Alice's Notes:
HALLOWEEN!
okay this chapter is….and let's be honest here, a little short and all over the place. My original lay out for this chapter was very different but I had to twist it a little to fit my Halloween mood. The new creepy girl in the abyss that I added was NOT in my original plans…so…as a result….I will probably be writing a sequel after this. Only if there is any demand for it. OF COURSE this isn't the end, I wouldn't leave it here! Bah! No we need the big evil villain to drop by don't we?
Now I really need a rest XD
Review and tell me how you liked my special Halloween treat!
Chapter 14
Melody's Echo.
A Coward, A Monster and A Friend.
Echo.
What….is this…? It was surreal, Echo had felt the knife enter her stomach so…why could she still think? She could feel her body still, her form was still the same. Two legs, two arms, eyes a nose and ears…all of her was there….but where was 'there'? Slowly her eyes opened and she found herself in nothingness, it was dark and she couldn't see but…she was there. She wanted to sit up, to move her body that seemed to have an unearthly quality to it. Where….is this? Where am I? I'm dead so…where have I gone? Echo wondered twisting her body around, it moved so freely as if she held no weight at all. She looked at her spotlessly clean skin, it glowed a sot pale light in the darkness and the black dress she had worn was clean of dirty and blood. Moving her hands back to her hair she felt it flowing freely as if she were under water.
Looking around in the darkness she could find no better word then 'abyss', this place held no life and no comfort…where had she been taken. Melody wouldn't have liked this place…Melody didn't like the dark….Melody….Melody! It came to her with startling clarity, where was her little one, looking around wildly she sought out Melody but could see her nowhere. Melody was never far from Echo! She tried to look into the abyss of their heart but…it was empty…like it had never been there at all. Echo began to panic, she was afraid, she didn't want to be alone. Not in this dark place, not without Melody, they were never meant to part so where was she now! Her head fell into her hands as small tears began to bubble out of the corners of her eyes and in a world where there was no gravity or life they floated away from between the gaps in her fingers.
Don't leave me alone…Melody…stay with me, please don't let me be alone. Her mouth did not move but her voice sounded in the empty abyss strong and sad. I'm sorry that I am mean sometimes, I'm sorry that I ever let you stay in the dark. I just wanted us to stay together forever like we promised when were little. I had to protect you, you were always so soft and scared it was my job to protect you right?! Please don't let me be alone!
Echo's thoughts stopped leaving them to echo back at her in this strange empty world, was this death? This empty nothingness…or was it hell? There was no pain but being alone here forever was more frightening than any pits of hell. There was no light here, no warmth….Echo had always been the tough one of the two girls ever since they were born. When she looked back on the memories they became a blur as most childhood memories were. Echo could remember a small room littered with old toys and a carpet of a blue sky filled with clouds, that had been their room, their entire world had been built there. Back when they had come into existence…she could only remember them playing together, two little girls playing and having fun but she could never tell just who the host was.
Had Melody been alive back then? Had she been happy…had she ever been happy before now? Echo always told herself that Melody was just happy with them two being together but the slight expressions that she made when she thought Echo wasn't looking at her. Melody…looked terribly lonely and sad sometimes and Echo pretended not to see and this is where it had gotten her. She should have listened to Melody and taken them away from the general...but…she was so convinced that would be the only home they could ever have. Echo remember Melody's smiling face even when the general was angry at her or even when Echo was the prized child and Melody was treated like an unfortunate mishap in some experiment. Melody always looked happiest when they were outside their room on a mission somewhere pretty and Echo would let her out so she could see what the outside world was like.
"Uh? You want to what?" Echo's past voice echoed in her memories as she remembered something they had said to each other when they were young.
"I want to sing on a stage!" Melody had told her with the brightest face, one full of innocence and happiness.
"We'll go on stage you and me and we can sing together!" Echo had thought she was insane at the time but she hadn't brushed her dreams right off the bat.
"We could have a little house…with a big toy box and spa bath…then we could eat lollies all day and night and…." Echo looked at her when her speech faltered.
"We could have friends." She whispered softly and Echo frowned.
"Friends?" Echo couldn't understand why Melody wanted any company other than herself.
"Maybe a friend that could treat us like her daughters…it'd be nice to have a mother don't you think?" Echo hadn't noticed until then just how lonely Melody really was but she tried to ignore that.
