It was past midnight when Ninten snuck out of his room, and slowly began to tiptoe down the stairs. Every little creak they made nearly made him jump, which made him even more paranoid someone would wake up and scold him at any moment. Each stair felt like a grenade, as if it would explode and give him away at any time. Fortunately, he made it downstairs without giving himself away, but that was only half of the battle. He still had to find the mysterious key, and he didn't have any hint as to where it would be. He tapped his chin in thought, trying to think of something- anything that could help him.
Where would his dad hide something that was supposed to unlock the secrets of the universe?
First, he tried the kitchen cabinets. Nothing. Every single drawer or cabinet held no hint of a key. He searched under the pillows on the couch, and even under the couch itself. Nothing. He shook all the rugs, which of course didn't have the key hiding under any of them. He searched the dusty bookshelves any book that looked suspicious or out of place. It was starting to her frustrating, because he knew it was a risk. His mom would wake up at any moment and come chew him out. Every few minutes, his eyes darted towards the stairs, just waiting for her to come down.
Every inch of the kitchen and living room had been searched, which left nothing except the bedrooms. That would be too much. The girls would probably scream like he was the devil or something, and that would be a total giveaway. There was no way he was stepping for in his parent's bedroom either, and if it had been there his mom would've gotten rid of it anyway. She was sneaky like that, sometimes. Then, it hit him. It had to be under the doormat outside! That was always where people hid important stuff in movies, so it seemed like the best option.
Carefully creaking open the door, he stepped outside into the cold night air. Like a child ripping open a candy wrapper, he lifted up the old dirty mat sitting by the doorway, and was immediately disappointed by what he saw. Nothing. He was about to turn around and go back inside, when a wet nose nudging the back of his leg startled him. If he wasn't being extra careful, Ninten probably would've yelled, or at least let out a less than manly screech. He turned around to face whatever creature had decided to spontaneously lick him, and let out a soft sight of relief when he saw that it was only Mick.
Mick was the family dog, they'd had him ever since Ninten was really little. He was old and fat, with a variety of gray and brown patches sprinkled across his white fur. The dog wagged his tail happily upon seeing his owner, only stopping when he saw Ninten cross his arms and frown.
"Asshole," He muttered, starting to turn on his heel again and resume searching the house, but something caught his eye. The tiniest flicker of something shiny hanging on the edge of Mick's collar. He bent down to examine it, only to gasp when he realized that what he'd looking for had been right under his nose the whole time. Well technically, right under Mick's nose. The silver key was incredibly tiny, but it seemed to match the lock on the basement door.
"You're a good boy, y'know that?" Ninten cheered happily, reaching down to pat the confused dog on the head before dashing back into the house with his new treasure. He was almost giddy with excitement by the time he shoved the key into the lock and the basement door finally opened. His first though was that no one had been down here after grandpa George had died, because it was dusty. Not just a few specs of dust either, every single inch of the place was covered in thick dust. Just looking at the musty old room was almost enough to trigger his asthma.
He had to hold back a sneeze as he entered, while scanning the room for the book his father mentioned. Most of the basement was nothing but empty boxes or old useless junk, and the lone old lightbulb hanging from the ceiling wasn't exactly helping his search either. In the dim light, he managed to make out a bat sitting in the corner. Sure it had a couple cracks, but other than that it was useable. He decided to hang onto it, in case he needed a spare sometime for baseball practice. Now there wasn't much left to do except dig through the stacks of boxes piled up, and he was sure the journal had to be in one of them.
Ninten got to work and grabbed a box from the stack, then sat in the floor and placed it in his lap. When he lifted the lid, it was like opening a treasure box from a video game. There were so many things stacked in the tiny box; family photos, newspaper clippings, scientific papers, and last but not least, a musty old book hiding at the bottom. He couldn't wait to dig through the journal, but he decided to look through the other things first to see if they were of any interest.
At first, it was just the usual things a family would keep. His parent's marriage announcement, his great grandparent's research achievements, old birth certificates. To be honest, it was kinda boring. Flipping through the old, yellowed pages was growing dull, but after awhile he found something.. interesting. The newspaper was probably decades old, and was so flimsy that it looked like it would crumble at any moment with age. He tried to be extra careful as he held it up and read the headline.
"The hunt for local reporter ends," Ninten read aloud. "Huh.." Underneath the headline, there was a picture of an short, older man, with thick framed glasses, and a mess of disheveled grey hair. The man's face was grim, and despite posing with the family he'd been reunited with, he looked extremely unhappy. "Last Friday, Podunk native George Jones was found near the city limits, after nearly 15 years of absence. The man was found unharmed, although he is currently undergoing a psychiatric evaluation to rule out any foul play regarding his disappearance. George's location for all those years is currently unknown, but is currently being investigated. His wife's case will also be reopened, due to this new evidence."
