Chapter Three: Prophesizing A Deal
Timo and Michael made a deal at that moment. Timo informed him that he was only interested in wearing the color black as a symbol of the darkness he felt within his heart and soul. Darkness caused by confusion and loss, yet with a hidden strength within him that begged to be brought out, which was the reason he claimed to come to the town of Hamelin in the first place.
Michael was touched by Timo's strong words, however, he did inform Timo that the color black was strictly forbidden in the town because it represented the mortifying art of witchcraft. Through some more deep words, though, Timo eventually got Michael to admit that he did have a hidden stash of black material hidden in a wooden safe in the back room of his clothing shop. Since he couldn't get any help from anybody else in town without having to explain why he was making black clothes, he would have to work very hard himself, and informed Timo that it could take months just to make one article of clothing. Timo was willing to wait, as he saw no reason in rushing the idea. He had no further plans to continue.
Each day after dark, Timo would play his golden ocarina so the rats could get food from the bakery and bring some back for Timo. The days turned to weeks, and after one month, Michael paid Timo another visit.
"Pied Piper!" Michael called down to him after opening the manhole one midnight. Timo gave him permission to venture further into the sewers, so he did. He approached Timo with caution, as always.
"Pied Piper," Michael repeated, looking up at him with desperate eyes. "Frans and Stefan complained to Mayor Hamelin early this morning. Someone has been stealing food at night, and I know you aren't awake during the day. What puzzles me is, why take so much food? The amount that is being stolen is enough to feed three large cities! The twins are furious."
"How old are you?" Timo randomly asked Michael.
"Eh?" Michael was slightly confused, but he answered nonetheless. "I'm fifteen, Pied Piper. Why do you ask?"
"Only fifteen," Timo grinned in his dark yet cool voice. "Fifteen years doesn't seem a fit enough lifespan, don't you agree? Fifteen is such a foolish age; you know so little. Do I look as though I've gotten any larger since I first came to this town? Yet you accuse me of stealing your precious food."
"There are gnaw marks in their store that have clearly been caused by a rat," Michael stated, looking up to the ceiling of the tunnel as he said this, in hopes the one rat would come falling down.
"Then it appears this town has a rat problem," Timo grinned yet again. "My rat stays down here with me and eats what he finds floating in this green stream you see before you. There is no way in hell my rat could ever wander out of here. He is just as thin as I am."
Michael gave him a stern look of concern, but shrugged it off, realizing that whether he was the one who stole the food or not, it had no person effect on himself. "Anyways, Pied Piper, I have started on making your pants. The material is very comfortable fitting on the inside, but made of hard leather on the outside. A very powerful material it took me forever to conduct. It underwent many prototypes before I got it just right, so I hope you like them once they're done. I've made blueprints and they should be done in a few months."
"I pray you don't make them baggy," Timo called out to Michael as Michael made his way back up the ladder to the manhole. "I'm sure you're used to much wider costumers."
Weeks went on with every day being the same. Timo and his rats slept during the daylight hours, but remained perfectly active during the nighttime. This was when the rats would always steal food from the twin's food shop, never getting caught once. As they were busy feasting, Timo would practice more and more on his ocarina, day dreaming that one day he would find his fair Ute. Many times he thought about leaving Hamelin once again in search of her, but he wouldn't know which way to travel to. Was she even alive anymore?
The weeks formed into months. Michael did slip down into the sewers a third time, with Timo's new pants, which surprisingly fit Timo perfectly. They were the darkest shade of black he had ever seen, with a very shiny leather material that fit tightly and perfectly around his legs. Along the outer sides of his pants were long, sharp silver spikes. Many more spiked bondage was thrown throughout the pants, and he realize the pants themselves could be deadly if put to good use.
Next, he told Michael to make him boots. Michael informed him that doing this could take up to one year because he was no master at making shoes and couldn't get help from anybody else, but once again, Timo understood perfectly. He was still in no hurry to get everything done.
Timo was actually quite thankful for his pants, because they always kept his legs nice and warm. He didn't shiver as much anymore, but he was still tired of his bare feet always being numb and tired of having a tattered piece of worn cloth for a shirt. Over all, however, he didn't have a real problem with his life. He continued writing poetry and playing his ocarina, and his rats continued feasting.
