, you would probably need a chainsaw to cut through cleanly.
"Look stop freakin the fuck out, like wwhat the hell you act like you've newer seen a ghost before."
"I haven't…"
You trailed your eyes down and tried pulled your ankle from the grip, to no avail, looking down at the 'ghost' with the strangest accent you've ever heard, or how he would say 'ewer'.
"That is such a lie Sol said you saww his ghost, and you saw that god forsaken Crocker, did you not? I can easily see the fucking stitches so don't even try to lie."
He looked down at the 'ghost' and saw a teen about four years older than him, probably fifteen, sixteen, maybe seventeen on a stretch. He had light grey skin that stretched out over his arms a couple of black scales scattered over popping up in random bunches. The skin looked thick and sturdy, but the anatomy seemed mostly human.
"Who's 'Sol' exactly?" The teen looked away with an aggravated look on his face. "Ok, so you don't know, I'll believe you on that…it's just that, well it's surprising, I mean seriously I'd expect you to know at least something…" the teen sat up, letting his leg go, and raked a clawed hand through his hair, black hair shot up in tufts a large bit in the front a big portion was died bright purple, it was surprisingly more like a hipster than something creepy.
"Ok, um…so he's a ghost like me, really wweird eyes, sometimes like I don't knoww a shadoww, he hates going to human form because there's pollen a-lot of the time." The ghost seemed deep in thought and snapped his eyes shut in presumably frustration. Orange horns stuck out from his head, like mini, orange lightning bolts, diagonally jutting up and down twice stretching back into his hair.
His didn't have many bangs except for one that jutted out on the right side of his face framing it. A strong and sharp chin was at the end and ended his already sharp and angular cheekbones witch flared out into what looked like a mix between ears and fish fins.
"So he has a red and blue eye then…?"
It had struck with him from the moment the ghost had said it, the weird eyes and shadows could only really mix go to one thing, the red eyed one seemed to have a physical shape while the other one really was just a shadow, and there was a lot of pollen in that area…
Not that he knew why that mattered.
"Wwell, yes, but I came here for a different reason than to talk about the mustard jerk."
He finally got up from his sitting position brushing his shirt off, he crisscrossed his legs and felt surprisingly calm when he saw that the 'ghost meant no actual harm. "So what are you here for? I've had a weird couple of weeks."
"Wwell no duh idiot, it's because you're 12, that's wwhen your energy starts to showw more, it happened to us wwhen wwe wwere your age."
"What happened? Who's us?"
"Demons started hunting us, us being our group of friends, anywway that's besides the point, you just need to knoww that you're in danger, you and your friends need to be on guard, especially you…"
He looked up to ask another question, but the prissy black haired guy was gone.
"I never even got to get his name…"
CaligulasAquarium
He read over the name a couple of names and the message a few times more.
CA: I wwasn't kidding, you're in trouble, kar wwould probably come and tell you, but he's busy at the moment.
EB: I never got to ask your name…so what is it?
CA: It's Eridan.
EB: Nice to meet you! :B
EB: for real this time.
He was ready for the fifth time, he came armed with a hammer, what could go wrong?
A-lot, apparently.
Eh, I have no one to proof read, this is just the first upload though so I'm probably going to go through it later to check for stuff and make sure I didn't make it confusing anywhere. Please tell me about anything you see or questions you have. (and let me just put this in for the record, making up Karkat's insults was probably the hardest part)