Ok, ya dicknuts. I'm back. I'm finally back and ready to knock your socks off once again. I figured if Nefcy's hiatus is over mine should end, too. The last two weeks worth of episodes sparked my writing drive once again. While I was gone my fic gained quite a bit of feedback, so that's pretty fricken nifty. It's been over 5 months now and we hit 200 reviews and 20k views. That's something nice to wake up to after literally dying for a month.
You know what else is nice? Responding to the reviews~
WiseOldHermit: Aw, thanks. I take pride in my time skips.
Guest Sorta: Woah, man, I didn't even use the hard r. Calm it down.
IUcOzAdE: I love the blind!star au with a passion. Aw, you're too sweet. Thanks, man, means a lot.
Li'l Sleuth: 1) Well you were the one with the overwatch idea so you're welcome. Echolocation, huh? Alright, I'm definitely using that in a chapter and I know exactly where. Keep your eyes peeled for it. And trust me, you don't hate them yet. It's gon get worse. 2) Ok I'm back, do the thing that I don't remember. 3) Hey, I proof these! What are you even talking about?
Ki-tech: Thanks, man, it always means a lot when people express how deep they get into my stories.
jjmmmmmlol: Yeah, broken glass tends to cut things. Just thought you'd like to know. Yeah, I know what it's like to die for awhile. It get's betteraaaand he's out.
Beebop: I've been waiting for the next chapter for 40 YEARS!
And to all of you who told me to 'take my time' or wished me luck in my hobby I would like to extend an arm of gratitude to you. Thank you all for waiting and sticking around, let's jump back into this shit.
Chapter 29
The Attic
"Marco get off your computer! It's a beautiful day outside, go do something!"
"Awww, but mom I don't have friends!"
"You know that excuse doesn't work on me anymore! Get your butt outside and play with Star or something!"
Marco got up from his computer chair and forced his way down the stairs. He dragged his feet past his mother, grumbling the entire way. He threw the door open and grudged his way into the front yard. He sat down in what little shade he could find under the palm tree to escape the dreadful early September heat. Looking out into the street he began to think on just how empty the neighborhood felt. There were no cars in sight other than those parked in drive ways. The place was devoid of children, even the much younger ones. It looked as though everyone was staying inside where the air conditioning could shield them from the harsh realities of extreme heat. It made Marco sigh that he was the only one being forced to sit in this weather. Could this constitute child abuse...?
"You're stuck out here, too, huh?"
Marco looked up from his seated position and saw Star standing by the tree and looking out into the street. Or more just facing it. How she managed to find him and make her way around so easily baffled him still. He just never bothered to ask her about it, it always seemed rude.
"Yeah, my mom kicked me out of the wonders of the AC"
Star sat down by Marco, who scooched over to make room for her in the shade. "I hear ya. My parents just left to do god knows what and locked me out. They said I should go find you or something, I dunno I wasn't listening."
"You never listen, do you?"
"What's the point, not like they're saying anything valuable."
Marco decided against questioning Star's parent's logic on leaving a blind child outside to fend for herself once again. "So we're both stuck out in this heat, huh?"
"Not necessarily. I found a way back in the house a week ago. C'mon, let's go inside." Star stood back up and dusted off her pants.
Marco followed suit. "But what if your parents come home and find us? Won't your mom be mad?"
Star started walking back towards her house. "You don't actually care, do you?"
"No, I guess not." Marco caught up and walked next to her.
Star shoved her hands into the pockets of her shorts as the two walked on silently, awkwardly. She led him into the back yard and up to the back face of the house. She got down onto her knees and pulled the branches of a shrub back to reveal a small window low to the ground.
"I'll hear them coming."
"What?"
"That's how I'll know when to leave, I'll hear them coming." She opened the window and climbed inside. Feeling that Marco wasn't following she added "What? You asked."
"Oh, right. Yeah I guess that works." Marco got down and slid through the window and into the room on the other side.
He looked around at the dark, damp room they had just dropped into. There were some cardboard boxes stacked up in various places and the un-carpeted floor was hard and rough. Marco couldn't help but feel as though the place was full of spiders.
