The sauce and lemon brew had worked its magic. Neal's cold was gone without a trace of it ever being there. Save for mountains of used tissues in his school bag that he had to empty this morning.
No bus today either. Only a calm walk. Last thing he needed now is a ride full of looks of barely restrained laughter. No doubt the entire town has already seen his yesterday's 'photo session'. Alan's parents offered to drive him to school as his roommate took a bus, but Neal declined politely. He needed a calm walk to brace himself for an increased dose of 'laugh and call names the guy who didn't ask for it'.
Thankfully, he had prepared a full vial of calming potion before leaving. If at some point he was going to get bored of listening to it, another dose would help him ignore it easily. The medicine proved to drown his thoughts, focus and attention quite easily and effectively. Why else would he have tried to help his classmates who didn't deserve any help?
It was such a huge risk to follow the boy from the forest into the man land. The stone ground, the noise, the foul smelling air. It was horrible. Thankfully, there were trees growing around many of the man made structures. Perfect places to stay out of preying eyes.
His mental walls were strong. An indication of great strength. Not only that, but a constant fog surrounded his inner thoughts. Even if it were to pierce the thick mental walls of his, it would still need to look for specific memories in the fog and who knows how long that would take. But if it could find out who the thief is, it would be worth it. The yellow eyes closed themselves and focused, sharpening a mental blade to pierce through the walls of the boy.
Neal swayed in his step and braced himself against a nearby tree. A sudden headache and dinizess assaulted him. But not the good kind, like from his potion. It was the bad kind, where the world spun and his head felt like bell that has been rung. "Whoa! O-okay now."
He still needed to attend the classes no matter what. Enough of feign sickness and elaborate excuses. Perhaps another, bigger swing of his potion would numb the headache?
Laughing faces with fingers pointed. Wrong memory. A foul smell of beverage and smoke. Wrong. A tree with its bark broken in the middle of forest and lots of pain. Wrong again! Faces of fear and anger. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Finding that specific memory in a sea of fog was proving to be a challenge.
It reached out with its small, green and wrinkling hands again. This memory was more clear than the rest. It was recent, crystal clear too, which meant it was important. A room full of books. A girl of animal descent with a strangely thin and snow white body. A quickly beating heart.
Wrong, but closer. Few more attempts and it will find what it's looking for. The boy had to have seen the thief. He carried the faintest of her smells. Before it could reach out for another memory, the fog suddenly turned to dark shade of blue and grew thicker. It was impossible to see anything or even breathe properly due to its infatuating nature.
The yellow eyes snapped open and a deep inhale of air could finally be had. Whatever the boy did, made it impossible to look for the thief in his mind. But it'll keep looking until it found its target.
And he was right! The headache was gone. The world still danced around him, but in a pleasant, happy way. He was happy! He felt happy. Everything was alright now. The grass in the lawns looked fresher, the trees looked healthier, the clouds looked fluffier, the paint on these neighbourhood houses looked brighter. Bullies didn't matter, grades didn't matter, bad people didn't matter. It was just him and the feeling of buzzing sensation of happiness in his heart.
Neal seemingly glided down the sidewalk, ground underneath his feet felt like clouds. He noticed two figures walking in the distance. And they were oh so familiar. A cat and a fish. He giggled at how silly it was. Animals walking on two legs. What was the world coming to?
Only when he skipped closer to the two that he realised who they were. Two faces that he didn't want to see or hear from again. Wait. Why didn't he like them? He did like them! He didn't know why he did, but he did!
His hands landed on both the kids shoulders, eliciting strangled gasps of surprise. "Stranger danger!" Yelled the orange fish and elbowed Neal in the gut. It felt like a love tap more than anything but it did serve its purpose in making him step back.
Darwin and Gumball both turned around, expecting some form of a huge person with a ski mask and spoon in hand. But when they noticed that it was Neal, their scared looks had relaxed into neutral grimaces. They didn't last long as Gumball forced a smile and said to his brother, "I knew they didn't have it in them. See, Darwin? Everything worked out better than you expected."
Not even a 'Hello!' from the blue cat. How unfortunate, Neal thought. Manners were important. As is not talking about a person who was right there. But he could overlook this, they were friends after all!