No matter how much the rats feasted, however, they never got fat. "Being fat is like grounding a heel into a beautiful and innocent flower," Timo always told his rats. "It shows greed and lack of care for anybody around you. Anyone can be happy as long as they have a goal or a fantasy. I think we can all do without an extra slice of pie now and then."
The months themselves turned into years. The boots arrived, and sure enough, they were a very hard black material with silver ends and bottoms, and more deadly spikes coming out of the sides. He also received complementary socks as well as another shiny leather shirt to match the pants. He wore long leather arm warmers along with fingerless, knuckle less gloves. He wore a wide band around his waist with thin silver rope tied around to hold everything together.
His final bit of clothing was a cape. All of his clothes were in black. He felt he was almost ready to face the town. But over time, the town had expanded, becoming bigger and bigger, much more populated. Hamelin had come to be one of the most popular cities in all of Germany, with many more children than adults. Michael even mentioned that Mayor Holger Hamelin owned a fat orange cat that loved to chase rats around the city. For as the number of people in Hamelin expanded, so did the amount of Timo's rats, and some strayed away during daylight hours.
Also over time, Timo's hair had grown so long; it went past his boots. Michael delivered him a very nice silver shank, which Timo used to cut his hair to just above shoulder length. But Timo still wasn't ready to face the town just yet. He needed makeup, and lots of it.
"Pied Piper, I've brought you some makeup!" Michael called down the manhole one night. "It's actually costume makeup, but I believe it will do."
"Thank you, Michael," the Pied Piper grinned. "This is all I need, and I will finally be able to face the town of Hamelin. Although I'm not sure why I bother, I feel that I have some business to accomplish in order to reach my goals. What colors are these, anyway?"
"Black and white, as you ordered," Michael answered him with a bow. "I must get back to my wife and children now, Pied Piper. I hope to see you again in a few days. Take care."
With that, Michael left the sewers once again, and Timo put on the face paint. He covered his face in white makeup, but added black to his lips and all around his eyes. He made a line of black going off the outer sides of his eyes. He looked in a small mirror he picked up a few years before, and he realized he looked completely different. There was no way anybody could possibly recognize him anymore.
Timo was now 27 years of age, 6'7", and very thin, pale and bony. He knew he appeared ready to face Hamelin, but he had to rethink everything. What would this accomplish? He goal was to search for his love, Ute. Was she still alive? It had been eleven years since he had last seen her. Could the rats help him find her? Did anyone in Hamelin know where she was? Surely Michael or one of the original children from the schoolhouse remembered her. Perhaps she had passed by the town many times. Or was she dead now? What if she came back to the town of Hamelin and they mistook her for a witch, and burned her?
Thoughts rushed through Timo's head, he felt like his life was spinning so fast. He couldn't believe how many years had gone by. He could still recall Ute's browning hair and blue eyes, her gentle smile and embrace. If she was alive, did she still remember him? Or was she with somebody else? What if she was in the town of Hamelin right now with a family?
Timo soon found his eyes swelling red with tears. He buried his painted face in his white hands, his warm tears seeping through his long, bony fingers. His small cries echoed faintly throughout the underground tunnel. The rat's sensitive round ears perked up, and they slowly gathered around Timo. Some scurried up on his shoulders or in his lap.
"All I can do is sit here and wonder where the fuck she is," wept Timo between gasps of much needed air. "My beautiful Ute. Where are you? Are you within my reach, or are you dead and gone in the clouds above? I promise that I will find you either way, my dear Ute."
The rats were listening carefully, looking up at him desperately, wondering what they could do to help. Timo suddenly began coughing up blood into his lap, the few rats sitting there getting drenched in it. They did not take a step back or even botho cleanse themselves. They just looked up at Timo along with the rest of the rats in hopes he would give them orders on what they should do next.
Finally, Timo calmed down and stood up, rats still clinging to him. Before he could give an order to his rats, one tiny squeak came from the other side of the tunnel. Puzzled, Timo as well as the rest of the rats looked over in the distance. One of the tiniest baby rats was eagerly making his way toward Timo in a mad rush. He stopped in front of Timo, squeaking and pointing behind him.