"We still haven't finished unpacking so just try not to knock anything over."
Marco snapped, he couldn't stand thinking about it anymore. "Are all blind people this good at making their way around? It's like you're not even blind."
"I wouldn't know." Star led Marco through the room and over to the old wooden stairs on the other side. "I've never met another blind person."
Marco rubbed some dust and dirt off his shirt as they made it to the top floor. "How, uh, how long have you been blind for? Your entire life or..."
Star just offered an uninterested shrug. "C'mon, let's go to my room." She turned and began walking away. "It's probably messy, it felt like there was a lot on the floor this morning."
"Fine by me."
They were just outside Star's room when Marco noticed the hatch on the ceiling just above them. Then he heard it. That terrible gurgling. The hypnotizing, static, unchanging gurgling. Almost like the monsters that used to live in his closet and under his bed, that same never ending terror that only pushes the curiosity of a boy who lost the will to fear long ago. It was a monster's heavy breathing, thick with saliva, as if beckoning him to go up.
"Hey, Star? Do you use your attic for anything?"
"What attic?"
"Well, I guess that answers that question. Gimme a boost real quick, will ya?"
Star thought about it a second. "Well, not how I planned this day going but could be fun."
She got down on the ground and interlocked her fingers. Marco stepped up on her hands and reached up for the handle of the hatch as Star lifted up with a bit more effort than she had expected.
"Damn, Marco, how fat are you?"
"Oh shut up." He grabbed the handle and the hatch opened without any coercing. He pulled himself up through the hole and lowered his own hand back down. "Jump up, I'll grab you."
Star stood back up and jumped, thrusting her hand above her head. Their grasps connected and Marco pulled her up through the hatch.
"Damn, Star, how f-"
"If you finish that sentence I'll stab you."
He shut his mouth as fast as possible.
Marco took out his phone and turned on the flashlight, looking around at the dusty, cobweb filled room. The ceiling was low and sloped just as the roof looked outside and there were various items cluttering the floor. Items you would expect to find in an attic: an old wooden rocking horse, an ornate mirror, some boxes with clothes spilling out the top, creepy old pictures whose eyes follow you around the room.
Star started wandering around, hands outstretched.
Marco noted the cobwebs scattered throughout. "I thought you guys just moved in."
"We did."
"Then why are there so many spiderwebs and why is it so dirty up here?"
"I don't know, man, maybe my parents just didn't bother cleaning up. What is all this stuff, anyway."
"Just a bunch of boxes, paintings, and old junk. Actually this old mirror is pretty cool." Marco walked up to the mirror, examining himself. "I think it's made of actual silver."
He lifted a hand up and reached out for the face of the mirror. He didn't even make contact before he felt the mirror touch back. It was almost like a static shock but a lot less powerful. Almost like a drip of water had fallen onto the tip of his finger sending chills throughout his body. He pulled his hand away, grasping it in the other. He slowly backed away from the mirror, turning back to where his friend had gone to. She looked like she was listening to something.
"Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"That... breathing."
Marco immediately ran over to Star, knowing exactly what she was talking about. When he made it over to her side he heard it again, the same gargled breath from before. Star pointed up to a box sitting at the top of a stack of others just like it.
"It's coming from there."
Marco nodded and carefully reached for the box. He was on his tip-toes and nearly fell backwards pulling it down. He laid the box down on the ground and opened it. Inside he saw something that looked like a crystal, a bright blue sapphire, mounted at the end of a short staff. It kind of reminded him of magic wands he'd seen in computer games he had played before. Not learning from his previous mistake Marco reached out for the object in the box. The same thing happened as with the mirror only this time it was to a larger magnitude and the crystal gave off a bright flash of blue light. He jumped back with a girlish scream. Star smirked at the sound and chuckled almost inaudibly. Marco caught this and smiled a bit, it was the first time he had really seen her smile.
"So what's in the box that would make you squeal like that?"
"I- I dunno. I really don't wanna say it but I think it's... a magic wand?"
Star's smirk faded. "A wand? Really?"
"No seriously! Touch it, you'll see! It... shocked me or something."
"Tch, sure."