"Darwin! That's your name! Sorry! I keep forgetting all the time!" Neal spoke up with a bright smile before Darwin could answer his brother. Neal then turned to Gumball, "And you must be that Sonic guy, right? I could've sworn he was more...spiky." Neal roughly patted Gumballs head with both hands as if looking for something sharp in his fur.
"Actually, my name is Gumball." He deadpanned and swatted his hands away. What was up with him today? And did Pudding really didn't know their names? How? Him and Darwin were supposed to be the first one's he learned of and noticed upon coming here. How could he not? They were awesome and most likely we'll known by everyone.
Neal laughed, finding the way his blue buddy said the sentence quite hilarious. "Hahahaa! Gumball, Sonic, Rainbow Dash, what's the difference? You're all blue and so adorable!"
Now he was just spouting nonsense. And what was that last person? It didn't matter. Pudding was acting way too differently since yesterday. Or perhaps he wasn't? Neither Gumball or Darwin were sure about it as they never talked with him that much. "Wow, I guess those guys really didn't make you cry all that much." Gumball addressed him with a dry tone and a critical eye. Pudding didn't look like he was trashed brutally, like a certain cat had expected and secretly hoped for.
"Why would anyone make me cry? If you expect more from people than their worst, the world will be so much better. For everyone!" Neal beamed with the happiest, overexcited voice ever. Outshining even those happy kids on Christmas advertisements.
He was acting super friendly, energetic and now, optimistic? That's Gumballs shtick! He needed to put Pudding in his place, "Look, buddy. There's enough room for only one main character in this town. I don't know what it is that you're doing now, but you better stop. There can only be one and that position is already taken."
"Awh. That's sad. I wanted to be the optimistic, friendly, happy go lucky guy who helps people."
"Dude, that's literally mine and Darwin's thing. Get your own thing to do."
"Maybe we can help him find it?" Darwin suggested. But Gumball quickly sushed his brother and shaked his head rapidly.
"Every spot is already taken. He doesn't need to know this, but he's already got a destiny here." Gumball whispered to his brother, leaving Neal to glance between them curiously, "A person in the crowd."
"Well isn't that absolutely cute? You think the world revolves around you~!" Neal spoke up and draped his hands over their shoulders.
"It kinda does." Darwin agreed wholeheartedly.
"Yeah, it really does. I'm not even surprised about that.." Gumball admitted. It was weird sometimes, but that's how the things worked around here.
"Well, times are changing~!" Neal sing songed and showed them his phone. "Have you been on the Internet recently? Everyone loves me now."
"Wha? How!?" Gumball all of a sudden felt like he missed something. He directed his attention to the phones screen.
"The pictures. They took lots of them." Neal responded. Elmore plus, fifteen new pictures posted by 'FranklinNr1Jay'. And the post was trending. Seriously, what is up with this town? When he took a better look, it was trending because many of Franklin kids reposted it. And the pictures from yesterday, while not the best, certainly put him on the spot. The snot running down his nose and watery eyes. Not to mention him being used as horseback riding practice.
Neal picked up on snickering behind his back. Gumball and Darwin had seen it all and quickly gained some distance to try and stop themselves from doubling over with laughter. The pictures were pretty humours in their opinion.
It looked like Pudding had the wrong idea here. He completely misunderstood the meaning of those pictures and the intentions of the Franklin kids. While it did bring a lot of embarrassment to the school in general, it was even worse for Pudding.
Gumball finally took a deep breath and addressed Neal, "Well, we're going to go this way." He gestured for Darwin to come along, "You should go that way." He added while pointing to the other side of the street.
"Okay, will do! See you in class!" Neal replied and skipped along to the other side of the street.
When the two brothers continued on their journey to school, Darwin looked at his brother, one question weighing on his mind, "Dude, why are you such a jerk to him?"
Gumball simply shrugged in response, "Eh, he hangs out with Alan. Plus, he's annoying."
The smell of thief! It was stronger on those two! But since they stood so close to one and other, guessing who carried the the stronger smell was hard. Leaving the blonde boy alone, it decided to try the blue one first.
It didn't even need to attack his mental barriers. There were literally none to begin with.
Walking right in, an annoying sigh was had at the mind of the cat. Memories dumped in one massive pile. Whoever this cat was, he was a massive idiot. Who would pile their memories like that? It wasn't going to be easy finding the required memory in a dump like that. A dark red light and blowing wind caught its attention.
