Silence was like a plague in the old, mostly abandoned town. The only creatures that roamed the gravel streets and iron buildings were a few mobs, who had made the place their home.
It was an oppressive ambient, always full of fog and unexplainably hot. Headaches were a common thing around there, and most Players that dared to enter such place felt sick and nauseous.
The smell didn't help it in the slightest, too.
It was partly the mobs fault. They all were dirty and disgusting, crawling around their homes and almost never cleaning anything. Fecal matter, trash, useless things, rotting food…those things were everywhere on the streets.
Corpses of dead creatures were also thrown around, half eaten and full of vermin and silverfish, disgusting parodies of the zombies. The rancid smell spread everywhere and was so strong that even creatures that were alive smelled of putrefaction.
Through the grey streets, two unusual visitants walked: A creeper lady, ahead, a confident smile on her disgusting face and a human man, looking almost afraid and walking slowly, always trembling.
"Catherine…where are we?"
He was nervous and trembled. He didn't know what this place was or how he had gotten there. All he knew was that he had woken up there, already walking by the creeper's side.
"Don't you worry, sweetie…I got a place for you to stay, see? You will be treated like a king tonight!"
She giggled, like the insane creature she was.
They made their way through the fog and the filth, only finding a couple skeletons outside, practicing…something. Sticking as many arrows trough their empty eye sockets as possible, to be exact.
Soon, they found themselves on the front door of what looked like an old bar. Its windows were broken and the place looked like it was falling apart. Inside, a couple torches were lit and some mobs whispered among themselves, discussing nonsense, eating and drinking, as if thought they were humans.
Catherine opened the door, which made a loud creaking noise. At her sight, all the creatures stopped whatever they were doing to look at her, a pathetic mix of fear and respect on their eyes.
Steve simply stared, not knowing how to react properly. Sure, he knew those mobs in particular wouldn't harm him, but…there was something just wrong about them. Something in their smiles, their gestures, their eyes…
Corruption.
"Good evening, my children! We have a very special visitor tonight!"
Hisses, claps, thumping and screams were heard as the mobs cheered; a spark of sound in the middle of the town.
The sudden sound startled Steve, who tried to step back and leave the place, just to be stopped by a bizarre looking Enderman.
The child was sitting on a minecart, legs paralyzed on an awkward position. She didn't have arms either. Despite this, she seemed very excited, not noticing she was right in front of the door.
His eyes widened at the sight of it. It was just wrong…all of this was. Why? How could this even be possible? Children didn't act like that…they cried at pain and fled from danger! And yet, these ones seemed to simply enjoy the decrepit state of their world..
Catherine stepped near him, close enough to whisper on his ear, amidst the sudden chaos on the place.
"They all love you, sweetie…to their bitter end…why don't you enjoy the party with us, then?"
He shivered in fear. Her sickly sweet voice made him uncomfortable, almost scared of what that could mean.
He looked around, feeling a wave of panic. Many childish faces that he couldn't understand, surrounding, overwhelming him with a sense of claustrophobia, sickness and depravation. Smiling, laughing, inviting to a corrupted world… All of them unknown, broken, useless…
"Toys"
His heart stopped for a second. This had been a sudden thought of his. Every single piece of him protested against it, deeming it as terrible, horrifying…more than it should have been. That word had a strange meaning, a life of its own, a hidden intelligence behind the mask of innocence.
Suddenly, it was everywhere. A painful group of living letters marked with fire on his mind, swirling around, taunting him, telling him to think more, to look deeper and deeper, until he couldn't see a thing anymore…
"Hey, sir? You alright?"
He blinked.
He was no longer on the little bar, but sitting on the red mattresses of a bed. On the other side of the dirty, unknown room, some kind of zombie and silverfish hybrid stared at him, full of curiosity and gentleness.
Steve felt his heart skip a beat out of fear, which took his voice for a while.
"Who…who are you? How did I get here?"
The creature gently approached and sat by his side, trying to calm him down.
"Don't worry, Catherine told me to take care of you, that is all…"
This didn't answer Steve's questions, of course, but at least made him less nervous...
Surreal. All of this. But what could he do? He didn't know a thing about the reasons behind all of this! Trying to fight would be in vain in such situation.
He sighed and laid down, letting the other lay by his side. It wasn't really important, now…of course not… He felt a sudden apathy wash over him.
