Chapter 28

Otto opened his eyes in a slight daze. He sat up slowly, looking around to see that he was in a room with wooden walls and flooring. There were claw marks on the walls with strange symbols and markings. He was lying on a bed that smelt of fabric softener and moth balls. Rubbing his eyes, he tried to remember what had happened. The last thing he recalled was being grabbed from behind in the fog. What the heck happened?

He placed his feet down on the wooden floor, sitting on the side of the bed with his head hurting. Glancing around the room he was in, it looked like some fancy lodge hotel room he had once stayed in when he was traveling on business. Except without all the markings on the wall, of course. Standing up proved to be difficult with his body for some reason feeling drained and exhausted. Not to mention his backpack was missing.

"Hello mister!"

Otto's head snapped up, seeing a little boy standing by the door- a door that wasn't there a moment ago. He nearly jumped from fright. The little boy smiled at him with his sweat pants and his torn tee shirt looking like they had seen better days. He had glasses on too that were almost identical to Otto's. An unknown sensation began to overcome Otto.

"Do you know where my mommy is?" he asked him. Otto didn't know if he were experiencing a hallucination or not. Either way, he was officially creeped out. Too freaked out to speak, he shook his head wordlessly. The little boy frowned as if disappointed.

"Oh..." he said saddened. "Could you help me look for her."

Otto for some reason just nodded out of reflex. It wasn't like he could say no to such an innocent little kid. The kid's smile returned with his hand extending out to him. Otto had his reservations on taking it at first, but finally grabbed it. For a little boy she sure had a hell of a grip.

"Come on!" he told Otto excited. "Let's go find my mommy!"

Laurence opened the door for Rachel, leading her inside the cabin. There was an old, musty smell that burnt the hairs of her nose. She followed close to Laurence's side as they slowly walked into a strange looking living room that sort of resembled the one in Don's home.

The living room was fairly empty with only an old rocking chair in the middle with a brown rug resting beneath it. Rachel looked around to find that there were no other doors- not even windows. The only thing lighting the place were some candles sitting in a corner of the room. Other than that, it was a little dark. Rachel felt cold all of a sudden.

"What is this place?" she asked Laurence. They stopped a few feet away from the chair.

"That my dear would take a long time to explain." he told her honestly. "All I can really say for now that it's a place human's and Pokemon alike shouldn't be in. It's a realm of nightmares and terrors."

Rachel shook her head at him not understanding what he meant.

"I'm sorry, but I don't get it." she told him. With a charming smile, Laurence nodded his head.

"Think of this place as a personal hell for anyone who steps foot inside." he explained to her with the candles in the corner flickering. "Your worst nightmares come to life here. There is no structure nor order in a place like this. Only chaos and corruption."

The rocking chair began to slowly rock by itself, making Rachel take a step back in fear. Laurence stood calmly in front of her as the rocking of the chair intensified. He glanced back at her with his purple eyes gleaming with confidence.

"With myself at your disposal you have nothing to fear, my dear."

A dark figure appeared rocking in the chair with it's legs crossed and it's hands in it's lap. Casually, it put it's legs down onto the floor and stood up with a yellow-toothed grin directed at both of them. Rachel could only assume that it was supposed to be a Gastly.

"Laurence," it said with it's voice deep and distorted. "you of all people should know to never trust a woman. They cause you nothing but trouble."

From nowhere, an ax was in it's clutches, as if spawning from the air itself. Laurence sighed, as if he were disappointed in the Gastly's attempt to intimidate them. Rachel was more than intimidated however. She was scared shitless.

"Please don't waste my time, young one." Laurence told him, sounding as if he were asking politely for him to leave them be. He was acting like the ax baring Gastly wasn't a threat. Honestly, to Laurence, he was just a nuisance. The Gastly raised it's ax with a maniacal laugh.

On the downswing, the ax stopped. Rachel was mortified, seeing that Laurence had simply stuck out his hand, stopping the edged weapon with the palm of his hand as it emanated a purple glow. Like clockwork, Laurence gripped onto the ax's edge, grabbing onto it like it were made of plastic. With a quick yank, he pulled the ax out of the Gastly's hand and threw it over his shoulder. Rachel made sure to duck her head as it hurdled through the air, getting stuck into the wooden door they had entered through previously.