Bunch of flaming hearts swirled around like tornado. Above the flaming vortex, there was a single word floating in the air. 'Penny'.
…
Yeah, this cat definitely wasn't worth the headache. And he didn't look like he was the one either. No air of danger around him, pure childish innocence and brightness. Unlike the previous boy, this one didn't look like he would know the thieving being. Which meant that the strong smell was radiating from the fish!
"Wait." Darwin suddenly said as Gumball reached for the door handles of the school door. "I feel like someone is watching us.." Darwin muttered and looked around the front of the school. There was nobody there. All the chatter and clutter came from the inside of the school. No students, no passing cars were seen on the outside of the school.
Gumball, playing along with his brother, looked around as well, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. "You're imagining things again. Come on, you don't want to be late again, do you?" Gumball urged him on. If they came late to class again, Miss Simian would sentence them to weeks of detention.
With the uneasiness of being watched, Darwin begrudgingly followed after his brother, sometimes still casting a weary glance over his shoulder.
-After the first class-
"So that's the stitch. Think you can scope this out for me, brutha?" Tobias asked while leaning against the lockers and striking a cool pose.
"Okay, first off, stop that." Gumball didn't ask, but demanded.
Tobias raised his eyebrow at him, "Stop what?"
"This way of speaking." Gumball said as clearly as he could, "Second, you want us to spy on Masami? Why?"
"I'm going to try and ask her out. Again. But I gotta know if she's single. I'll owe you guys one if you do this solid for me. "
"There it was again! Did you see that!?" Darwin shaked Gumball by the shoulder and pointed at the corner of the hallway.
Gumball sighed and ignored him. Throughout the entire English class, Darwin was very jumpy in his seat, his eyes kept darting around the classroom and Miss Simian had to shush him more than once when he told Gumball that he saw something dart past the class windows.
"What's up with Darwin?" Tobias asked.
"He thinks someone is stalking him. Probably Sarah is up to no good again." Gumball patted his brother on the head to calm him down a little, "Dude, I told you. We'll go talk to her in a moment. If we can actually catch her in the act."
Gumball then returned to the point at hand, "Anyways. Tobias, my man, why can't we just go ask her if she's single?" It just didn't make any sense for them to spy on her. This could be solved so easily. "Why must we do all this spy stuff?"
"She'll know that something is up! If someone walks up to you and asks if you're single, you automatically know that they're asking for a friend!" Tobias explained like it was the most obvious thing ever. And he didn't want to make a fool of himself like the last time. If Masami isn't single, he could just try with another girl.
"Yeah, I guess." When Gumball gave it some thought, it did make sense. "Well, spies are pretty cool. Alright, leave this to detectives Gumball and Darwin. Right buddy?" He playfully nudged Darwin on the shoulder, making the little fish jump in response.
"Wha..? Oh, yeah, yeah. Absolutely!" Darwin replied like he barely paid attention. He was still focused on his other problem more than whatever this was turning out to be. Some kind of spy mission? Spies were cool in his opinion.
"Then I'll wait for your report, guys!" Tobias bid them farewell and went to gather information if any of the other girls were single. Just in case.
"Okay, now let's take care of our stalker problem." Gumball said with a pound of his fist against fist. "And if Sarah doesn't stop when we ask nicely this time…" He thought for a moment what could they possibly do.
"Then, what?" Darwin asked while uncomfortably fidgeting around.
Gumball smiled with a plan already formed in his mind, "Well, it's elementary, my dear Darwin. We'll re-direct her to stalk someone else."
"Ah! Get her to change her target! That's honestly good."
"Thank you! Now let's go and find her."
Finding Sarah while she was in her stalker mode was proving to be no easy task. They scouted the halls and classrooms for her. But their search returned no result. This only served to further back up their suspicions. Sarah was the one after them. Again.
"Okay..this is pointless." Gumball exhaled tiredly. After tenth consecutive classroom checked, he was beginning to doubt that they'll ever find her. Perhaps a change in tactics was in order.
"Hmmm..did we check the girls bathroom?" Darwin asked. It would be the most obvious place to look too, but who knows, maybe that's where she was hiding.
"Dude. No, just, no." Gumball shot him down before Darwin could solidify the idea of checking the girls bathrooms. That was just begging for trouble. Just as he was about to think of what to use as a scapegoat to bait Sarah into coming out, they saw her walking down the stairs into the first floor of the school. "Wait! There she is!"
