Groggily, Todomatsu sat up, rubbing his eyes. It was still dark outside.
He didn't remember getting into his futon. Karamatsu was asleep with his arms on the windowsill, nestling his head; Ichimatsu was still sleeping in the corner, his kitty still functioning as his pillow. Todo must've fallen asleep sitting next to Kara, who carried him over to bed. That was fine. The question was, why had he woken up?
Tap tap tap.
Every hair on Todomatsu's body stood on end. Slowly, he turned his head toward the window. Relief flooded his body when he saw nothing was there. He must've just imagined it. Calm down, you're just freaking yourself out because it's dark. Go back to sleep.
Reluctantly, he laid his head back down on his pillow and closed his eyes. He tore the covers upwards to cover his face a little more. Slowly, he felt himself being pulled away by sleep. His limbs grew heavy.
Tap tap tap.
Todomatsu ripped off his covers and hauled ass across the room, reaching for the box of matches he kept in his dress pocket. Breathing heavily as the tapping continued (down the hall, he noted), he struggled to get the matches out, but eventually freed them. He reached for his candles, shakily dumping the box out, grabbing a match and desperately striking it along the side of the box to get it to light. Finally, a flame flickered and the smell of sulfur dioxide filled his nose. He held it to all three candles before blowing it out, a bit of orange color comfortably pulsing on the walls as the wicks shrunk and grew the flames as they burned.
Tap tap tap.
It took a lot of courage to stand up, his heart pounding so hard it was moving the fabric of his clothes. Was somebody trying to get into the church through the hidden side door...? That door was masked by several trees that winded and twisted up the side of the building, stray branches and leaves spreading in all directions. He didn't think anybody knew that it was there, but the tapping noise sounded too close to be coming from the front of the church.
Tap tap tap. But he didn't want to go alone.
"Nii-san?" His voice bubbled out of his throat, trying to wake either brother; whoever answered would work. Karamatsu made him feel safe because he gave off a natural big-brother feel and Ichimatsu made him feel safe because he was so fucking scary sometimes that Todo wondered what it would be like to get on his bad side. (Not only that, but he kept a gun on a holster on his leg in case he ever needed to use it.)
The tapping got louder and more demanding of attention. Todomatsu's knees wobbled, using his free hand to grab the doorframe, digging his nails into the wood. "Nii-san?"
Ichimatsu stirred, but grumbled something under his breath and turned, waking the cat, who looked around confusedly.
"Ichimatsu nii-san, are you awake?" Nothing. But his kitty stared tiredly at him. Todomatsu decided that he might be okay.
"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty..." Todo tapped his thumb and index finger together gently, making sure ESP Kitty saw it. Wiggling his butt before bounding over and swatting at his hand, Todo felt just a smidgen safer. But that wasn't enough.
A glint in the room caught his eye as the tapping got even louder. Karamatsu's handheld mirror. Maybe if he brought it, it would kinda feel like Karamatsu was there too...?
Todo pointed to it. "Kitty, go get that for me!" Intelligent as it was, the orange cat walked over, taking the handle of the golden mirror in his mouth, and carried it proudly back to Todomatsu, dropping it at his feet. The youngest picked it up, exhaling dreadfully. He guessed that meant he'd have to go by himself.
Slipping his fingers in the door and pulling it aside, he shoved the candles out into the hallway and poked his head out, looking in both directions. Tap tap tap. Yep, it was coming from the hallway that branched past the courtyard and led to the side door. Hopefully nobody needed shelter; was it raining outside?
With anxious steps, Todomatsu and the cat approached the courtyard foyer, following the candles Todo had already set. He could see that nothing was ahead, so at least he wasn't in total danger just yet.
Tap tap tap. It sounded like fleshy fingertips pounding impatiently against glass. ESP Kitty brushed up against Todo's legs, mewing nervously. He continued on anyway, holding his candle out in front of him as he began his venture down the hallway as black as pitch.