Timo carefully stepped over the rats and rushed to the ladder leading up to the manhole. He looked down at the bottom of the ladder to find one of his rats sleeping. It wasn't just any rat, though, but the very same rat that had fallen from the pipe above during Michael's first visit about ten years ago. The rat was now about eleven years old, one of the oldest of all of Timo's rats. A closer look at this rat told Timo that the rat had gained too much weight. Clearly, this rat had been overeating while the rest of the rats were only getting the smallest amount possible to keep it even.
Scoffing, Timo lifted his obese rat by the tail, waking him up. Immediately, the rat whined and twitched his feet as if to run away in thin air. The rat's tail between Timo's thumb and index finger, Timo grinned and turned around to show all the other rats, who were looking right at Timo in confusion and wonder. "This, my friends, is what I like to call a disobedient, disgraceful, degrading rat. He has abused his privilege to eat and will be severely punished before the rest of you, so that you too may learn from the mistake of another."
Slowly and painfully, Timo raised the fat rat above his head, all the other rats never blinking or taking their eyes off the event. Mouth open wide, he descended the rat into his own mouth, closing his lips around the rat's fat and wiggling tail. As the rat screeched and cried out, Timo chewed on the rat's flesh, ripping holes into the rat's body and letting the rat's blood trickle down his throat. After about a minute of chewing, the rat having gone silent after the first few seconds, Timo spat the remains on the floor upon the rest of the rats. All that came out was the tail, bones, and half of the rat's face. A few other rats dodged at the remains of the once disgustingly fat rat, nibbling off what was left from the warm bones.
"Tomorrow," he announced loudly after the dead corpse of the rat was completely vanished. "I will explore this town of Hamelin and see just how popular and food-filled it is. And the following night, you will all have your revenge!" As the rats squeaked in happiness, he continued. "I have lost my dear Ute because of them, and now they try to take what we rightfully deserve? We'll show them all, my friends, we'll show them just how bad the weaker really are!"
If one were to be near the manhole at that moment, one would have clearly heard The Pied Piper's insane laughter. But nobody was awake at three in the morning in the town of Hamelin.
Timo and Michael made a deal at that moment. Timo informed him that he was only interested in wearing the color black as a symbol of the darkness he felt within his heart and soul. Darkness caused by confusion and loss, yet with a hidden strength within him that begged to be brought out, which was the reason he claimed to come to the town of Hamelin in the first place.
Michael was touched by Timo's strong words, however, he did inform Timo that the color black was strictly forbidden in the town because it represented the mortifying art of witchcraft. Through some more deep words, though, Timo eventually got Michael to admit that he did have a hidden stash of black material hidden in a wooden safe in the back room of his clothing shop. Since he couldn't get any help from anybody else in town without having to explain why he was making black clothes, he would have to work very hard himself, and informed Timo that it could take months just to make one article of clothing. Timo was willing to wait, as he saw no reason in rushing the idea. He had no further plans to continue.
Each day after dark, Timo would play his golden ocarina so the rats could get food from the bakery and bring some back for Timo. The days turned to weeks, and after one month, Michael paid Timo another visit.
"Pied Piper!" Michael called down to him after opening the manhole one midnight. Timo gave him permission to venture further into the sewers, so he did. He approached Timo with caution, as always.
"Pied Piper," Michael repeated, looking up at him with desperate eyes. "Frans and Stefan complained to Mayor Hamelin early this morning. Someone has been stealing food at night, and I know you aren't awake during the day. What puzzles me is, why take so much food? The amount that is being stolen is enough to feed three large cities! The twins are furious."
"How old are you?" Timo randomly asked Michael.
"Eh?" Michael was slightly confused, but he answered nonetheless. "I'm fifteen, Pied Piper. Why do you ask?"
"Only fifteen," Timo grinned in his dark yet cool voice. "Fifteen years doesn't seem a fit enough lifespan, don't you agree? Fifteen is such a foolish age; you know so little. Do I look as though I've gotten any larger since I first came to this town? Yet you accuse me of stealing your precious food."
"There are gnaw marks in their store that have clearly been caused by a rat," Michael stated, looking up to the ceiling of the tunnel as he said this, in hopes the one rat would come falling down.