"Sarah! Wait up!" Gumball called out to her, and the ice-cream girl stopped and looked at them with a welcoming smile.
"Hey guys, what's up?" She said as they ran up to her. Her smile faltered a little when she noticed their frowns.
"Don't try to act like you don't know anything. We know you're up to your old habits again." Gumball instantly went to accusations. Who else other Sarah would be so obsessed with them to the point of stalking?
"I know you like stalking and stuff, but this is just downright creepy. Could you please just don't do it? At least until next week?" Gumball asked nicely. He already had enough on his plate. What with his promise to Penny to be there during her practice, and trying to squeeze in some time to hang out with Darwin during recess and evenings.
"I wasn't stalking you guys. I rarely do that anymore." Sarah slowly said. She didn't know what they were talking about here.
Gumball didn't have a single reason not to believe her as even now, when taking a look at Darwin, he still occasionally glanced over his shoulder. "What? If you aren't, then who is?"
"I don't know." She shrugged in response. "Anyways, Ocho and I are planning on going to the arcade after school. You guys want to come too?" Sarah offered. After all, the more the merrier.
"Thanks, but no, thanks." Gumball replied quickly. Ocho was always a little intense when it came to, well, everything. Which naturally made Gumball want to avoid him most of the time. "We'll see you later, Sarah."
Their ice-cream classmate waved them goodbye as they left to take care of their business. Darwin still remained extremely jumpy and paranoid. Gumball didn't want to ignore his brothers worry, but it really looked like he was just imagining things.
During the next class, things didn't change. Third class, things were the same. Lunch break, the same. It looked like the more time passed, the worse Darwin's paranoia was becoming. Even Gumball was beginning to get freaked out a little, like seeing things that weren't there. Thankfully, Darwin managed to focus up for their espionage into the girls locker room. Masami had went into the locker room to look for something that she forgot and that's when the two boys, dressed as ninjas, snuck inside.
Gumball had checked Masamis phone when she was busy rummaging in her locker. No private messages from any type of guys other than her friends. Tobias will certainly like the news. On top of that, he will owe them a big favour for this type of dangerous assignment.
But after the thrill of the spy mission, Darwin went back to acting like a startled rabbit. His paranoia had reached its peak during their fourth class, chemistry.
At the time, all of the class was silently mixing various chemicals and writing down their reactions. The same couldn't be said about the poor fish, who was barely able to focus on the task at hand. Gumball felt sorry for his brother, of course he did. But there was hardly anything he could do. Heck, Sarah, whom they thought was responsible for this, was currently in their class and absorbed in her assignment. It had to be Darwin's imagination acting up.
William was flying past them, and the tip of his feathery wings accidentally brushed along Darwin's back. And his reaction was very loud. He turned around with his eyes closed, shrieking like a banshee and flung the vial he held in his hand at the invisible assailant. Several students shook from the high pitched squeal, which caused them to mess up their work.
"Dude! Darwin, chill!" Gumball grabbed his brother by the hand tightly. Now that was unexpected and very concerning. Thankfully no one was hurt by his outburst. Except maybe their work, many glares were directed at the two kids.
"Oh man. S-sorry, everyone." Darwin sheepishly said. That was one stupid action on his part. It's a good thing no one was hit. Where did that vial even go.
"Ow, Ow, Ow!" Someone whined pathetically behind them. Many eyes fell on the person in question behind them.
"Oh no." Did someone actually got hit? Oh he was in so much trouble right now. He could already hear principal Brown howling his lungs out at him. Worst of all, possible scenarios of what punishment he would receive were quickly conjured up. Detention? Suspension? Hanged by his toes? No, that's too mediaeval. Still, it felt like his legs froze in place.
He slowly followed where everyone was looking at the unfortunate victim of his outburst. Great, even better. Standing behind them, his hand on his neck, was Neal. Apparently, the vial landed on his table, it didn't break, but it spilled all over his notes. The substance was slightly acidic. Which immediately turned his notes into a smoking, wet mess. From the way he was clutching his neck, it seemed a drop or two landed on his neck too. While he wasn't crying his eyes out or screaming, he definitely was hurt.
The fact that Darwin hurt someone made him feel sick in the stomach. "Pud...ugh..Nate! I'm so sorry!" He said and ran to check if he was okay.
