Like Father, Like Son
Dib walked silently through the room. It was filthy and littered with papers that had some badly drawn comics on them.
He picked up one and found them to be about a stick figure called 'Happy Noodle Boy'. The main character ranted on about mangos and nougat then was killed when someone shot him.
He let the paper drop and swung his backpack around and unzipped it. He pulled Oscar out and put him in his pocket. He reached in again and pulled out a small pencil flashlight leaving the bag on the floor. He went farther into the house using the pencil light to guide him.
Soon he found a set of stairs that led down. He figured it led to a basement but since there wasn't much up here he decided to go down.
The first room had three wooden walls one was actually plaster. Small words were written on the plaster wall in black pen ink. There were actually many different shades of the dark ink since it would have taken hundreds of pens to write all of it.
Most of the words were blurry and worn away in places. Dib could only make out a few bits and pieces, but those bits and pieces were quite disturbing.
He moved on through an open doorway going farther down.
He went down ladders into rooms with giant pictures of monsters painted directly on the walls.
He went through doorways that were just holes in the wall that had been shaped to look like one. These usually led into empty and ghastly cold rooms that he decided to avoid all together.
He walked past instruments of torture he couldn't even guess the names of. And some he was sure there was no name for.
Machines that ran by electricity, combustion engine, by hand pump. From simple blades and maces to complex machines that could probably rip out his spleen in one quick motion.
He pulled Oscar out of his pocket and held him tightly. The 'voice' that was Oscar was continuing with it's almost static sound. But Dib couldn't understand anything. It was like Oscar was talking to someone else but Dib was aware of that side of the conversation. Even if he couldn't understand that one side he still knew it was going on.
Suddenly it got deathly cold. Even Dibs' coat felt like ice. Oscar started making a terrible racket and suddenly fell silent as if he had never been.
Something slammed into Dibs' head from behind and he fell uselessly to the floor. The bunny called Oscar landed a few feet from his hand.
A thin gray shadow fell along the floor and crept around Dibs' still form.
It had first thought the 'keeper' had returned. But no, it was only this pathetic child.
A drop of blood seeped out of a split on Dibs' lip where he had fallen. The shadow became all too aware of it and was suddenly delighted at what it found.
This may not be the 'keeper' that had given it so much blood for so long but the child was very close. It was in fact one half diluted blood. The shadow had been unaware that its' slave had fathered a child.
This shadow had once been an actual form kept behind a wall. Given tribute by a willing but angry slave. Since that time the shadow had been set free then destroyed and left as this simple visage of its past self.
All it needed was another 'keeper', as it preferred to call them. It was a much nicer word to work around that that awful blocky phrase 'waste lock'.
But this was only a child. Hardly old enough to care for itself like the first one. And probably not strong enough to bring enough tribute to help enhance the shadow.
It would have to wait and let the child grow. But it needed a way to call this, boy, back.
It felt along the toy the child had been holding. It had been the physical link of one of those pathetic little mind monsters. Like the one in that female its slave had taken a liking to.
The shadow had destroyed the little annoyance. It wasn't getting very far anyway, for some reason the child could barely register the other things voice. The little creature had actually brought the child here. It had pleaded with the shadow to help reinstate the bond so that it could further itself.
It had deserved its destruction for being so impudent.
A thin tendril of the shadow seeped into the stuffed animal and disappeared within. The main body of the shadow then allowed for the old link from the first creature to be mended by the smaller piece of itself.
The shadow fell away and bid the child to wake up.
Dibs' eyes opened. He sat up but didn't look around. He stood up stiffly and picked up Oscar off the floor.
Under the influence of a force he couldn't perceive he headed home. No one would see him or notice his absence. He would wake up the next day unaware of what had happened or that he had even been to this house.
For now.
Dib walked silently through the room. It was filthy and littered with papers that had some badly drawn comics on them.
He picked up one and found them to be about a stick figure called 'Happy Noodle Boy'. The main character ranted on about mangos and nougat then was killed when someone shot him.
He let the paper drop and swung his backpack around and unzipped it. He pulled Oscar out and put him in his pocket. He reached in again and pulled out a small pencil flashlight leaving the bag on the floor. He went farther into the house using the pencil light to guide him.
Soon he found a set of stairs that led down. He figured it led to a basement but since there wasn't much up here he decided to go down.
The first room had three wooden walls one was actually plaster. Small words were written on the plaster wall in black pen ink. There were actually many different shades of the dark ink since it would have taken hundreds of pens to write all of it.
Most of the words were blurry and worn away in places. Dib could only make out a few bits and pieces, but those bits and pieces were quite disturbing.
He moved on through an open doorway going farther down.
He went down ladders into rooms with giant pictures of monsters painted directly on the walls.
He went through doorways that were just holes in the wall that had been shaped to look like one. These usually led into empty and ghastly cold rooms that he decided to avoid all together.
He walked past instruments of torture he couldn't even guess the names of. And some he was sure there was no name for.
Machines that ran by electricity, combustion engine, by hand pump. From simple blades and maces to complex machines that could probably rip out his spleen in one quick motion.
He pulled Oscar out of his pocket and held him tightly. The 'voice' that was Oscar was continuing with it's almost static sound. But Dib couldn't understand anything. It was like Oscar was talking to someone else but Dib was aware of that side of the conversation. Even if he couldn't understand that one side he still knew it was going on.
Suddenly it got deathly cold. Even Dibs' coat felt like ice. Oscar started making a terrible racket and suddenly fell silent as if he had never been.
Something slammed into Dibs' head from behind and he fell uselessly to the floor. The bunny called Oscar landed a few feet from his hand.
A thin gray shadow fell along the floor and crept around Dibs' still form.
It had first thought the 'keeper' had returned. But no, it was only this pathetic child.
A drop of blood seeped out of a split on Dibs' lip where he had fallen. The shadow became all too aware of it and was suddenly delighted at what it found.
This may not be the 'keeper' that had given it so much blood for so long but the child was very close. It was in fact one half diluted blood. The shadow had been unaware that its' slave had fathered a child.
This shadow had once been an actual form kept behind a wall. Given tribute by a willing but angry slave. Since that time the shadow had been set free then destroyed and left as this simple visage of its past self.
All it needed was another 'keeper', as it preferred to call them. It was a much nicer word to work around that that awful blocky phrase 'waste lock'.
But this was only a child. Hardly old enough to care for itself like the first one. And probably not strong enough to bring enough tribute to help enhance the shadow.
It would have to wait and let the child grow. But it needed a way to call this, boy, back.
It felt along the toy the child had been holding. It had been the physical link of one of those pathetic little mind monsters. Like the one in that female its slave had taken a liking to.
The shadow had destroyed the little annoyance. It wasn't getting very far anyway, for some reason the child could barely register the other things voice. The little creature had actually brought the child here. It had pleaded with the shadow to help reinstate the bond so that it could further itself.
It had deserved its destruction for being so impudent.
A thin tendril of the shadow seeped into the stuffed animal and disappeared within. The main body of the shadow then allowed for the old link from the first creature to be mended by the smaller piece of itself.
The shadow fell away and bid the child to wake up.
Dibs' eyes opened. He sat up but didn't look around. He stood up stiffly and picked up Oscar off the floor.
Under the influence of a force he couldn't perceive he headed home. No one would see him or notice his absence. He would wake up the next day unaware of what had happened or that he had even been to this house.
For now.