"We have each other don't we little one?" She had asked her softly and Melody had just nodded and smiled…a sad smile.
"Yeah, forever and always."
The two of them had gone on adventures together and thus they were more then use to working with each other, exploring the dust tunnels filled with cobwebs and finding hidden staircases behind cupboards and hidden doors, the two were full of excitement and energy. Things had only started to change a few days after their ninth birthday when their training started and it became clear that Echo was always going to be the more useful for the two of them. They both had to become withdrawn for the other and Echo regretted every moment of their drifting apart. Echo looked around the place she had been trapped there were no adventures here, no new things to find and no one to share it with. She was alone and empty and she was scared.
Somewhere in the dark things moved, she didn't feel so alone anymore, in the darkness she saw a flash of white light or colour telling her that something was there. A flick of a tail or talon had her spinning around in search of something lurking in the depths of this nightmare realm. Echo spun around seeking out the things that scuttled and moved. The flick of a pink tail like thing passed by her eyes.
A rat? Echo thought as she looked and focused she began to notice something strange, the sound of beetles crawling along the walls and a flick of a rats tail these were things that belonged in the cells back at base. Spinning faster she saw more things poking out of the darkness, red eyes staring at her, sharp fangs bared and a devious smirk. Faces both human and monster came into her view as she spun in the darkness and she finally stopped her spinning to look at one figure not too far away. A full figure, a girl with white hair and her back to Echo.
The girl didn't turn to face her at first she seemed to be dancing and when she did catch a look at the girls eyes the white icy expression froze her to her core. The girl danced to unheard music with a smile that stretched to far across her face.
"Do you want to hide? Can you hide from me?" Asked the voice of the girl as pretty and high as a bell.
"I am the one in your head whispering nasty thoughts." She continued to sing, the voice was nice but it lacked the beauty in Melody's own voice.
"Something's waiting to make you scream, so scream nice and loud for me!" Watching the girl twirl in the darkness Echo could see dead things twist and writher about around her as though she were the queen of the death in this place.
"So cute you are, trembling like cute little mice when you see me!" The girl never addressed Echo but little things like hooks and chains brushed by her legs occasionally to the girls words.
"Aren't you scared? That's okay! Just sing my name!" She rose her hands up high as the lyrics to this song became more deranged.
"I'll eat your heart if you offer it to me. Those nightmares that make you squirm aren't they mine?!" She grinned showing off rows of sharp teeth, a monster under a pretty face.
"It's alright if you scream it makes me happy, those joyful shrieks fuel this nightmarish game of mine!" Her arms lowered slightly as her voice became a deathly whisper.
"This game of mine, the game of life that binds us all. Your first life is the best and your next will wither and all those to come become short and deprived until you're mine!" The girls suddenly turned her eyes on Echo who couldn't move, she'd never met anyone crazier than herself.
"You there…what's that you have around your neck…?" She asked in a childish voice. Echo's fingers clutched the golden chain around her neck, pocket watch she always kept close. Echo and Melody felt that watch was what bound them together and was their most precious item.
"A pocket watch is it…? Hmm, that scent is interesting. Let me have a taste." The girl whispered and before Echo could stop her she felt something sharp like two fangs dig into the back of her neck getting a cry from her as fiery pain lit up her veins.
"You're not whole….hmm you've come to play my game of life?" She asked gently watching Echo with happy eyes.
"Very well…welcome to this game of life, let's see you survive." She told Echo just before everything that had been dark lit up in a sudden flash of light. Echo saw things crawling and slithering some that looked remotely human and others that looked nothing close. Gaping mouths and widened blank eyes it was a mass of death and mutilation that even Echo couldn't enjoy.
Then the lights went out and she was left alone again, the girl was god and Echo was left to wonder if it was all a hallucination in this place like hell.
Please…please no more! Melody where are you please come back to me! MELODY! Her thoughts rang out loudly in the quiet abyss. The tears she had shed floated around her body as she lay floating in the blackness…she didn't want to die alone without Melody.
"Echo." Spinning around again in the weightless world she saw the one she had been looking for, they hardly ever faced each other without a mirror but there were no mirrors here and the two girls stood in the black groundless land facing each other without a mirror and Melody was smiling.