The tapping hadn't happened again yet. In order to make it to the side door, he had to wind around a curved wall of a mirror, all the way to the end. It had always made him uncomfortable, since he had never liked mirrors anyway; he had no idea how Kara could sit around all day and watch himself in his handheld, silently drowning in his own vanity and narcissism. Now he had to trudge right next to it to greet some poor soul soaking in the rain outside and probably give them someplace to sleep.
The tapping had seemed to have ceased. There was the mirror, looming on his left side, grey, cold glass making the hallway feel lonelier that it should have. Taking a step into the mirror's territory, as if creeping across a thin ledge, Todomatsu carefully walked forward, watching his reflection move next to him as he made his way around the bend. His Doppelganger took every step directly next to him, watching him too, brown eyes and black irises peering into each other infinitely. Todo's grip on his brother's mirror tightened, his knuckles a creamy white.
Finally, he could see the door, and broke into a run, eager to pass the mirror. He did, breaking across the small stretch that the mirror didn't reach. The tapping had stopped. ESP Kitty right behind him, Todomatsu nervously splayed his fingers across the cold door, closing one eye to look through the peephole. When he was met by nothing, he stepped backwards and hesitantly reached for the knob, turning it and pulling the door open.
While it was raining, there wasn't a single soul in sight.
Todo's heart fell, in both relief and disappointment at the same time. Had somebody needed shelter, but left when he had taken forever to answer the door?
Tap tap tap.
Todomatsu froze, his bones made of ice. The cat hissed and hid behind the front of Todo's legs.
The tapping was coming from behind him now.
Moving his candles to the side, Todo turned his head, audibly hearing the bones in his neck creaking. Were Kara and Ichi trying to play a prank on him?!
Figuring there wasn't much else he could do but go back to bed, he shut the door and locked it, engulfing the hallway in pure darkness save for the light from his candles. Ichimatsu's cat stayed directly next to him, pressed up against his left leg.
Barefoot, Todo took a step back into the hallway, preparing to enter the mirror's territory again.
He could hear the sweat from the bottoms of his feet sticking to the floor. Why did he have to be the one who had to be woken up by this? His eyes were still swollen and heavy from crying; he didn't deserve to have to deal with something like this when he wasn't super cute. If he was going to die, he wanted to die with lipgloss and eyeliner on, at the very least.
Another step welcomed him back in front of the mirror.
Todo continued on, watching the reflection still, the Doppelganger staring back. They both stared at each other until about halfway, when Todomatsu psyched himself out, the fear that maybe that wasn't somebody seeking shelter and something else was lurking in the dark. Shaking and wanting to take a break for a minute, he adjusted his grip on his candles and stopped, but his heart nearly fell out of his chest and onto the floor. He could feel it pounding in his throat. Surely...?
Surely his reflection didn't stop a second later than he had...?
He chuckled nervously and looked at his feet. Come on, Todomatsu, you're just freaking yourself out now. You're just tired. Keep going.
He lifted his head, the cat hissing again. Fearfully, Todo shot his gaze over to the mirror, but relaxed when he noticed that everything was aligned. He was just sleepy and was seeing things now. He continued on.
Watching the Doppelganger, he made it about three quarters of the way through before he stopped again, the reflection late by a millisecond again. Adrenaline pumped through Todo's veins now and terror assured that he was wide awake now. He wasn't seeing things. Something legitimately was off.
He stuck his elbow out to press against the mirror, but withdrew it with a yelp when he felt a sharp, searing pain and smelled burning flesh. It felt like he had stuck his arm onto a stove that was on its highest setting.
Karamatsu's mirror handle stuck to the skin of his palm from the sweat, which Todo readjusted to keep himself as comfortable as he possibly could've been in the moment. He shifted his gaze to the mirror but kept his head hung and felt bile rise up his throat. He threw a hand up to clamp over his mouth and dropped his brother's precious mirror, shattering the glass to pieces.
The reflection wasn't holding a mirror.
Todomatsu let out a scream, but couldn't get himself to move. He was completely frozen, staring at whatever the hell that thing was out of the corner of his eye. He panted, frantically trying to gulp in oxygen, heart beating so fast he thought he would have a heart attack. ESP Kitty bolted towards the courtyard into the darkness, deciding he had enough of this and was gonna get the hell out of there. Todo craved safety of the candle-lined hallway too, but couldn't get his legs to move.
