Ten Years Earlier...
In a house far away from any type of community a young boy at the age of six sat in his cream colored room playing with two of his favorite stuffed animals. One a light bear teddy bear and the other a fluffy black kitten.
Cycnus, that was the small boy's name and, such a strange name it was indeed.
It was late in the afternoon on an autumn day as the child played by himself, or as you would think.
"Hi there kitty!" Cycnus said making the bear walk over to the kitty cat, his smile one of innocence. "How are you?" At the question the cat's arms moved to hug the bear but silence stayed heavy before the small human laughed. "That's funny Herschel!" He chirped with that innocent smile and brushed some of his cream hair from his eyes, what eyes they were too.
Dark caramel brown, absent of both pupil and iris since birth.
Cycnus looked over to see the midnight colored kitten drop from it's standing position to laying on the ground, the kid raised an eyebrow.
"Herschel?" He asked looking around the room, turning he saw his parents at the door, their eyes filled with many mixed emotions. "Mommy! Daddy!" The boy chirped in happiness once again, he began to get up but the look on his parent's faces stopped him. "... Mommy?"
"Um..." The women said signaling for her husband to go, the man nodded before heading to the nearest phone available. Once he was gone she turned back to her strange looking son. "Hi honey." She said with a fake smile, her voice twinged with fear. Her blue eyes examined her child, she still couldn't believe that this... This abomination was her's, they looked nothing alike!
She had brown hair, blue eyes and light peach colored skin, her husband had black hair, green eyes and the same colored skin but... That wasn't why she was scared.
She was scared of the 'Herschel' person her brat always talked to...
At first they just thought that he was Cycnus' imaginary friend because he never had any real friends but, as the years went by, they found that they were dead wrong. It first started one night when a dark shadow loomed over the boy as he slept, they were to shocked to do anything. But now with 'Herschel' moving objects like toys and stuffed animals it was time to finish this madness, permanently.
"How have you been?" The mother watched as her child's eyes sparkled and he reached back to grab the two plushs.
"Me and Herschel were playing with my stuffies!" His smile was full of so much joy as that name left his lips. Cycnus' mother gave a quick face of disgust before hiding it with another one of her fake smiles.
"That's... Er... Nice." Just as she finished that statement her husband came running in, a true smile on his lips. "Well?" The women asked immediately, her man's smile formed into a grin. "They'll be here in an hour." The blonde's countenance now mimicked the other adult's.
"Who's going to be here?" The two looked over to their confused child, they looked at each other.
"Oh," Cycnus' father said helping his wife off the floor. "Some men are going to come here and take you somewhere fun."
"Do I have to take anything?" The father shook his head.
"No, they'll have everything you need."
"Can Herschel come?" Both parents looked and each other.
"Yes." They both said in union.
Cycnus sat on the grey couch in the living room, his black stuffed kitten in his arms.
"I wonder where we're going? What do you think Herschel?" Silence weighted the room as the boy got his friend's response, he raised his eyebrow again. "No," The cream haired child said looking down at his toy. "I don't think mommy and daddy would do that. Mommy and daddy love me, so they wouldn't do that."
DING! DONG!
Cycnus looked up at the sound of the doorbell to see his parents rushing for the doorknob, once they opened it the creamette could clearly see the relief in their eyes. Caramel orbs peeked over to the man standing in the doorway. He was tall, around the age of thirty and had orange hair, he was covered head to toe in white.
Suddenly his father pointed over him, the man followed his his finger and walked over.
"Are you Cycnus?" The said male gave a shy nod, the guy smiled. "Can you come with me?" The tanned boy nodded but tugged on the man's white sleeve.
"Can I bring my kitty?" The guy raised an eyebrow and nodded, as he turned to walk away his sleeve was once again tugged on.
"Yes?" He asked again in a less patient tone, the child still smiled.
"Can I bring Herschel?" This question struck the guy dead as he remembered that name from the call, he glanced back to see both the parents nodding like mad men, he sighed.
"Sure thing kid, now let's get going."
As Cycnus got to the white van that was parked in the driveway he clutched his kitty and stopped dead before the van's open back doors, the man that opened those doors gave him a funny look. "What's up kid? You not feeling alright?"
"Herschel says that I shouldn't go in there, he doesn't trust you." Again this guy, who was blond, looked at him weird.
"Well, tell Herschel that everything is gonna be fine."
Cycnus clutched the stuffy closer and taking a deep breath he got into the van, the doors closing behind him. He sat down on one of the chairs, the layout was so much different than any other van he have ever been in.
There was two long seats connected to the sides of the interior and there were no seat belts, a wall of fencing separating him from the front seats.
"Um, Mr?" Cycnus asked the orange haired man who sat in the drivers seat. "Where are we going?" The driver started the vehicle before glancing back at the creamette.
"Don't worry kid, it'll be a while before we get there. take a nap or something." Cycnus gave a small nod before laying down but, his head never touched the seat. No, it stayed six inches off the seat, his hair being stroked by no one seeable.
Those were the last moments of true freedom that Cycnus could remember.