If fear becomes a part of you, you can turn to your worst enemy
"H…Hello?". I guessed right, this old house is indeed forsaken. How the hell did I get here anyways? What is this place? It doesn´t really look like a different world to me. Maybe it will be the best if I look around a bit. Maybe this house still contains some items useful to me.
The grey furred raccoon enters the great hallway hesitantly. Although it seems that this house is forsaken, the respected owners may also just be out of the house and return at any moment. Although the house did look rather big on the outside, the size of it in the inside is modest.
He notices a door leading to a backyard of the mansion. Curiosity getting the best of him he goes straight towards the door, scrutinizing whatever the space may hold for him. "It is a garden… What a bummer, all the precious flowers were left here to rot and decompose…"
Right next to a tree stands a small shack, it is made thoroughly of wood, it entire appearance rather rustic in comparison to the mansion. He strolls curiously towards it, being at a new place brings many new things to discover. Right now, he has to try to get a place to stay.
As soon as he opens the door, a scent reaches his nostrils. A delighting smell of medicinal herbs. As he looks around he notices several pots containing different parts of plants, even a heating lamp and an oven to get them dry. To make drugs out of them to be specific.
"I could use this…" He speaks quietly to himself. Going back to the mansion, there is a room to his right which appears to be the living room. At the end of the wall there is a fireplace, but without a chimney. "What a disadvantageous construction… Even if you open the window this could be rather displeasing."
As he exits the living room, at the other end of the great hall are a set of stairs. "I hope there are something like a bath- and bedroom. I´m extremely exhausted." He goes up the stairs and indeed, there is a bathroom in front of him. "I wonder if the water pipes are still functioning…"
"Yes! They are and they´re even giving warm water. I just hope that no one resides in here… But that is unlikely, who would abandon a house with running water and a glasshouse with functioning devices?" Pondering this he decides to wait before he takes a shower.
If there are owners of this house, they would be not amused to find wet towels and a sleeping stranger in their house. What if they´re even hostile? He really doesn´t want to start a fight in a new place he has never been before. Regarding to the place he has been before… He may wouldn´t even stand a chance if it would come to this…
As he enters the bedroom a pair of picture frames are getting his attention. "Strange… whoever may be on this, the persons are blurred out… I can´t even recognize which kind of animals they´re supposed to be…" Before the rather big bed stands a drawer with a large but thin book on it.
"Unreadable… everything´s just scribbled out. The entire text is erased…" He continues to leave through it only to find further pages containing the same amount of unrecognizable text. Although he has never been here before, he feels somehow welcomed.
"Well… I guess it cannot hurt if I try to sleep at least a little bit. I locked the door, I would hear it if anyone comes back…" Fatigue overpowering him he falls onto the miraculously clean sheets, falling asleep almost immediately.
"Wait… you are telling me that you two found your actual true parents? Did they tell you anything about your past and childhood?" Sniffles asked. He is rarely the inquisitorial type, but since no one in Happy Tree can remember anything about their past, this is promising to be a phenomenon.
"Yes, we saw our true parents. They explained rather much to us, explained why we were acting sometimes a little… let us say, out of character." Shifty explained while downing his long-desired drink, a fresh brewed coffee. "You should have waited for it to cool down before emptying it."
Lifty chuckled at his brother who's face turns red as he concentrates to breath deeply to cease the burning sensation in his chest. This is the moment you can literally feel the drink wandering down your esophagus. "Totally worth it…" Shifty wheezes meekly, smugly glaring at his brother who is enjoying his struggle a little too much.
"But they didn´t take much time to explain much about our entire childhood. Only the mistakes they´ve committed in the past, and something about the curse who spoke to them through a bronze statuette…" Sniffles and Mime stared at them speechlessly.
"A bronze statuette?" The ant eater wondered, but before he could ask further Lifty interrupted him. "Well, can we postpone this to another time? Don´t get me wrong, I am really glad and thankful that you took so much effort in saving me and keeping my brother alive too. But we´re extremely tired and I would welcome a rest in a place I can identify myself with…"
Sniffles and Mime got a little disappointed as their childlike curiosity is left unsatisfied but being health professionals, they have total understanding for their situation. "Of course, come by any time you want though." He said smiling at them.
With a last shared handshake, Lifty and Shifty are leaving the hospital to reach their home. "I hope everything is the way we left it." Shifty shivered a bit at the thought. The way they left it, this would also mean that the gruesome scribblings at the walls of their bedroom are still present, forcing them to remember this ordeal in retrospect.
"I suppose it is, I didn´t send a team of cleaners through our home during our little "journey"". Despite being raccoons, they are also boys, which means that they at least serve one masculine cliché as they both aren´t really one of the tidiest persons.