The Gastly hadn't expected that to happen, staring at Laurence with surprise. His expression was met with Laurence grabbing it's wrist and twisting. A loud and stomach turning crack was made with the Gastly not making a single cry of pain. Even if it didn't scream, the shimer in it's red eyes showed just how much agony it was in. Laurence wasn't finished with only a simple wrist-twist however.

He pulled the Gastly closer, ramming his other fist into it's chest. The wrist that he was still holding onto literally ripped off as the Gastly the knocked back by the punch. A black substance sprayed out of it's arm, making Rachel cover her eyes. She could feel it splattering on the back of her hands with what sounded like water jetting out of a hose ringing in her ears.

Laurence tossed the hand to the on the ground with the Gastly disappearing into a black mist like the rest had done after Laurence was through with them. Rachel removed the hands from her face, seeing that he Gastly was now gone along with Laurence smiling at her warmly. It was as if nothing had happened.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" he asked her with a laugh. Rachel didn't know what to say. A door appeared on another other wall with Laurence heading towards it with Rachel following close by his side.

Otto was lead into another room, looking like some sort of kitchen. In fact, it looked a lot like the kitchen in the house he grew up in. There were even more markings on the wall as well as a woman who was in her early thirties standing over the kitchen sink. The kid ran to her with the mother not even noticing Otto standing behind her. The little boy pulled on his mother's arm with her glaring at him.

"I told you I was busy!" she yelled at him. Otto watched as the kid lowered his head.

"But you're always busy!" he told her upset. The woman turned from the sink and faced her child, being almost half her size.

"What did I tell you about talking to me like that, you ungrateful brat!"

She slapped the side of his head, making Otto jump from the sudden surprise. The kid quickly covered the side of his head where he had been slapped, closing his eyes in pain.

"I'm sorry!" he told her. She slapped the side of his head again, totally negating his hand that was supposed to be protecting him. Otto had jumped once again. A tear ran down the boy's face with Otto starting to cry as well.

"You're not sorry enough you little shit!" she hollered, slapping the side of his head again. "I work all day for some ungrateful husband and good for nothing son! The least you could do is leave me the hell alone!"

She slapped him again with Otto covering his own head. The sound of the slapping hurt his ears and watching it was almost unbearable. Otto saw that the kids ear was now bleeding, with blood running down the side of his face as his mother kept hitting him.

"For Christ sake!" Otto yelled. "Stop hitting him!"

The mother didn't hear Otto at all. It was as if he didn't exist to her.

"Mommy!" the child begged, being slapped in the head again. "Please stop! I'm sorry! I'll leave you alone!"

Another slap. Then another slap. God, another slap. The constant hitting made Otto hold his ears, trying to stop the horrid noise. The kid's glasses fell off, landing on the floor. The lenses cracked with Otto finally snapping, unable to handle anymore of this. It was as if he lost control of his body.

He rushed up towards the woman, grabbing her by the head. His adrenaline was pumping and his anger was uncontrollable. Without even thinking, Otto smashed the mother's head into the counter near the sink, getting blood on it. He did it once again, this time even harder with tears streaming down his face. This bitch had ruined his childhood.

"You fucking bitch!" he yelled, smashing her head into the counter once again. "Don't you ever hit me again!"

With a loud crack, he rammed her head into the counter for the final time. He let go of her with her body limply sliding off the counter and onto the floor. Her head had been so badly beaten that her skull had slightly caved in with blood seeping out from her onto the floor.

The little boy reached down and grabbed his cracked glasses, putting them on to see Otto's face clearly along with his dead mother on the floor. Expressionless, he stared at Otto, who knelt down beside him. They hugged with Otto crying.

"She can't hurt us anymore." he told him in tears. "She's never gonna hurt us again."