Todo dropped his hand from his face and bugged at the reflection. Slowly, he moved his body outwards to look at the mirror head on.
Except the reflection didn't turn right away.
Todomatsu stumbled backwards, screaming at the top of his lungs and gripping at his chest as the reflection stayed in place, watching Todo blubber into horrified tears as it stood to the side.
Ever so slowly, the reflection turned to face the quivering boy, a gory, burgundy bullet hole through the left side of its forehead. The blood that pulsed out of it and drenched the left side of its face was a deep red.
Screaming so loudly his voice dissolved away and all he could feel was his throat vibrating and his ears ringing, he ran with the light of his candles blurred by the tears flinging out of his eyes. His hearing sounded like he was underwater. He made it to the courtyard door but kept running, making out figures deeper in the hallway in front of him. He didn't know if they were demons or not, but he kept going anyway, screaming but no sound coming out.
A figure on each side, they gripped his arms so tightly and felt their claws digging into his skin, heat from their evil scorching through his bloodstream. He cried for his brothers - both dead and alive - and cried for redemption, not even struggling to escape the creatures that had him. One of them took his candles off of him and blew them out, presumably to leave him in the dark to ponder how he was going to be torn to pieces, and the other shook him wildly, screeching something; probably some sort of tongue to curse him and melt his skin and muscle off of his bones.
He was dizzy and his vision was going red. He was ten years old, ears in pain from the sound of six mourning family members including himself screaming and showing no signs of stopping. He could feel the four remaining siblings he had tear at him and cry into his shoulder, but he was too dizzy to show them any sort of empathy. Suddenly, the vertigo had overtaken him overwhelmingly again and he threw his tiny hands over his ears, crushing his head so tightly it finally popped like a melon, the scene gushing into brighter color and looking a bit different. He was seventeen years old, three brothers clamped onto one another in front of a television set that was blaring white noise. He winced, the sound overcoming him as it seeped inside his skull, swelling itself inside against his brain and pushing outwards. The vessels in his eyes pulsed as he looked around, familiar faces melted away until nothing but holes remained where their expressions would've been. He stared inside one of these holes, the void inside beckoning him. Dizzy. Dizzy. Dizzy. His head spun, the white noise pushing further out. He was met with a decision: let the white noise possess him until his face melted too or escape to the void. Roughly reaching out and grabbing the edges of one of the voids, he tore it open until he began ripping seams in the fabric of time, emptiness consuming him until dizziness overcame him again and he smacked his head onto something hard, a migraine pumping through his brain. The room was navy blue and two brothers had their hands clasped together over a body, unidentifiable by the number of plants that grew at an alarmingly fast rate, vines sprouting and blossoming from the body's tear ducts, nostrils, ears, and mouth. Life began to cover up death, as if drowning it from existence and forcing it to be forgotten. He could feel water began to leak across the floor as if it were coming from the body. He looked down. Lilypads floated next to him, fishes swimming unaware. He drew his attention to the brothers, who continued to clasp their hands and mumble in tongues. Suddenly, he grew angry. What was this? This wasn't helping anything! This was pointless! Dizzy...
Frustrated hands were thrown up to his head and caught in his hair as he ripped them outwards, pulling clumps of his smooth, black hair and throwing them wherever he could. His brothers remained oblivious as he continued to tear his hair out, feeling the warm blood begin to pour down his face. Dizzy. Tears welled in pain as he continued to shed the hair on his head. Dizzy. The world was fading to white now. Dizzy. Dizzy. Dizzy. His head spun and he fell forward, face diving underwater. I'm so dizzy... this doesn't feel very good...
Wanting the dizziness to go away, he opened his mouth so wide he could feel the corners tearing, and inhaled as deeply as he possibly could've, feeling the dirty lake water crash into his lungs and pound against his ribs. His eyes jolted open, seeing everything and anything in the universe-the answers to every question that had previously been considered unanswerable. Engulfed in the white light, still feeling the demons clawing at his arms, he drowned.