"Then it appears this town has a rat problem," Timo grinned yet again. "My rat stays down here with me and eats what he finds floating in this green stream you see before you. There is no way in hell my rat could ever wander out of here. He is just as thin as I am."
Michael gave him a stern look of concern, but shrugged it off, realizing that whether he was the one who stole the food or not, it had no person effect on himself. "Anyways, Pied Piper, I have started on making your pants. The material is very comfortable fitting on the inside, but made of hard leather on the outside. A very powerful material it took me forever to conduct. It underwent many prototypes before I got it just right, so I hope you like them once they're done. I've made blueprints and they should be done in a few months."
"I pray you don't make them baggy," Timo called out to Michael as Michael made his way back up the ladder to the manhole. "I'm sure you're used to much wider costumers."
Weeks went on with every day being the same. Timo and his rats slept during the daylight hours, but remained perfectly active during the nighttime. This was when the rats would always steal food from the twin's food shop, never getting caught once. As they were busy feasting, Timo would practice more and more on his ocarina, day dreaming that one day he would find his fair Ute. Many times he thought about leaving Hamelin once again in search of her, but he wouldn't know which way to travel to. Was she even alive anymore?
The weeks formed into months. Michael did slip down into the sewers a third time, with Timo's new pants, which surprisingly fit Timo perfectly. They were the darkest shade of black he had ever seen, with a very shiny leather material that fit tightly and perfectly around his legs. Along the outer sides of his pants were long, sharp silver spikes. Many more spiked bondage was thrown throughout the pants, and he realize the pants themselves could be deadly if put to good use.
Next, he told Michael to make him boots. Michael informed him that doing this could take up to one year because he was no master at making shoes and couldn't get help from anybody else, but once again, Timo understood perfectly. He was still in no hurry to get everything done.
Timo was actually quite thankful for his pants, because they always kept his legs nice and warm. He didn't shiver as much anymore, but he was still tired of his bare feet always being numb and tired of having a tattered piece of worn cloth for a shirt. Over all, however, he didn't have a real problem with his life. He continued writing poetry and playing his ocarina, and his rats continued feasting.
No matter how much the rats feasted, however, they never got fat. "Being fat is like grounding a heel into a beautiful and innocent flower," Timo always told his rats. "It shows greed and lack of care for anybody around you. Anyone can be happy as long as they have a goal or a fantasy. I think we can all do without an extra slice of pie now and then."
The months themselves turned into years. The boots arrived, and sure enough, they were a very hard black material with silver ends and bottoms, and more deadly spikes coming out of the sides. He also received complementary socks as well as another shiny leather shirt to match the pants. He wore long leather arm warmers along with fingerless, knuckle less gloves. He wore a wide band around his waist with thin silver rope tied around to hold everything together.
His final bit of clothing was a cape. All of his clothes were in black. He felt he was almost ready to face the town. But over time, the town had expanded, becoming bigger and bigger, much more populated. Hamelin had come to be one of the most popular cities in all of Germany, with many more children than adults. Michael even mentioned that Mayor Holger Hamelin owned a fat orange cat that loved to chase rats around the city. For as the number of people in Hamelin expanded, so did the amount of Timo's rats, and some strayed away during daylight hours.
Also over time, Timo's hair had grown so long; it went past his boots. Michael delivered him a very nice silver shank, which Timo used to cut his hair to just above shoulder length. But Timo still wasn't ready to face the town just yet. He needed makeup, and lots of it.
"Pied Piper, I've brought you some makeup!" Michael called down the manhole one night. "It's actually costume makeup, but I believe it will do."
"Thank you, Michael," the Pied Piper grinned. "This is all I need, and I will finally be able to face the town of Hamelin. Although I'm not sure why I bother, I feel that I have some business to accomplish in order to reach my goals. What colors are these, anyway?"
"Black and white, as you ordered," Michael answered him with a bow. "I must get back to my wife and children now, Pied Piper. I hope to see you again in a few days. Take care."
With that, Michael left the sewers once again, and Timo put on the face paint. He covered his face in white makeup, but added black to his lips and all around his eyes. He made a line of black going off the outer sides of his eyes. He looked in a small mirror he picked up a few years before, and he realized he looked completely different. There was no way anybody could possibly recognize him anymore.