Star reached down into the box and felt around until her pinkie hit the handle of the wand. She wrapped her hand around it and lifted it up.
"Magic, sure-" She was cut off by a slight vibration and a bright flash of white light. "What-"
"I told you!"
Star's eyes began to light up and her hair started levitating upwards. Marco's face grew into an expression of terror as he began shuffling backwards on his hands and back.
"S-Star?"
She lifted the wand up above her head and they both sat there motionless for a few seconds as the light from the wand continued to get brighter and brighter. Soon the wand dropped from Star's hand, completely changed in appearance, but Star made no movement. Her hand stayed raised in the air as her face looked into nothingness in a strange mix of wonder and terror. Marco crawled back over to her.
"What... what just happened?"
"I could see..."
You know what's great about about time skips? Everything. Simply everything.
Star and Marco sat in her room, gathered over the wand that laid on an old blanket they took from the attic. It looked entirely different, it was mostly pink now but instead of a blue crystal at the top in was a large bulb with wings on either side and a large yellow star in the middle.
"Well it's certainly... you."
"What? The hell's that supposed to mean? What's it look like?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it. What do you think it is?"
"I think it may be a magic wand. I didn't want to believe it but..."
"So you admit I was right, huh?" Marco smirked at her, as if she could have seen it.
"Your words, not mine. I'm still too taken aback to be condescending."
"Why do you think I can't touch it?"
"No idea, maybe you're too much of a wimp to handle it."
"You seem to be less taken aback now."
"Shut up, I'm trying to process thi-" Star froze, listening. "Shit! RUN!"
She rolled the wand up in the blanket, shoved it under her bed, and booked it out of the room. Marco caught on to what she meant by now and dashed after her. Marco didn't bother thinking on how Star was making her way through the house so easily at this point, he was only focused on getting to the basement before that front door opened. He heard the lock click right as they closed the basement door.
"When we get outside pretend like we were playing in my backyard or something."
"Playing what?"
"I don't fucking know, just something! Tag I guess, whatever."
They scrambled their way out of the basement window and into the back yard. Star stopped to catch her breath real quick and Marco took a look around.
"I think we're in the clear. I don't think they noticed us."
"Good." Star stood up straight and, without turning her head, slapped Marco in the back of the head. "Tag."
"Ow, c'mon that wasn't necessary." Marco rubbed the spot she slapped.
"Well? Aren't you gonna tag me back?"
"How are you gonna run away though? This seems like a really big flaw."
"Oh just try."
"Alright, then..." Marco took a step forward and reached out for her shoulder.
The second he stepped, however, Star spun around his arm and out of the way.
"Wha- bu- how?"
"What's the matter? Can't tag a blind girl?" Her face still had that same uninterested, almost angry expression it always had.
Marco's face grew determined and he spun around, swinging his arm for her. She ducked under it skillfully.
"What in the goddamn?"
"You're awful at this, aren't you?"
"Hold still, dammit!"
Marco started to grow restless, swinging every which way trying to tag this slippery salamander. They were spinning around the yard, now, in a constant and endless state of swinging and dodging. River noticed this from the back door and called out to them.
"Oy! You two alright out there?"
They stopped and looked over at the tiny man. Star nodded. "Just playing tag."
"Oh. Well have fun!" As they went back to their constant struggle River shook his head. "That poor boy."
Meanwhile, back at the Diaz residence, Mrs. Diaz watched the two children from her kitchen window. "What are they doing? Are they fighting? Oh god, not again."
Marco eventually fell on the ground, giving up from exhaustion. "Welp *huff* I guess I lose."
Star flopped down next to him. "That's 'cause you're bad."
"No, you're crazy! How did you learn to do that!?"
"Well when you're blind as long as I've been you tend to rely on the rest of your senses."
"Damn, that's crazy. You're crazy. Today was crazy."
Star let out the best laugh she could muster, which ended up being a chuckle that was slightly louder than last time. "You're alright, Diaz."
Marco smiled along with Star as the two looked up at the sky.
"Thanks."
I'm gonna go get caught up on all the new chapters to some good fics I missed while I was out. Didn't even get the chance to read...