"It's alright..I'll live." Neal grunted out while trying and failing to spot himself from whining. As Darwin approached him, Neal took a step back, which made Darwin even more sad.
Their chemistry teacher, who was an old, overgrown mosquito with black mustache looked at them with a tired sigh. Those darn kids will be the end of him. "Can someone take him to the nurses office?" He said, barely paying attention to them as he found his newspaper more interesting than teen drama.
Everyone stayed silent. It wasn't worth getting involved with a joke. Darwin, of course, raised his hand. What he did was truly uncalled for and just bad in general. But their teacher wasn't going to pick him. He scanned the room for any other raised hands. There was one more.
"Teri! Good. Take h-" He stopped himself quickly. Wasn't that the student that the nurse always complained about? The one who always thought she was sick with something on daily basis? "Wait, are you going to take him there because you want to, or do you think that you're sick again?"
Her hand faltered a little, but she shaked her head in response. "No, I will just take him there."
"Alright, go. Everyone else, continue your work." leaned back in his chair, but before continuing reading his paper, he added, "In silence."
Darwin watched the two kids leave the classroom with a pathetically sad look of a kicked puppy. Gumball had walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay, man. You didn't mean any harm."
The door to the nurses office was locked. Which meant she was out somewhere. Which left the two kids without knowing what to do. So they waited near the office for her return. The atmosphere was awkward. Neither one of them knew what to say to one and other, so they picked a spot to stare at and stay silent. With Neal being made into the biggest laughing stock of the school and probably the city, he didn't even dare to speak up anymore.
A passing group of students glanced at him and snickered. They mentioned something about Elmore plus while pointing at him. That seemed to make the atmosphere even more awkward between the two.
That is until Teri cleared her throat lightly and said, "You know, it's not that bad."
"What? Oh yeah. I know. Slap a bandaid on it and it'll be okay." Neal said as he poked the red spot on his neck. The pain was slowly going away too.
"No! I'm talking about the…you know." Teri didn't want to say it out loud, instead hoping that Neal will understand what she was referring to. And he did. "I didn't find any of the things that happened to you as funny."
He didn't respond. What could he say? That it's not as bad as it looks? He could. But he didn't want to interrupt her.
"I know that it can be hard to get through this sort of thing." She continued after a moment. Teri knew all too well what it's like when people make fun of you. When your own friends make fun of you in this mean spirited way. Her fear of germs, her extreme need to stay clean, and her constant thoughts that she had some new sickness every day had brought that kind of ridicule on her. It was done in her face at first, but then, it became worse. It happened behind her back.
"I know what it's like when you are mocked for being who you are. Or just for the things that are out of your control." How painfully on point she was. Neal didn't do anything or say anything to deserve bullying. Yet there it was, half the town laughing at him for the things that few jerks did to entertain themselves.
"This pain here-" She shyly placed her hand on his chest, right over his heart, "will not stay long. Trust me."
Maybe not everyone here was a monster. Those kind words, they meant so much. He was at a loss of what to say for a moment. Eventually, Neal smiled genuinely, "Thank you."
-During last free period-
"Honestly, I don't know what came over me." Darwin said and rested his forehead on his arms. He felt so bad.
"Happens to the best of us. Don't worry about it. He's all good." Gumball assured his brother to the best of his ability. "Maybe you're seeing things because you're tired?" He wondered out loud.
"No, not really." Darwin said after giving it some thought. He always went to sleep at the same time as Gumball. He ate the same meals too. So there couldn't be any influence from those two things. "There it is again." Darwin said as a chill ran down his spine. He felt like a pair of eyes were on him. He wanted to look behind again, but he refused to do so. It was enough of playing into this dangerous feeling of his.
"Hmm...maybe this is something outside of our control?" Gumball said eventually.
"What do you mean?" His brother suddenly sat up in his seat. Did Gumball figure something out?
"I mean, I can't see it. You keep seeing..what exactly?"
"Small, quick shadows jumping from corner to corner. But only at times." Darwin tried to describe it as best as he could. He only saw them three times today. Once during class, in he hallway when talking to Tobias, and before chemistry class.
"Yeah, doesn't that sound otherworldly to you?" Gumball pointed it out. Barely visible shadows that stalked you? Yeah, it was definitely supernatural.
"Yeah. When I think about it, it does!" Darwin said with a brightening smile. Perhaps this problem could be rid off after all.
