Chapter 25: Dreams and Demons
Kurt threw himself off the ground and started running. His legs ran away from his heart, where his parents were. He was just a body now, pumping its legs and arms mechanically through the darkened woods. His soul was torn from him. The remaining tears dried up and stained his pale cheeks. He ran and ran until he caught his foot under a root. His face smashed into the ground followed by the rest of his body. He lay there with no desire to get up. There was nothing left for him. Rain began to pound on him. He let out a whimper and started to cry again.
"Kurt?" Joe stood over him. He did not seem to know what had happened. "Kurt?" He repeated. He leaned down and grabbed Kurt by the arm, dragging him up. "C'mon, I want to go back to the Inn before the rain gets worse! Where are mom and dad?"
Kurt, covered in mud, sank down to his knees and sobbed. "They're not coming. They're…de..dead." A sorrowful cry left him and echoed softly.
Joe didn't take it seriously and began to chuckle. "Yeah, they're dead. Seriously, where are they?"
"I told you that they are dead!" Kurt yelled. With pained eyes, Kurt looked up at his brother's shocked face.
Joe was appalled at this sudden change of Kurt. His brother never yelled. Ever. Something else struck Joe. What if his parents were dead? "Where?" He uttered in such confusion.
Kurt got up and began to run to where they took his soul. Joe followed closely behind. When they arrived to the toppled tree, Kurt began to sob, dropping to the ground. Joe stood there in pure shock. He couldn't believe what was in front of him. In fact, he refused to believe it. He grabbed his brother's arm again and dragged him away from the scene.
They walked through the woods, trying to find the way out. There were numerous times that Kurt tried to sink to the ground, but Joe prevented him from doing so. Kurt had stopped after a few attempts as he realized that his brother wanted him.
Visability was close to nothing as the rain still poured and the night devoured the sun in its darkness. However, they saw a light glowing from a cabin. As they grew closer to the cabin the stronger their fatigue and hunger were. They walked up a few stairs onto a porch and pounded on the door.
It soon opened to reveal an average height man with a short beard and a few gray hairs. "What's this?" He said in a gruff voice as he looked down on the soaking wet children.
"Sir, we're lost. Can we stay with you?" Joe spoke up at the stranger. Kurt hid behind Joe, his hands gripping his shoulders.
The man rushed them inside his home. "Sit, I'll make you some soup."
The brothers sat down, their bellies rumbling. The man began to cook a can of soup. He glanced at the boys and finally saw the tears running down one boy's face. "Hmm? What's the matter?"
Kurt didn't respond. His body trembled with fear and coldness. The scene played continuous in his head, blocking most everything out. Joe sat there, strong for his brother, and he did not cry. The man shrugged and looked back to his cooking.
Soon the soup was done and the man poured it into two small bowls, put a spoon in both bowls, and handed it to the children. He sat in front of them on the floor and asked another question with his notable voice, "Where are your parents?"
At the word "parents" Kurt rocked violently back and forth, almost spilling the soup. He didn't touch the soup at all even though he was famished. Joe, on the other hand, ate the soup gratefully.
Joe soon answered, "They…are dead." With this, Kurt dropped the bowl of soup. Luckily it didn't break, but the soup poured all over the floor. Joe had accepted the fact. Now it was 100 true what had happen. It was real.
The man sighed. "I'm Woody by the way. What are your names?"
Joe spoke up rather quickly, "I'm Joe." He glanced at Kurt and knew that he was still not able to speak. "And this is my brother Kurt."
"Well, I guess you'll be staying with me for a while. I'll be your boss and you'll work for me."
Suddenly, Kurt flew from where he was sitting into Woody's arms. Tears ran down his face like a waterfall. Woody did not know what to do except for placing a hand on the boy's back.
That night, Kurt cried himself to sleep and each night after that. Joe usually hid behind the house during the day so his brother couldn't see him crying.
The brothers stayed with Woody for a week, helping him build the shack on the hill (which was later used to house some of Woody's old friends). Kurt and Joe began to affectionately call Woody "Boss" all the time and never called him by his name. Woody had become a father-like figure to the boys, telling them bedtime stories and showing them the beautiful creatures that were exclusive to Sugar Valley.
One morning, an automobile pulled up to Woody's home. A man in his thirties wearing a casual suit knocked on the door. Woody opened it and smiled, "You received my letter, huh?"
"Yes, I already have their belongings and clothes in the car." The man heaved a sigh. "It's terrible when things like this happen."
"But things do happen for a reason." Woody reasoned. "Kurt, Joe!" He called for the boys.
The brothers ran to his side and replied in unison a, "Yes, Boss?"
"This man is going to find you a better home where you can eat more than just soup and eggs, and where you can sleep on real beds." This was a bittersweet moment for Woody. He had forgotten how great children could be since it had been so long since he raised his own.
"I don't want to go!" Kurt exclaimed.
"When you get older, you can come back to me and become my real apprentices. But for now, good bye." Woody said. He didn't believe the boys would ever actually come back.
Joe grabbed Kurt's hand as they walked towards the car with the man in front. They got in and the man started up the engine. Kurt looked at Woody with tears in his eyes. He was losing another person dear to him. They started to drive away. Joe and Kurt waved to Woody until they were out of his sight.
