Even through his squeezed-shut eyelids, Lloyd could feel the daylight shimmering through his blanket, and he smiled to himself. It worked! I'm back! He threw off the blanket. "Mom! Dad!"
But when he looked around, he was in his Other bedroom, the door still barricaded. "Crap," he muttered. "I'm still here?" He sat on the edge of his bed, tapping his feet against the hard floor, wondering what he would do next.
Suddenly, he heard a swish under his door, but heard no footsteps at all. Raising an eyebrow, Lloyd noticed that someone slid a folded note under the door to him. Looking around, he knelt down and picked it up. "Mother" was written on the back of it. He unfolded the note, and began to read it.
i truLy wish i could hElp you
but no mAtter what i haVe beEn strung by fate
your Life is what you want it to bE
so do not let us influence you
you mAy return to your old life
of boredom and longing for your old home
or you can stay here with us foreVer
but no mattEr what you choose
just remember
mother Loves you with all hEr heArt
mother loVes you with all her hEart
mother loves you with alL her heart
mothEr loves you with All her heart
mother loVes you with all her hEart
mother Loves you with all hEr heArt
mother loVes you with all her hEart
His eyes widened. This was nothing like any of the other poems his Other Mother had written. Rather than her neat handwriting, it was like she was writing with her non-dominant hand. Not only that, but there was no rhythm or rhyme to it, not to mention the oddly capitalized letters. Frowning, he pushed aside his chest, dresser, and bookshelf from his door, shoving the letter into his pocket and tiptoeing outside.
The entire house had fallen quiet. No whistling or humming from the kitchen, neither of his Other parents making idle conversation downstairs. It was as if he was completely alone. Gulping, he crept down the stairs, hoping he could make it to the parlour room without being spotted by anyone; if he went through the little door, maybe he could get home.
When he made it to the doors, he pulled on the handles. He fell back with the effort, as he realized too late the doors were locked. Glaring at the doors, he tried again, planting his foot against the door for leverage, but it was still no use.
A rusty-sounding creak was heard behind him. He whipped around, but saw no one. Lloyd focused on the noise, and turned to see the door to his Other Mother's study was just barely open. Steeling himself, he went over to it, opening the door all the way.
Other Misako was facing away from him, the mechanism in front of her slowly creaking as she wrote on her paper, her hands moving at a snail's pace.
Lloyd narrowed his eyes. "Hey, you! Where's my Other Father? I want to go home!" he demanded.
As she turned around, Lloyd couldn't help but notice her appearance; her glasses sat askew upon her nose, her hair greying at the tips. Bags had formed under her button eyes, and even her hands looked wrinkled, like crumpled pieces of paper.
"All will be swell, once Father's had his rest," she spoke, her voice eerily slow. "His strength is our strength." The gloves hands of the contraption shot out, one wrapping around her mouth, the other wagging a scolding finger in her face, before spinning her back to her desk. "I'm sorry… I mustn't speak when Father isn't here."
"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Shaking his head, Lloyd turned away. "If you won't talk to me, then I'll find the Other Kai. He'll help me."
"There's no point." Lloyd's brow furrowed, and he turned back to Other Misako, who hunched over in her chair as she faced him. "He pulled a long face…" she hooked her fingers into the corners of her mouth, yanking them down as far as her chest, her lips almost seeming to tear with the effort, "…and Father didn't like that."
Suddenly, the gloved hands sprang back out, one aggressively shutting her mouth as the other grabbed her by the braid and yanked her backwards towards her desk. His heart nearly stopping in fright, Lloyd sprinted out of the room, running to the back door.
He threw the door open, not caring that it was wide open, and ran down the back porch, towards the garden and down the trail. He tripped on a step, but didn't care. He looked over his shoulder, the Other house growing smaller as the distance between them widened. Even as the path made its way to the rocky cliffs he didn't stop running. Lloyd panted, finally slowing to a fast walk as he was hidden in the cherry trees, lush with verdant leaves. As he continued walking, the trees lost their leaves, becoming more like claws reaching up to rake the sky.
A familiar screech sounded near him, and Lloyd looked over to see the falcon flying beside him. "And where do you think you're going?" he asked, keeping his flight in time with Lloyd's walking pace.
Lloyd sighed. "I'm getting out of here, even if it means going to some other weird place."
Soon, the sky brightened, and it took Lloyd a moment to realize it wasn't a natural brightness. He looked up, and saw that the sky not only brightened to a stark white, but the trees had thinned into wire-like shapes of what they once were. Despite this, Lloyd kept walking into the nothingness.
"Something's wrong," Lloyd mused, partially to himself. "Shouldn't the wishing well be here?"
The falcon shook his head. "Nothing else out here. It's the empty part of this world. He only made what he knew would impress you. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing else you could have wanted here."
Lloyd's brow furrowed. "But why? Why does he want me, specifically?"
"He wants something to love…I think," the falcon explained. "Something that isn't himself." He chuckled deeply. "Or maybe…he'd just love something to eat."
Lloyd rolled his eyes. "That's ridiculous. Fathers don't…" he trailed off, shivering at the mere suggestion, "…eat their sons."
The falcon eyed him. "I wouldn't be so sure about that. After all, how do you taste?" As Lloyd's nose wrinkled in disgust, he cackled, flying up a bit higher.
The further they walked, the more Lloyd was starting to wonder if there really was no end to the nothingness. However, once they reached a certain point — if there even was one in the blankness — a shape began to form. Like little pixels, the Other house reformed itself bit by bit, the sky putting itself back together like a puzzle. The trees and shrubs regrew around the house, as if they never left in the first place. When Lloyd turned around, even the area they just came from had reformed into itself again.
"Huh? But…how can you walk away from something, and still come back to it?" he wondered aloud.
The falcon perched on a nearby stump, preening himself. "Walk around the world."
Lloyd folded his arms across his chest, grimacing. "Small world."
Suddenly, a rattling noise sounded from beside them, inside the bushes. The falcon was instantly alert, his eyes narrowed in focus. "Hang on." Lloyd went silent, and the rattling sounded again, louder this time. From under the foliage crept a little blue snake, rattling its tail as it slithered.
The falcon was on it in an instant, barely two seconds passing as he flew into the air, grabbing the snake in his talons. Lloyd's eyes widened.
"Stop! He's one of Zane's circus snakes! You'll—" He didn't have time to finish his sentence as the falcon tore into it with his sharp beak. The snake stopped moving, its tail no longer rattling, as its entire body lengthened and swelled, its vibrant scales growing patchy in places, sand spilling out of its now-gaping mouth. Even its eyes had changed into lifeless black buttons.
Lloyd gasped, stepping back in horror. "It's… What is it?"
The falcon released the snake, looking down at it in contempt. "I don't like snakes at the best of times. I personally prefer mice and rats. But this snake in particular was sounding an alarm." Without another word, the falcon flew off into the night, and out of Lloyd's sight.
He gulped before he whispered to himself, "Good birdy…"
Lloyd headed back up to the front porch, taking notice of the umbrella stand just outside the door. He took a deep breath, and picked up a heavy cane from the stand, hitting it into his hand. "Time to go home."
A bit of a short chapter this week, but I hope I'm helping to build a little suspense here~
Stay tuned!