"So go see Carrie after class." Gumball suggested to him. Darwin's girlfriend dealt with all things unnatural, so she was bound to know what was ailing his brother.
"You know what, I will do that. I was planning on going to see her anyways. She didn't come to school today." Darwin replied with a little of his worry subsiding.
"Right. And don't worry dude. You know how these things usually go. Everything always turns out better then expected for us."
-Meanwhile, in the schools hallway-
Neal took a keen interest in Teri. Before, she did appear in his thoughts once or twice because of how adorable she was, but now..how could he not? She was the first and the only one who helped him out. She didn't make humiliating jokes at his expense, didn't laugh at his embarrassing pictures online. She even related to him! A guy who was being avoided and treated like a joke no matter how nice he was.
After their conversation and the nurses visit, he noticed just how much of a good person she was. Despite her scaring away from all things dirty to the point of extreme and her need to stay clean 24/7, she was amazing.
In the hall, when Tobias had tripped and scraped his knee, Teri was the one ready to help him with a bandaid. Despite his constant, obnoxious attempts to sway the girls and trying to act cool, she still helped him, no questions asked. When Clayton was going to eat an unwashed apple, she strictly told him to go wash it, otherwise he might get sick. When Rocky had mopped the floors, she was the one standing by the lockers and telling people to walk carefully, throughout the entire free period.
She wasn't being annoying. She wasn't being bossy. Teri was being protective, over everyone. She extended her care and kindness to everyone. To those who didn't deserve it and outright talked smack about her behind the back. Most of the time, no one even paid attention to her efforts.
Although, she could go without all those critical comments before, or after helping them. Or the sass. Or acting like she knew everything in regards to safety and hygiene. Teri, was outright charming in quite every way possible.
And...why was he fidgeting with his glasses and peeking over the corner just to catch a glance of her? "Go start a conversation with her! C'mon, it's the last free period. Do it! Do it!" Neal tried talking himself into it, but he just couldn't move his legs. Was he really being shy? He was able to talk to her on two occasions without problem and now?
No matter what, he couldn't gather enough courage to strike up a conversation with her before the bell of the last class had rung. With a dejected sigh, he promised to himself that he will try again real soon.
-After the last class-
Once the school was out, Gumball wished Darwin good luck and made a beeline towards the schools stadium where the cheerleading practice was being held.
Darwin, left on his own, awaited for the bus to come. He still felt it even now. Eyes on his back, observing his every move. He shook as a wave of chills ran down his body. Hopefully, Carrie will be able to provide insight on what was happening to him.
It was time! The fish was travelling towards the thief. Soon, really soon, it will have it back. Tree from tree, lightning fast jumps with the perfect acrobatic execution, it was keeping up with the yellow box on wheels. Not once did it loose the sight of the fish through its windows. He was traveling towards the thief. It just knew it. He had to be, the smell on him was unmistakable.
Carrie was jamming out to some rock music, bobbing her head rapidly to the brutal guitar solos blaring out through her CD player. Only when her grandma - who was a literal hand of a ghost with painted red nails- came and caught her attention, did she lowered the volume of her music.
"What is it, grandma?" Carrie asked with a relaxed huff. And the song was getting to the good part too.
With multiple taps of her fingers, her grandma told her that there was someone at the door.
"Right, I'll get it." Carrie said and shut off the CD player completely. She sunk through the floor of her room, ending up right in the living room. Did their ceilings always had that much cobwebs and dust?
Carrie heard multiple, quick knocks. Whoever it was, the person was in a hurry. She wanted to hang around for a little while longer to see how much more would the person in question knock before giving up. But alas, that would be just rude.
She opened the door and an orange hand sunk through her face as it was incoming for another knock. Thankfully she hadn't made herself solid after phasing through the floor.
"Eep! Carrie! I'm so sorry!" She saw her most favourite living being of orange colour. And he looked very out of it. "Man, what is wrong with me today!?" Darwin said to himself with a terse ring in his voice.
"I didn't feel anything, don't worry." She said quickly to keep him from hating on himself. "Hey, Darwin."
"Hi, hi! Carrie, I have a big problem there's this shadowy thing that follows me and I hurt Neil then bunch of people got angry and I've been sacred all day now and I need to-"
"Shhh!" Carrie placed her hand on his mouth to silence him for a moment and to let her speak. "Breathe, Darwin. I can't understand anything when you pour words like water." She then invited him inside and sat him down on one of the ancient couches from the Victorian times.