They were transported into an orphanage. The man, apparently the one who owns the orphanage, made calls to Kurt and Joe's family members, telling them the news and asking if they could take care of the brothers. None of them could afford to take care of them at that time. The man considered to place them into foster care, but the boys refused because they would have to be separated.
Not too long after they were in the orphanage, an uncle picked the boys up. He had three kids of his own and didn't pay all too much attention to Kurt and Joe, but at least he and his wife took care of them and placed them in school. Kurt excelled in school, eager to learn so he could one day be a carpenter like Woody. Joe slacked off in school, more eager to socialize than to study. As the years went by, Joe over-shadowed his brother, becoming one of the most talked about boys in school. Nobody seemed to know who Kurt was and often didn't notice him. Kurt didn't mind this and still looked up to Joe for support.
Yet one day when Kurt (then twelve) looked back on his parents' death, some strange thought passed through his mind. 'I was the one who brought them there…' He was convinced that he killed them and a strange demon possessed him.
"Joe…You ever thought about our parents' death?" He asked Joe one day after school.
"I try my best not to." Joe mumbled, placing his backpack on the floor. They had shared a small bedroom.
"Did you ever think it was my fault?" He asked, innocence draining.
Joe paused and surveyed his brother who stood in front of him with curiosity. 'He's so strange…'
"I was the one who told them to go into the forest, Joe. It was me." Kurt said, strangely emotionless.
Joe's eyes grew large and his mouth hung open. From it he whispered, "It was you."
The look in Kurt's eyes changed; the demon inside him grew fierce and he yelled, "Yes, I killed them! I pushed the tree down on them!"
Joe had not seen his brother this way since he yelled that his parents were dead on that one night…He lunged at Kurt and threw him down to the floor. He threw wild punches at Kurt with great intensity. He made contact with Kurt's face a number of times. He stopped punching and grabbed Kurt's collar. Tears fell from Kurt's pained eyes. "You better learn how to keep your emotions in check and your mouth shut, you cry baby." Joe delivered one last punch at Kurt's face and let him out of his grasp. Kurt, having black and blue eyes and a red, swollen face, scrambled off the floor and out of the house.
He sat in the lawn and stared up at the sky. The moon shined brightly down on him. He did not know what had come over him, but he blamed it on his emotions like Joe had told him. He made an oath that he would never let emotions like that be stirred ever again and he would never cry; that is, until Dia stirred up his forgotten soul.
When Kurt turned eighteen, he left to go back to Woody. Joe decided to follow him. But for some reason, no matter how angry they could be at each other, they were all that they had and could not bear to be separated. Woody had grown much older, his hair became gray and he started to go bald. He did not recognize the brothers until they greeted him with a, "We're back, Boss."
Woody introduced his granddaughter, Gwen. Joe fell head over heels for her, but she found him too frivolous. He soon began to stop being so serious about her. Kurt had no interest in her nor did he ever have any interest in anyone like that; that is, until he saw Dia one morning. He figured her out quite quickly. She was the lonely girl that was too afraid, but he himself was too afraid to ever speak to her; that is, until a storm brought them together.
Storms seemed to take people away and bring people close to Kurt.
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EXAPLAINATION (Very important):
1) I included the whole "light glowing from a cabin" because in HMMM, if you are with Kurt at the fire festival (the one where you guard the fire) he mentions that he builds houses because the light from them helps people who are lost. What he said made me think that he had a personal experience with being lost and finding shelter because of a light from a house.
2) I believe that Kurt and Joe met Woody before they became his official apprentices. The way that Kurt calls Woody "Boss" in STH and how he affectionately admires him led me to believe that he had developed a bond much earlier.
3) In STH or HMMM, Kurt and Joe never mention anyone that took care of them. They must not have been wonderful caretakers.
4) The fact that he seems to try to control his emotions a lot can be explained by the sudden outburst and retribution his brother gave him. In STH he says something like, "How can I let a person move my emotions so much?" (in reference to Dia).
5) His fear (apparent in both STH and HMMM) of change is pretty much obvious and explained in this story.
6) (Though not important) His liking of the moon. I didn't feel like his appreciation of flowers should be explained
7) I said in this chapter how they went back to Woody when Kurt was eighteen. This is pretty much a fact because in STH, Joe told me, "We've been living here for three years." If Kurt is twenty-one at the start of STH, then three years before that would make him eighteen if they went back after Winter 10.
8) This explains Joe's personality. He has to become the "big brother" and be strong for Kurt, causing him pressure to be responsible. Since Kurt becomes an introvert and a withdrawn person, Joe has to become Kurt's voice thus why he becomes an extrovert (a social person). The more they get older, the feeling of responsibility for his brother becomes less and less and Joe becomes more independent. While still being brothers, they don't have a co-dependent (relaying on each other fully) relationship later on (and becomes apparent when Joe beats the snot out of Kurt).
Wow, yes, I think too much into stuff like this, but I like it to be as close to the truth as possible. No, there's no evidence if they went to an orphanage or lived with their aunt and uncle, but what else is there?
OK, Chapter 2 (really ties in), the first little part of Chapter 3, and Chapter 8 (in his dream his inner "demon" gets loose). I would recommend reading those over since it makes way more sense now, but I guess you don't have to.