"I'm…glad we can finally speak like this again. You stopping coming when I called all those years ago." Echo felt more weightless tears fall from her eyes. Melody…. She couldn't open her mouth to speak just yet but her thoughts were her voice for now.
Melody and Echo looked so similar and yet there were clear differences, Melody wore that pretty white dress while Echo wore the darker black one, Echo could only cry, Melody was smiling such a sweet sad smile but somehow it kept Echo's world alight. Melody floated over to Echo and gently she lifted her hand out to Echo.
"We're partners, right…Echo?" Echo stared at her hand a small laugh coming from her mouth as she still cried and she reached out to take Melody's offered hand.
"We should never be apart…isn't that right?" Melody murmured and Echo just nodded her head firmly, the darkness lit up again but this time it wasn't mutilated bodies and death she saw but instead she could see faces that she knew. Behind Melody were the people that she had earlier slaughtered but none of them looked sad or angry instead they looked happy…as if happy that they could have their friends there with them.
Melody's hand closed around Echo's and slowly she drew her counterpart to her and they joined both hands gently pressing their heads together.
"Echo…" She opened her eyes slightly to look at Melody's kinder hues.
"Even if we never really find a way to share this living space of ours perfectly…let's just stay together forever." Melody murmured softly and Echo could do no more than smile and nod in reply. Together was what she wanted, she never wanted to be alone and she never had to be with Melody by her side.
The darkness around them continued to become brighter until the entire world was blocked out by the white haze and Echo felt her conscious mind begin to fade away but this time she wasn't afraid, it wasn't like dying…it was more liked surviving.
…
Melody.
"Hey look." Said a voice somewhere close to her.
"What is it?" Asked another more urgent voice.
"I think she is coming around." Replied the first voice with a buzz of excitement.
"Ah! Yeah I think she is! Hey, Russel! Russel! Go get Flippy and the others she is waking up!" Shouted the second voice and she heard someone else leaving the room she occupied. Her body felt like lead and just opening her eyes was strenuous and troublesome, even when her eyes were finally open enough to see she couldn't actually….see. Everything was blurring together making sight almost impossible, she saw the world in a blur of colours, two certain human like blurs stood above her. Just what was happening? Melody remembered seeing Echo taking the knife and then she remembered finding Echo screaming in the dark and joining her but then…everything was a puzzle. Was this heaven or hell? Was it either?
"Hey, can you hear me Melody? You okay?" Someone was asking her worriedly and she noticed the person speaking to her had a massive red thing on them….wait was that hair….? Could this be….? Flaky…? She suddenly felt more awake and she tried to sit up but that just caused her to feel ill and collapse back onto the thing she lay on. Her vision began to clear and she saw the two people above her were indeed very familiar figures.
"Flaky….Handy…" Her voice was raspy like she hadn't had a drink for decades but they understood her and the both of them smiled brightly at her.
"How…am I….?" Flaky's expression soured a little bit when she tried to ask how she was alive, if Echo died then surely she would have died along with her.
"We'll explain everything….today is going to be an explaining day by the look of it." Handy told her gently before advising her to not move too much.
"Try to rest, the first time is always the roughest, your body isn't use to this so just give it some time…and…" His gaze fell towards the side of the bed and when she looked there she saw Splendid laying on the sheets against her leg…he was sleeping.
"Splendid had a fit when he saw what happened, he hasn't moved from here since we brought you in, Flippy had a hard time helping at all, Splendid snapped at him if he got to close…" Handy said with a shake of his head as though it were the most childish thing that Splendid had ever done. Melody was to confused and shocked to question any of this just yet and so she was left staring at them all blankly with no real understanding. Flaky was fussing over her, fluffing her pillow and adjusting the sheets, she was smiling so brightly as though she couldn't be happier to see Melody. It didn't make sense…why wasn't she in a cell? Why weren't they shouting or at least angry at her, by all rights they should have hated her for what she had done but no one even mentioned it. a few minutes passed before she saw Russel return to through the door, behind him he had Flippy who held a sheepish and worried expression. Melody took a double take of Russel…he didn't look hurt at all.