She noticed just how out of it her boyfriend was. Drops of sweat were rolling down his forehead, his eyes kept darting from side to side as if looking for something, and he was shaking like a leaf. "Alright, now tell me what's wrong. Slowly." Carrie instructed while gently hugging him around his shoulders to calm him down.
Darwin told her everything. About his paranoia that suddenly made itself known since morning. About how he was feeling like being watched and how he saw small shadows jumping from corner to corner.
After he was done talking, Carrie remained silent as she was deep in thought. It did sound like it was something not out of this world. "You're probably being haunted. That or in the process of being possessed." She finally concluded.
"Well, at least we're moving forward with this mystery." Darwin replied silently, making Carrie giggle in response. Always the optimist. "But by what?" Darwin asked with a shaky voice. Was it a deceased relative? Perhaps an angry spirit of a family pet who was long gone?
Carried took Darwin by the hand and lead him upstairs into her room. "We'll find out soon enough. Come on, I'll perform an exorcism first. If that doesn't work, there are other methods too." She re-assured him with a grin. There was no possible way that Carrie was going to let some nasty little spirit haunt her boyfriend. If anything, that was her job.
Not wanting to stay awkwardly silent, Darwin tried to make a conversation happen. That and he wanted to get his mind off of this ordeal for a short while. "Your dad isn't home today?" He finally asked when they came into her room.
"Nah, he's working. Haunting a lighthouse." Carrie replied while getting set up for the session.
Darwin nodded in understanding, "How thematically appropriate." Carrie's dad did look like a sailor, so it was pretty appropriate for him to haunt a lighthouse. That or an old ship. "Oh, by the way. Where's your pet pedant?"
"Grakath? It's locked up in-" Before she could finish, her grandma crawled into her room and greeted Darwin, who politely waved back.
Carrie's grandma then asked if they wanted any cookies with milk, to which Carrie just shook her head. After her grandma left, Carrie was already done with the preparations. "Alright. Let's begin."
-One super long exorcism later-
"Well, do you feel any better?" Carrie asked hopefully.
"N-no." Darwin shook as another wave of chills ran down his spine.
"Hmm. Maybe casting a protective ward would do the trick." Carrie murmured to herself as she floated underneath her bed and pulled out her book of spells.
"Am I just going crazy?" Darwin asked with a shaky huff. Even if his girlfriend couldn't find out what was wrong, perhaps he was?
Carrie's smile softened as she tried to comfort her little sunshine with a light kiss to his cheek, "No, no! Absolutely not. Come on now, we'll find who's the mean little parasite that's stalking you and put it six feet under."
Darwin immediately felt so much better. If only he could love her even more than he already did, which was a lot. He didn't even know if there was a word to describe how much he actually loved her. Before he could say anything, it happened again. A small shadow zipped across the room, from underneath Carrie's desk, to her drawers. "THERE!" Darwin jumped to his feet and pointed at where it disappeared.
"I saw it too!" Carrie confirmed his suspicions and floated a little higher into the air to have a better look at it. It was a small animal of sorts. It moved really fast. Not that big neither. All covered in dark grey fur, with small, green feet. No, it wasn't fur, it was a cape with a hood. The body of the creature was humanoid, green skin. Its chest was wrapped with strips of animal hide as was were it's hips. So it wasn't a he, but a she. The little creature looked like one of those shamans from the fantasy games that Carrie played. "How did it even get in here?"
After being spotted, the goblin, or maybe a gremlin, stopped in its tracks. In doing so, it fully exposed itself to the eyes of the curious kids.
"What? This little thing is what spooked me all day long?" Darwin couldn't believe it himself. At first he was shocked, then a little angry. Now he was just embarrassed. He was brought near tears by this little thing. Not to mention, Carrie probably thought of him as a massive dummy.
"To be honest, it doesn't even look that scary." His girlfriend floated down to join him. The little creature stayed frozen in place and didn't dare to move anymore, much like a deer caught in the headlights.
"Awh, now I feel dumb." Darwin face-palmed. Really? It wasn't even remotely threatening. "I bet it followed me because its hungry. Or just wants a friend." He said and began walking towards it.
"No, Darwin! Wait!" Carrie called out to him. They didn't know if it was dangerous or not.