There were obviously a lot of things he didn't know about his family. A whole lot of things. He just assumed his grandparents had died, like everyone else. That was just how Podunk was, people didn't just disappear into thin air, they all died of normal causes. The place was too normal for oddities to manifest, except now he wasn't so sure about that. When his parents talked about his great grandparents, they always described them as smart and pure. The type of people who went to church every Sunday, and spent the rest of their time doing things for the greater good. They were well liked, and there wasn't a soul in town who thought ill of George and Maria.
Shaking his head, Ninten put the paper away and took out the next thing he could find. Part of him wanted to be angry at his parents for being dirty liars, but at the same time, he knew that they did this for a reason. What kind of parent wanted to tell their kid that someone in their perfect family had had a not so perfect life? He tried to forget about that for now, and pulled out a thick envelope. It was addressed to his grandma Maria, from George. He squinted at the tiny letters, making sure his eyes weren't deceiving him when he read the date. It was written after George returned home, years after his wife died.
Maybe his grandpa was crazy. Hell, he could believe it. With a frown, he tore open the envelope, and an untouched letter cascaded to the floor. It was long and hard to read because of the tiny text, but he was going to try anyway.
To my dearest Maria,
The times are so hard without you, it's almost crippling. For now, I can only busy myself with study until we meet again. The power we spoke of is far greater than we imagined. It's a scientific breakthrough, and all of the subjects have successfully kept the sample in their bodies long enough for the power to manifest. Our daughter has even managed to withstand it, isn't that wonderful? Her pain is great, but the benefit will be far greater. She can shoot fire from her bare hands, without a single hint of injury.
Her mind is unlike anyone else's that I've ever seen. She could even surpass HIM if she proves capable enough. The most exciting thing about this discovery is that she isn't the only one. There are so many more, just waiting for their powers to awaken. I've found that they're all different, some specialize in offense, some in defense, and some in simple telekinesis. One of my subjects can shield himself, but lacks in any combat scenario. I know, you must be tired of hearing about my findings, yet it's so exciting to know that I've created something so revolutionary.
With every passing day, I long for you even more. Our daughter looks more and more like you every day. Blonde hair, blue eyes.. She's nothing short of beautiful. Her smiles are rarer and rarer, but they never fail to remind me of you. The absence of you is enough to make me lose my sanity. Do not worry my dear, because we'll be reunited soon.
With love,
George
Ninten doesn't know what to think of that. His powers aren't so weird after all, there's more out there like him. Or at least, there were. He has no idea if any more freaks of nature like him even exist. Maybe they all died out when his grandfather did. It's relieving, but scary at the same time. He always thought it was some kind of birth defect, or he was just some kind of freak accident that his mother had failed to mention. He lets the letter fall to the floor and puts his head in his hands. Like clockwork, those stupid powers are making his head ache. He frowns, trying to ignore the racing thoughts that the crazy letter has caused him. A spare clock in the corner tells him it's 1:03, so he knows he better hurry and get out of here.
With a sigh, he collects the diary and stands up. He starts to go up the stairs, and the sole light starts to flicker on and off. If someone was playing a cruel trick on him, it wasn't really the best time. He looks down into the murky darkness of the basement one last time, then gently slams the door. Like before, he has to be careful going back upstairs to his room, even more this time because now he has the diary tucked under his arm and the old bat in his other hand. The walk to his room seems even longer this time, but he makes it back into his room without his nosy mother or sisters catching him in the act.
Throwing the old bat in the corner, Ninten flopped onto the bed and crawled under the covers. He looks to his bedside table for a lamp, before realizing it tried to kill him today. Fortunately, he has a flashlight under his bed and can finally read the mysterious diary. He can't help but feel excited when he finally gets to crack open the book. The binding and pages are near falling out, and the blank brown cover holds no clues, but he's certain the inside will be much more interesting. Don't judge a book by its cover, right?
Unfortunately, the cover seemed to sum it up. Most of the diary was just scribbles disguised as writing, and the words (If you could call them that) weren't even in English. They seemed so foreign and strange to him, it was impossible to decipher any of the pages. So much for this this having all of his answers. There had to be something, though. He flipped through every page, but the only one that was readable was one of the ones near the very back, and it was only a single sentence.
"Who has lost his tail? The forgotten one of the ship that sails the cosmos."