Laurence and Rachel entered the next room, this one being empty as well. Looking around Rachel didn't see anything. No doors. No Windows. Nothing.

"I don't get it." she told him. "I thought this place was supposed to be frightening."

"It is." Laurence told her. "But I'm with you. The Gastly's know that any trickery with me around is bound to end poorly. Although I fear for your friends."

"Why is that?" she asked him as they walked into the center of the room. Laurence closed his eyes, thinking deeply to himself. There was a moment of silence.

"Every man and woman has something they fear." he told her. "Even the most hardened of people are frightened by something, whether it be from their past or simply something conjured from their own minds. Without someone to help, your friends are as good as harvested."

Rachel was worried for everyone, but was still unsure what he meant by harvested.

"What do you mean?" she asked him. Laurence, still with his eyes closed, put his hand up to his chin and rubbed it.

"Gastly's feed off of fear, needing a person or Pokemon's terror to continue to live. When they harvest someone that means they take them, put them in seclusion, and torment them as much as they want. After a while, the host they torment is drained, dying from the fear and pain they've gone through."

"What about you?" Rachel asked him as they stood in the middle of the room. "Do you feed off of people?..."

Laurence opened his eyes, smiling at her assuringly.

"No, my dear, I do not. You see, as a Gengar, I've learned how to feed off of personal vice as well as...other things."

"What would that be?" she asked him. A door appeared on one of the walls.

"Let's continue, shall we?"

Laurence then proceeded to head for the other door, leaving Rachel's question unanswered.

Otto was still crying, holding onto the child. Unexpectedly, the child started laughing with Otto letting go. He fell backwards, seeing that the little kid was no longer a kid. It was a dark figure with red eyes, laughing like an insane person. Otto frantically pushed himself backwards away from whatever it was, non in fear for his life. The dead woman on the floor turned into another dark figure, just as entertained with what had happened.

"I didn't realize anyone could do that to there own mother." One of them said with a giggle. Otto was mortified, now with his back up against the wall and his butt still on the floor. They slowly approached him with Otto putting his head between his knees and closing his eyes shut.

"This isn't happening..." he told himself. "This is all just in my head..."

The sound of flesh being run through made the laughing stop. Otto opened his eyes, seeing that the two figures were now on the ground. They turned to mist with a man standing before him now. He wore a black suit and had pale skin. Otto was so scared he didn't have time to look at his face, spurting out the first thing that came to mind as he covered his eyes.

"Slender man!" Otto cried. There was the sound of an irritated sigh.

"I honestly have no clue who this Slender man is," the suited man told him, "but it sounds that he has quite a reputation."

Confused, Otto looked up at the man in the suit, seeing that he had purple eyes and a smile on his face. He extended his hand with Otto staring at it.

"It's okay." he heard Rachel say behind the slender looking man in the suit. "He's here to help us."

Rachel came in view, coming from a door that Otto hadn't realized was there before. Was it?

Laurence helped Otto up off the floor with Rachel coming over to help as well. Otto looked sickly and felt like he was going to throw up.

"I just bashed my mothers head into the counter..." he told them distraught. Laurence shook his head, looking directly at him.

"It's just a trick." Laurence told him, trying to sound as sympathetic as possible. "The Gastly's were using your memories against you. You didn't really bash your mother's head in."

Otto shook his head, still in complete shook at what he had just done.

"I don't understand this." Otto said to himself. "I don't understand any of this."

"And you don't have to." Laurence told him. "Just know that it was all fake."

Otto wasn't listening to a word of what he was saying. The imagine of his mother's head caved in had made him feel disgusted with himself.

"Otto," Rachel told him. "It wasn't real. Whatever happened wasn't real! Snap out of it already!"

Otto shook his head, holding his hands over his eyes and began to cry.

"I just killed my mom..." he repeated. "Oh god, what have I done?..."

Rachel looked at Laurence worried.

"What's wrong with him?!" she asked. Laurence frowned, putting a hand on Otto's shoulder.

"He's just in shock," Laurence told her as Otto kept repeating that his mother was killed. "but I fear if we don't find the others soon it might be worse."