Melody remembered Echo shotting Russel and hurting Flaky at the same time and yet neither had the slightest hint that they were hurt at all, they didn't even had a bandage or seem to limp…there was just no indication that either had been hit with a bullet. It just got stranger and stranger because before she knew it Flippy was by the bed side apologising for stabbing her, they all chatted around her and seemed more than happy to just chat and talk around her like nothing had happened and Melody couldn't take it. She just snapped.
"WHAT!" She shouted and they all stopped talking to look at her in surprise before their expressions all seemed to fall but none of them said a word.
"I know what I did so…why…why are you all so jolly! Don't you know what I did? It was all my fault and I…I did die I know I did! I even hurt you two but you're not showing it at all! What is this!?" She demanded but no one spoke up for a while.
"This is happy tree friend town." Whispered a voice and she turned to look at Splendid, he hadn't raised his head from his arms on the sheets but his eyes were open in a serious expression.
"This is our town and this is what happens." He slowly looked at her locking her in his stare.
"Bring the others in." He whispered not looking away from her as Russel left again and just as before he returned a few moments later with people in tow, dead people in tow.
"W-What….!?" Melody whispered in shock and she felt Echo stir inside of her, obviously she was also awake…she was seeing this all too. Standing before them was all the people that had died the night before. Standing there was Petunia, fussing over some dust on the cabinets and by her side was the Mole and Lumpy, both looking a little lost. She said Shifty standing by his little brother Lifty with a bright smirk and Cuddles was holding Giggles with a warm expression. Nutty was also there, chewing on a lolly pop while giggling madly, Melody couldn't take it in! WHAT WAS HAPPENING!?
"H-Ho…How…." She scrambled back almost falling off the bed if Splendid's hands hadn't come to rest on her back stopping her from running and hurting herself by tumbling off the bed.
"This is real, this is our town Melody." He whispered to her gently, Flippy and Flaky were holding hands and both sat on the end of her hospital bed watching her reactions.
"We were hoping you wouldn't find out so early but…this is what happens in our town. Melody you did die." He admitted gently.
"But nothing in this place stays dead." He told her gently and she gulped looking at each other them before murmuring slowly.
"So….you are….zombies…?" They all seemed to collectively blink at her before laughing, the tension seemed to ease with that awkward question.
Well maybe." Flippy admitted with a chuckle. "Don't worry though we aren't going to try and eat you I never really had a taste for human flesh anyone else?" They all shook their heads and she was drawn back to her own strange predicament.
"So…I died..?" She asked meekly looking back at Splendid who nodded gently.
"The first death is always hard on everyone so try not to worry too much." He said softly, being careful with her as he did.
She couldn't wrap her head around it, they had all died and yet they were standing right there…so she….really had killed them but in the end there was no point in doing it because they just came right back. It was almost too much for her to handle, passing out almost seemed like an ideal solution but she refused to take the easy way out again.
"We'll explain more as time goes on…but…first we need your explanation." The tension returned, Splendid was talking about what had happened the other night and she slowly drew her legs up to her chest, not sure what to say to them.
"Hey, Melody. People come back to life in this place I think they can handle out story." Echo encouraged her gently and slowly she nodded before looking at them all.
"Do…you want me to tell you everything I can…?" She asked softly and there were a few nods in reply and a gently squeeze to her hand caught her attention, Flaky was looking at her with a sweet expression, it was to understanding for someone like her to deserve. Taking a deep breath she nodded, agreeing to tell them what she could.
"But I'll need something first." Splendid blinked but they heard out her request and a few minutes later they were wheeling in a mirror to place it beside the bed so it was angled to face those waiting and Melody herself.
When she looked at the mirror she saw yellow eyes staring back at her with a gentle expression to them for once. Melody was going to introduce Echo to them all.
"Uh…well….Everyone please meet my best friend…sister…" She decided that her and Echo might as well have been sisters. "Echo." She gestured toward the mirror where everything was the same but Echo worked their little magic spell and was sitting with her arms crossed over her chest and one leg over the other. Melody sat with both legs handing off the bed and her arms by her side, there was no question the two of them were no just reflecting the other. No one interrupted her as she spoke.
"Echo and I…as you might have already gathered shared this living space." She explained while pressing her hand against her chest.
"Please don't get the wrong idea though, Echo isn't an evil version of me or anything like that." Flippy who had seemed almost smug with how much he understood this more than the others was suddenly lost.
"She isn't?" He asked uncertainly and Melody nodded quick to come to Echo's defence.