Of course, Ninten had no idea what that meant. What had lost his tail? And why was it sailing the cosmos? It seemed like something out of a video game rather than his grandfather's journal. He read the sentence over and over, trying to figure out the mystery of the strange sentence. The night ticked away, and he still had no answers. Oh well, it could wait until tomorrow. He put the diary away and tried to get some sleep, even though he knew his dreams would probably be plagued with nightmares. It happened a lot, and it seemed to involve aliens every time. Why aliens? He had no clue. Eventually, he managed to shut his eyes and drift into unconsciousness, but it didn't come easy.
"Get up, lazy!" One of his sisters screamed from the hallway. Ninten groaned and rolled over, trying to cover his face with a pillow to block out her screeching. It's hard to forget the events of yesterday, considering the first thing he sees when he gets out of bed is the freaky diary. He kicks it under the bed and groggily goes off to get dressed. When he trudges downstairs, his mother gives him a worried look and urges him to sit down and eat.
"I heard some strange noises last night. I hope this poltergeist business is all over," She says softly, watching her son for a reaction. Ninten knows if he slips up, he's screwed. So with a mouthful of bacon, he puts on the best distressed face he can and shakes his head.
"I didn't hear nothin," He quickly lies. She only sighs and goes back to cleaning the kitchen. "I'm going to town later, to play baseball or something." Both of his sisters are looking at him funny, probably because he's trying to swallow all of his breakfast in a single bite. He probably would go play baseball later, but he wants to check around town and see if anyone else has seen anything odd.
"Be careful. I heard some kids are causing a ruckus over at the graveyard, and I don't want you caught up in that." His mother pauses, before smiling and voicing one of her horrible ideas. "Why don't you take one of your sisters along with you? Just to be safe."
"No!" All three children shout in unison. Both girls roll their eyes, and go back to their food.
"Uh.." Ninten stammers. "I'll take the neighbor's kid with me! Yeah, me and Pippi will go. She's pretty cool, I don't mind taking her with me to play." His mother doesn't look too convinced, but she gives in and lets him go anyway, not even realizing that the baseball bat he drags behind him on his way out is a little different than usual.
When Ninten finally gets outside and away from his mother's excessive worrying, he has no intention of taking Pippi with him. She's a little bit younger than him, and not as annoying as his sieges, but still kinda annoying. She'd just get in the way of his investigation. He walks down the familiar dirt road, while whistling the strange song he heard from the music box yesterday. It's pretty damn catchy, he has to admit. Everything outside is tranquil and peaceful; the birds are singing, there isn't a cloud in the sky. It's easy to disregard that something could be wrong out here.
A gentle breeze blows his hair, and he grins as he walks down the road. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad, unless another crazy doll attacked him again. Even the sun is shining, and the heat is more comfortable rather than unbearably hot. It's almost a picture perfect day, until he passes by Pippi's house. Out of curiosity, he glances over at the house, just to see if she was home anyway. Instead, he sees her mother standing in the garden, wailing and pacing back and forth. The possessed lamps couldn't have got them, could they? Against his better judgement, he walks towards the house, ignoring the shriek of confusion the woman lets out when she sees him.
"Hi, Ms. Lundgren," He waves, trying to keep a forced smile. The woman always did sort of creep him out, not really in a bad way though. She was like an old cat lady, who's house was full of those collectibles that old women loved, but was always wearing way too much jewelry and perfume.
"Oh Ninten!" She wails, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him. He tries hard not to wince from her grasp. "It's horrible, my darling Pippi has gone missing!" Of course that surprises him. Pippi didn't seem like the type to run away, but then again he didn't know her all that well.
"Have you looked around for her?" He asks, and Ms. Lundgren frowns at him, even though he was just trying to help. Pippi couldn't be lost around here anyway, her fiery red hair was wasn't very hard to miss.
"Of course I have!" She scoffs, letting him go. Ninten rubs his shoulder and grimaces. "She went out to play yesterday, and hasn't come back since. Please, help me find her!" Deep down, he wants to say no, because it isn't really his business anyway. However, she's an intimidating woman, and he shakes his head yes. Her tone immediately changes, and she gives him a large crooked smile, just oozing with fake compassion. "I knew you'd help. You've always been such a sweet boy! Now go, hurry!" She practically pushes him off her doorway, almost causing him to drop his bat.
It doesn't seem promising, yet maybe Pippi might have some answers if he manages to find her. She was always really rowdy, and if anyone knew anything about strange happenings, it was probably her. Not to mention, it was odd that she would just vanish. So Ninten headed for town, searching for the missing little girl, not knowing that he was about to step into a world of trouble.