"Maybe we should get on terms with Petunia, to lure her into our house and lock her in to do the work for us." Lifty suggested jokingly. "Yeah, I bet she wouldn´t retaliate fiercely after this. But I can´t wait until we´re finally home… I just want to take a warm bath and relax at least for one day…"
Lifty suddenly got solemn at this. "Shifty… can I talk to you about something?" Surprised by his sudden mood swing. "Sure, you can talk to me about anything!" He hoped that his assurance would enlighten his mood, but instead of smiling Lifty suddenly stops moving, standing motionlessly on his spot.
Shifty got utterly worried as he noticed his brother sobbing silently. "Shifty… I don´t know how to put this but… You know as I was left in my own solitude I came to think about, you know, the way we live…" His sobbing makes it hard for him to form the words in an understandable way.
"Shifty… I don´t want myself…no, I don´t want US to be thieves anymore! Please don´t get mad at me but I just can´t…" Shifty's hand resting on his shoulder stops him in his tracks. As he looks up he sees an expression in his brother's face he would have not expected to see. He smiles genuinely, it is not a smugly smile, more a benevolent one.
"You know… The time I was inside your mind, and later our families… nah, the point is I learned many things about you and your desires. I learned many things about your struggles… The point is I already knew that this was about to come up. Lifty, if you want us to be redeemed in this society, then I promise you that together, we will accomplish that!"
This isn´t the first time that Shifty made his brother cry, but this is the first time that he caused Lifty tears of joy and relief. Without talking any further, he falls around his brother, hugging him tightly. "Thank you so much Shift…" He returns the hug. "Now let´s get going home. I can´t wait to see the rise of dawn together with you this time…"
"This idiot, he thinks he´s save!"
"What do you think he´s going to do?"
"Leave him, he´s been through much!"
"He should perish for the weakling he is!"
"He will! He will! His volition is fading!"
He wakes up, drenched in sweat. The voices in his head tormenting him once again. "SHUT UP! LEAVE ME ALONE!" He is struggling towards the window, prying it open to gasp fresh air. Once his mind is aired, the voices echoing in his mind are ceasing in volume.
He closes his eyes, trying to calm himself but he can´t stop shaking and shivering. "M…maybe there is some valerian in the w…wooden shack…" He slowly makes his way towards the mansion's backyard where the medicinal herbs are stored in the cabin.
He opens the hut's door shakily and searches the small area for his wanted dried plant parts. He doesn´t have to search long as he took some root parts of the valerian, some lavender blossoms, some licorice roots and rose hip shells as he goes back to the mansion.
He quickly paces to the living room and enters the room which appears to be the kitchen. He feels somehow familiar with this place. Without further investigation he knows where he gets the water heater and starts boiling the water.
Opening the kitchen's drawers, he gets a can for the tea he is about to make. As soon the water is ready he fills the can with it, preparing the herbs to be boiled in it. "K…Keep it together, just… j…just get calm…" He sits down at the floor rocking back and forth.
Five minutes later the tea is finally finished and before the tea could reach a temperature to drink it he greedily takes his firsts sips, hoping for the placebo to kick in. "Why does this keep happening?" He sits with his back at the wall. Something is odd about this place, and this house especially. All this appears to be a big coincidence.
"What…the…fuck…happened to our house…" Shifty stood there in total shock. The hotel containing their room is completely destroyed. Lammy, who worked there as the receptionist, leaned against the debris which was their former home. She seems to be angered.
"Lammy…what happened here?" Lammy looked up at them, she doesn´t really like these two rascals but she answered nonetheless, more or less friendly. "Tsk, Splendid happened, isn´t that just splendid?" She chuckled a bit about her semi good pun.
"But… What do we do now? This was our place to live!" Lifty stated at the edge of a total enrage. "Well, sucks to be you I guess? I don´t know what you can do, and it is really none of my business! I´ll go now, farewell!" The raccoon brothers couldn´t do anything but stare. "Pff, good riddance!"
"Everything´s just gone, even our van which was parked in the garage." Shifty said, why did this have to happen to them? "Well we can´t afford a new one… Especially not since the one we already had was, well, stolen…" He said, startling Lifty a bit.
The tea containing the assuasive drugs was doing its job and he finally could seize his shivering. "Maybe a walk in the outside can do something good to me…" With that said he fetches up the mansion's keys and leaves the house, locking the door behind him.
Since the mansion is up a hill, he can already see the town and decides to go right there. "If I´m already taken to an unknown place, I can take the opportunity to get to know this place…right?" He talks to himself to calm himself.
It didn´t take him long and he already reached the town. Its lights are showing a marvelous little play of colors. One street lamp is almost hypnotizing him with its blue light, giving him a strangely pleasant feeling. He just stands there and stares, until suddenly a metal bar comes down from above, barely missing him.