"She isn't at all. Echo and I look similar and we are close it is true but…we are still different people. For example I like sweet things." Melody prompted an Echo continued.
"And I like bitter things." Everyone jumped when the voice seemed to come from the mirror, they were starting to see she wasn't quite like Flipqy and Flippy they were instead very different and unnatural.
"Echo and I have shared this living space for as long as I can remember and we are still learning new things about each other." Melody glanced to the mirror with a sheepish smile.
"Of course we are not completely different, I like singing." She prompted again.
"And so do I." Replied Echo with a smile clearly enjoying the awkwardness that came about when she spoke form the mirror.
"So…you've had her your whole life?" Flippy asked slowly trying to wrap his head around the oddness he was facing and Melody nodding along with Echo.
"Yes, we were born together. To be honest I never really thought about it." That had just been natural for her it was only in her time outside of the cell that she noticed not everyone was sharing a body…in fact it looked like no one else was sharing a body with anyone else and for a while she had thought it was only her. She hadn't seen herself as a freak and was instead just overjoyed that she never had to be alone. Flippy seemed surprised but they continued to listen to her without speaking. She told them about some of their adventures and their closeness and for the most part everyone listened without interrupting…then it finally came down to the point that it eventually had to.
"Even if that is all well and good." Splendid cut in wanting to get to the bottom of it all. "Why did Echo attack us…what was the point behind that…just what haven't you told us."
They were all watching her no but she couldn't answer them and out of the corner of her eye she say Echo with the same torn expression, this was very bad. Melody looked at the ground with a small frown and sighed, she knew she couldn't tell them about the general…what could she say though? There was no way around it…if she told them when he came to find her it wouldn't be the cell she'd go back to but instead it would be her grave. Melody was afraid but looking at their faces she knew that there was no other choice but to tell them.
"I was…..given a job…" She began quietly with her head down. "Echo and I….actually do have a boss you see and…he gave us a job to do in this town." The tense silence that had hung around them before had become unbearable.
"Our jobs…are always very different but this one was very simple. 'Get into small town and fit in until the boss gives more orders.' I did what he told us to do." She glanced at their faces, they all watched her wordlessly.
"Our boss had an obsession with this place and…he wanted us to kill all the residents…he never told us why, he just gives the orders and if we don't follow we return to a cell for punishment." She explained slowly not sure how they would react to all this.
"I'm sorry everyone…I never wanted to do it but…I…I am just such a coward I can't refuse him. I was scared he'd punish us again if we failed and then kill you all horribly anyway….Echo promised it would be human which it more then he would give you so I had to…I…am so sorry….!" She whispered tears coming to her eyes as she said that. She knew what came next would be them getting angry and hate filled words.
"You idiot…" Splendid muttered from behind her and suddenly warm arms wrapped around her pulling her back against him. His arms stayed wrapped around her just as Flaky reached out and grabbed her hand in both of hers.
"Don't be so silly, didn't you here Splendid before when he said we never die? It was just another accident to us." She promised her warmly and even Flippy was nodding and he took her other hand. Handy shook his head with a smile like she was being a fool as well.
"Melody didn't we welcome you here?" Handy asked her softly and she could only stare at them.
"But I…lied to you and tricked you and hurt people….so…why…?" She couldn't understand at all Flaky and Flippy squeezed her hands while Splendid squeezed her waist.
"Because we all make mistakes here, this is the maddest most forgiving town of fools you'll ever meet Melody and you couldn't be any more welcome here." Flaky told her with a small smile and the tears of sorrow quickly became ones of joy as she felt a feeling of relief rush through her chest. This was her home now.
…
Echo.
Watching the little one tell the others about her was interesting but what really caught her eye was when they accepted the little one…she hadn't though it possible but for the first time in as long as she could remember….she liked others apart from the little one. Echo corrected herself suddenly, the little one's name was melody now…she couldn't forget that. Melody was crying tears of joy and the others were laughing and forgiving her, no one looked her way much and she was happy to just observe. She wouldn't tell Melody about anything she saw in that black world…no she wouldn't ruin what little joy melody had obtained.
Be happy Melody…I'm sorry it took so long for you to feel this happy….just….never forget me either. She thought but the warmth of the moment with her new friends touched even Echo's heart and for the time being….they were happy.