"You know, Steve… you are lucky that Catherine likes you that much…"
He didn't reply. Particularly, he didn't know why she liked him or how that could a good thing. Hell, he didn't even know how who she was before waking up here! Everything before arriving to the town was just…blurry, but at the same time…it felt natural, like this world followed its own logic and he just had to go along with it to understand.
He didn't feel like fighting against the flow of things, right now. He simply absorbed the place around him, not complaining about the silverfish crawling on the bed and over him, the water dripping from the fragile ceiling, in an annoying pattern, the smell of everything, including of the child by his side, the dim illumination…
His eyelids felt heavier and heavier, to the point it was just easier to close his eyes. His respiration became slower and deeper, too.
The creature leaned in, as if to kiss him goodnight.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Steve woke up. He felt uneasy, trembling and sweating. It had all been a nightmare… That one familiar nightmare... He sat up and shook his head, trying to erase the weird images that ran through his mind.
He hated to have those kinds of dreams. It made him feel almost…guilty, even if it wasn't something real.
Those many children, cheering and singing around him, ready to follow his orders, to kneel down before him like he was some sort of twisted king… And that creeper was the worse. Catherine…almost like his daughter's name…
He knew he shouldn't have played Minecraft before going to sleep. That was the most common trigger to that nightmare, after all.
"Dear? Are you okay?"
This was his wife, who had just been woken up by Steve's sudden movement. She seemed very sleepy, with a hint of concern on her face.
He sighed.
"I am alright…it was just a nightmare that woke me up, hehe…"
Suddenly, he felt kind of ashamed. He was acting like a kid, that way, scared of dreams…and it hadn't even been an especially scary one, too. Just…a bit disturbing.
"Ah…go back to sleep, then…"
Steve nodded, but left the bed as soon as the tired woman resumed her rest. He was still slightly nervous and had decided to go drink some water to calm down a bit. He usually didn't do this, since the sound of the door creaking could wake up the little girl asleep on the room next to theirs, but this was an exception.
Yawning, he slowly made his way through the empty and silent corridor that led to the kitchen. Everything was shrouded in darkness
It was like they were still there, the same creatures he had been seeing for months in all kinds of warped dreams. It disturbed him greatly, especially when a few mobs had the same faces as his students in the school he worked.
Breathing deeply, he put a glass under the filter and let the cold water fill it. The loud sound of the water hitting the crystalline bottom had always bothered him, and this situation didn't help it, either.
Little footsteps. One after the other, in an almost inaudible, but constant tap-tap-tap.
He stopped the water flow and turned away from the filter, to avoid dropping the glass (Isn't it funny how common worries strike you even in terrifying situations?).
"Daddy?"
He sighed, in relief. It was just Katy…why was she awake, thought? Had he waken her up on accident?
"Daddy, why are you here? It is night…"
He gently smiled at her cute sleepy expression. Eight years old and still just as cute as she was when she was just a baby!
"I was just thirsty, dear. Now, go back to sleep, it is really late and mother wouldn't be happy to know you are still up!"
In response, the little girl frowned, before yawning and nodding. She was dead scared of her mother when she was angry and so, she avoided that at all costs.
"Go, go, before I tell her!"
The little girl widened her eyes a little and left, dragging her feet as she usually did on frictionless floors.
Steve watched as she walked until she turned around on the corridor that led to her room before shaking his head and getting his glass of water.
Back to bed, he found himself much calmer. Tomorrow he had to work and he couldn't let those dreams get between him and the school.
He listed to the rhythmic respiration of his wife and, slowly, he fell asleep once again, this time, untouched by the unsettling dreams.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
A mix of sounds, words, screams, hisses, moans, cries and things that couldn't be properly described.
"Brother…"
"Hello, sir! Follow me"
"Isn't it time, already?"
"There is too much sound, mom! I don't like it. No, no, no…"
"Come on, we can do this. It is possible"
"Hurry! There is no time left for you!"
"Ughhhh…more."
"KNEEL DOWN!"
"Shhh…They can hear us…"
"If you break this promise…"
"Laugh your way out?"
"Lalalalalalatarararala…"
"Hey, stand on fours."
"SSssssssSSSSSSSSsss"
"Please…"
"It hurts…go on!"
That town was full of a childish, illusory lullaby when 3 a.m arrived, but it ceased as soon as half an hour had past. They were preparing it for him.
Aren't those kids formidable?