"There's no need to be scared. I mean just look at it! It wouldn't hurt a fly. C'mere buddy, c-"
Before anything else could be said, the little creature rushed at Darwin with unnatural speed. The poor fish screeched out of surprise at getting caught off guard and back pedalled away, but the creature was lightning fast. It jumped on his face and used it as a platform for a kick off.
It's little toes painful dug into his eyes as it launched itself off Darwin, straight at Carrie. The ghost girl reacted a little faster, and teleported out of the way, which put her behind Darwin. The fur clad monster ended up crashing into the wall. Or so she thought. Mid flight, it flipped over, landing feet first into the wall, which it used to spring off of it again.
It came at Carrie like a bullet this time, tackling the girl to the ground, it began to painfully tug her by the hair. "Ow! You little devil!" Carrie tried to get it off her, but it was very agile. She couldn't hit the mark at all no matter how many times she tried to swat it off.
Fortunately, her dearest Darwin came to her rescue with her spell book. He used it as a weapon, slapping the creature away from Carrie with a precise swing. It landed right on her bed and jumped on it's little feet. "Thanks!" Carrie said as Darwin pulled her up.
"Okay, so that's my stalker. It's not friendly at all, and it doesn't like you, for some reason." Darwin summarised while sticking close to Carrie, "But that's weird, why would anyone dislike you?"
"There are a few reasons."
"I don't believe you. You're perfect."
Carrie felt her cheeks light up red. The snarling little demon brought her to reality real quick. "Awh! But now is not the time." She took the spell book from Darwin and hastily flipped through the pages in search for an offensive type of spell to take down the nasty cretin on her bed. And she found one immediately. An incantation was spoken and a ball of swirling, bubbling, green acid formed in her hand.
The creature took a few steps back, as if it understood what Carrie just did.
"Make a move, ugly." Carrie challenged it to attack again. If it was going to, it will deeply regret it. And Darwin just stood there and tried to look intimidating. But with his puffy cheeks, he looked like an upset hamster. Not that threatening.
The monster looked like it reconsidered its choices which in turn made it bolt through the open door of the room.
The kids followed after it, but by the time they reached the first floor, their small guest had already squeezed itself through one of the slightly opened windows.
The couple stared at the windows, expecting for it to come back again. After minutes of intense silence with no snarling monster coming back to attack them, Carrie had finally cancelled her spell and let out a sigh of relief.
"I think we scared it off. For good."
With nobody to stalk him, Darwin finally felt at peace again. He couldn't feel eyes on his back anymore. Which granted him with the amazing feeling of freedom. Finally, after a day long anxiety, he could relax. "Yeah, I don't feel like I'm being observed either." He pulled Carrie into a tight hug while nuzzling her neck out of sheer gratitude, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
Carrie tried and failed to keep herself from chuckling. It was so good to see him happy again. "Heh heh! No problem. But you know, you could thank me in a different way." She said with a wink of her eye.
"Hm? How?"
Instead of answering, Carrie placed her lips against Darwin's in a kiss that was hardly a quick, childish peck. It was deeply passionate and lasted more than one second. After they separated, Darwin was left speechless. He tried to say something, but no words could form. Only a big, loopy grin on his burning face. Carrie was much in the same situation as him, the colour of red on her face was even more defined by her otherworldly appearance.
While they shared a loving look, Darwin recalled what his brother said. Everything always did turn out better than expected for them. It always has, and it looked like it always will.
It underestimated them. The living spirit knew magic and the fish wasn't such a coward after all. After checking underneath the roots of the tree, it spat on the ground angrily. The location of the precious power was changed. The fishes memories were outdated. Not to mention, it was impossible to read the memories of the spirit.
But that mattered little. With the location known, it wouldn't take much to gain the whereabouts of the power from the thieving spirit. The question was, how to accomplish it? First, wait for a perfect opportunity to strike and instil fear into the thieving spirit and her guardian fish. There should be many others around to cause enough chaos. Civilizations feared chaos. How could one of such small size cause chaos? By starting a war. A sharp toothed grin flashed in the shadows of the hood.
It needed an army.
-End of chapter 7-
Authors note: Let me explain something here. The reason as to why Neal's attitude keeps changing is because the potion effects aren't permanent. They start wearing off eventually, hence the changes in his behaviour.