Timo was now 27 years of age, 6'7", and very thin, pale and bony. He knew he appeared ready to face Hamelin, but he had to rethink everything. What would this accomplish? He goal was to search for his love, Ute. Was she still alive? It had been eleven years since he had last seen her. Could the rats help him find her? Did anyone in Hamelin know where she was? Surely Michael or one of the original children from the schoolhouse remembered her. Perhaps she had passed by the town many times. Or was she dead now? What if she came back to the town of Hamelin and they mistook her for a witch, and burned her?
Thoughts rushed through Timo's head, he felt like his life was spinning so fast. He couldn't believe how many years had gone by. He could still recall Ute's browning hair and blue eyes, her gentle smile and embrace. If she was alive, did she still remember him? Or was she with somebody else? What if she was in the town of Hamelin right now with a family?
Timo soon found his eyes swelling red with tears. He buried his painted face in his white hands, his warm tears seeping through his long, bony fingers. His small cries echoed faintly throughout the underground tunnel. The rat's sensitive round ears perked up, and they slowly gathered around Timo. Some scurried up on his shoulders or in his lap.
"All I can do is sit here and wonder where the fuck she is," wept Timo between gasps of much needed air. "My beautiful Ute. Where are you? Are you within my reach, or are you dead and gone in the clouds above? I promise that I will find you either way, my dear Ute."
The rats were listening carefully, looking up at him desperately, wondering what they could do to help. Timo suddenly began coughing up blood into his lap, the few rats sitting there getting drenched in it. They did not take a step back or even botho cleanse themselves. They just looked up at Timo along with the rest of the rats in hopes he would give them orders on what they should do next.
Finally, Timo calmed down and stood up, rats still clinging to him. Before he could give an order to his rats, one tiny squeak came from the other side of the tunnel. Puzzled, Timo as well as the rest of the rats looked over in the distance. One of the tiniest baby rats was eagerly making his way toward Timo in a mad rush. He stopped in front of Timo, squeaking and pointing behind him.
Timo carefully stepped over the rats and rushed to the ladder leading up to the manhole. He looked down at the bottom of the ladder to find one of his rats sleeping. It wasn't just any rat, though, but the very same rat that had fallen from the pipe above during Michael's first visit about ten years ago. The rat was now about eleven years old, one of the oldest of all of Timo's rats. A closer look at this rat told Timo that the rat had gained too much weight. Clearly, this rat had been overeating while the rest of the rats were only getting the smallest amount possible to keep it even.
Scoffing, Timo lifted his obese rat by the tail, waking him up. Immediately, the rat whined and twitched his feet as if to run away in thin air. The rat's tail between Timo's thumb and index finger, Timo grinned and turned around to show all the other rats, who were looking right at Timo in confusion and wonder. "This, my friends, is what I like to call a disobedient, disgraceful, degrading rat. He has abused his privilege to eat and will be severely punished before the rest of you, so that you too may learn from the mistake of another."
Slowly and painfully, Timo raised the fat rat above his head, all the other rats never blinking or taking their eyes off the event. Mouth open wide, he descended the rat into his own mouth, closing his lips around the rat's fat and wiggling tail. As the rat screeched and cried out, Timo chewed on the rat's flesh, ripping holes into the rat's body and letting the rat's blood trickle down his throat. After about a minute of chewing, the rat having gone silent after the first few seconds, Timo spat the remains on the floor upon the rest of the rats. All that came out was the tail, bones, and half of the rat's face. A few other rats dodged at the remains of the once disgustingly fat rat, nibbling off what was left from the warm bones.
"Tomorrow," he announced loudly after the dead corpse of the rat was completely vanished. "I will explore this town of Hamelin and see just how popular and food-filled it is. And the following night, you will all have your revenge!" As the rats squeaked in happiness, he continued. "I have lost my dear Ute because of them, and now they try to take what we rightfully deserve? We'll show them all, my friends, we'll show them just how bad the weaker really are!"
If one were to be near the manhole at that moment, one would have clearly heard The Pied Piper's insane laughter. But nobody was awake at three in the morning in the town of Hamelin.