"WHAT THE…" He shrieks and looks up, only to see the worried expression of a handless beaver. "I´M SO TERRIBLY SORRY!" The beaver exclaims. He struggles to climb down his ladder. As the beaver approaches him he observes him. "He isn´t really clumsy…just handy capped…"
"I´m so, so terribly sorry! Please tell me you are okay!" The beaver said, but the grey furred raccoon just stares at him emotionless. "Um…dude?" Suddenly the coon reaches out his hand towards him. "Hold your stumps at me please." The helmet wearing rodent got confused and slightly scared. "What? Why?"
"Please. Just trust me on this." A little bit reluctant he reached his stumps towards the stranger and before he could exclaim any protest, his bandages around his stumps get removed. "Hey! What are you doing?" But his stumps are already engulfed in the stranger's grasp.
Suddenly, his stumps begin to grow in length and he feels a prickling sensation across his arms. "WHAT IS HAPPENING?". But the stranger didn´t say anything, his eyes are closed, he is totally focused. Suddenly the stumps have the length of actual arms with every part of it.
Suddenly a wrist emerges from the end of his forearm. He can´t believe his eyes as he realizes that his once lost hands are growing back. "What?!" As dumbfounded as someone can possibly be. The stranger opens his eyes, his work is done. Handy stares with awe at his new hands and starts pinching himself to check whether he´s dreaming or not.
"How… how did you…" As he looked at the stranger he was greeted with a warm smile. "Let's just say I´m "gifted"". Still struck with awe, the beaver manages slowly to snap out of it and begins to introduce himself. "I´m… Handy… Thank you so much!"
The stranger had to chuckle a bit. "For what? For giving you hands, or for removing the irony relating your name?" Handy scowls him with a frown, but regarding the fact that he almost killed this person who enabled him to do a lot of work in a much better way, he is able to forgive this little mockery.
"Forgive me, I didn´t intend to offend you." He said chuckling softly. "Well, it is nice to meet you, Handy."
"You two look lost, is everything alright?" The twins turn around in surprise, a chill is send down their spine as they recognized the voice all too well. "Fl… Flippy? What are you doing here?" Shifty asked, scratching the back of his head a little abashed.
"I´m on the way to the mall, buying the general stuff to live." He says plainly. Although the former soldier has literally no reason to show any concern, he still manages to ask obligatory questions. Well, it is kind of obvious that the twins are somewhat in trouble right now.
"Anyway, can I help you somehow?" Lifty and Shifty looked at each other, Lifty finally speaks up. "Well… We just got to hear that our town's hero managed to destroy our home… So actually, we ARE kinda lost…" Flippy already saw the debris from the distance. He would offer them shelter, but he knew all too well that this wasn´t a good idea for multiple reasons.
"That is a bummer to hear guys…" Suddenly the last column of the building comes crashing down. The twins can take an advantage regarding their agility and dodge it, but Flippy, who is still strapped in his car does not have that much agility to rely on and gets crushed inside his vehicle.
"We have to get away before his car explodes!" But as soon as Lifty said that the car already explodes, sending shrapnel of metal parts right towards them. Shifty's ankle gets shredded down to its tendons, causing him to groan in pain. Lifty, noticing his brother's predicament, rushes towards him to stabilize him by his side.
"Come! We have to get away!" But at the moment he says that, Flippy's vehicle somehow gets loose and starts to drive towards them. He tries to move aside but another explosion follows, its force sending him down to the ground. He stares at the devastated car in shock as its was almost at them.
"Shit, shit, SHIT!" They scream in unison as they get suddenly pushed out of the way." "I got you!" The three land hardly on the concrete, slightly bruising their backs. "That was close! Thank you for saving our asses!" Lifty said, looking up at the person who saved them.
"No problem, how did that happen? Are there any injured?" The grey furred raccoon asked, worried as he observes the burning vehicle rolling down the road, many screams are hearable. "Yes, one person is already dead, and my brother got his ankle nearly torn to shreds…"
"One dead? That is awful!" they both look at each other, yes death isn´t nice, but it is almost common in this place. "Yeah, but it is not that bad, I don´t think he will remember much of the pain as he was offed rather fast…" The shock in the stranger's expression is mixing with perplexity.
"He won´t remember? What do you guys mean by that? If he is dead it is clear that he won´t remember anything then." Lifty and Shifty look at each other obfuscated, but they really have greater problems right now. "Look… We don´t have time to explain you how the world you´re living in works!"
"Yeah, we´re grateful for you saving us but we have to look out for a place to live in. Our home just got busted to pieces…" Something about these two is strange, I feel oddly welcomed in their presence… "You can come with me if you need shelter. I reside the mansion up the hill near the town…"
On a peculiar way they begin to feel this strange sensation as well. "Excuse our rudeness towards you, we´ve been through something recently… I´m Lifty and the fedora wearing rapscallion next to me is my brother Shifty." Lifty earned a small punch at his side from his brother, who chuckled a bit at the description.
"And you are?" Shifty asked in a surprisingly friendly way. As their gazes met the stranger's face they sense his benevolence emitting from his rather exhausted smile. "Nice to meet you two, my name´s Ian."