I am back people. I finally got into writing spirit and figured…might as well get back to the old stories and update as best as I can. So here's a Hollow Memory's third chapter! And the crowd goes go wild!
…..Yay…..
Ok anyway. This chapter is pretty long to make up for the wait. Things start to get interesting. Heh heh. Enjoy.
Chapter 3 The Pumpkin KingRandall's tense fingers, if they were particularly called that, shook as they grabbed the iron bars of the gate. With a loud creek, which made Randall look back to the center of the town to see if anyone had heard, the gate opened. Looking back, he gave a sigh of relief. He might not have remembered why, but the feeling of un-expectation felt common to him.
Still on all eight, he headed for the steps. They were three, quite large and tall, which took him a few more seconds than any normal staircase would have taken. Randall was beginning to think that this place was, indeed, not human. He stopped at the top, looking at the place's construct. Maybe it would give him insight as to what this place was.
Two long poles at the end of the square platform hung an arc made of the same material…wood maybe, but he couldn't tell. There was an emblem perhaps of a bat of some sort. Randall was not one to judge this, but he thought that the thing was looking at him. Shaking that off, he turned to the door. Whatever lived here, if lived was the right term, it was as big as Randall was on rear feet.
Randall let a gulp go down his dried throat, hoping that confrontation was not in his future. He looked up at the door more thoroughly. On the right side of the door, was a door bell. One of those pulling types. But what made Randall think was weird, was that the decoration on it was a spider. Yet again…he was unsure if it was alive.
Figuring that was a bad choice, he went to the door. He examined the doorknob for a moment. Nothing of interest, but Randall knew he had to turn it. He took a minute to look back at his scarred back.
"(Err…this place seems more like a death trap than anything else)" he grunted in his mind, cursing the sizzling burn from the cuts. He looked to the door again. This was gonna hurt.
He took a few tiny steps back, wiggled his tail like a cat would for a pounce, and then sprang over and up. When his hands found the doorknob, the rest of his left side impacting the door loud enough to be mistaken for a knock, he twisted it and fell back to the floor, landing on his side again.
"Ahh!". He let out a groan of pain as the edges of his scars, getting onto his feet again. He took a moment to recover, still feeling stings, and noticed the door was near closed, swinging back. "Shoot!".
He ran forward, hitting his head and fronds against the door, stopping it's task of re-closing itself. When he pulled his upper left hand against the door's side, Randall let out a sigh of relief to not having to redo the event again.
With a push of the hand, Randall stepped inside…
(NS)
Randall always knew, even in his damaged memory, that things are not what they appear to be. From the outside, with it's cubic structure of seemingly three stores, the tower included, it seemed too small to be livable. But what Randall was looking at, the room was, indeed, very spacey.
He slowly went forward to the center to get a better view, his padded feet hitting against a red carpet of some sort. He stopped at it's center, looking about. Weird. The carpet seemed like the only, even if it was dark red, other color. The walls were a tone-down gray. The wood within the building, forming the several cabinets and tall dressers, were a dusty brown that seemed to blend in with the gray.
Randall stopped looking for a second, holding a hand to his head. "(Blend? Blend? Why does that…ehh…it's…)". His hand ran over his head scar. Feeling the uprooted scales made him retract his hand before any pain came. "(It's….it's not….just a word that's it…)".
He looked around again. The place…looked familiar in a way. Randall just couldn't place it. The overall feel of the place seemed familiar. In the upper left corner was an elevated boarded walk-way, three steps to reach. Farther up was stairs that led to the second floor. The right corner held several drawers and cabinets with broken glass, each containing, which Randall thought was unusual, items that reminded him of that green-colored door with a rainbow of decoration he had seen before. Unknown to exactly what they were, he continued on, turning about to see the lower half. The lower left corner, his left, there was a coat hanger of some sort. But it was weird. It's lower half seemed to have a face…mouth and eyes closed, but it looked carved so it wasn't alive….or….was it? All Randall could tell was that the swaying, thin branches where the coats hung, swung without any wind to aid. Looking to the lower right, and up to the stairs again, there hung weird portraits. Each one had a picture of a creature of some sort. Very….very thin. Randall rose a brow, if he had one, looking at it. It was the weirdest creature he had ever imagined he had seen. It was very tall. A suit…seemingly like a tuxedo or something like that….all blinded with white and black. The collar was centered with a face….a bat….then went out in both directions like wings. The head….the head was confusing. Simply a round…white orb…with dark holes for the eyes, mouth, and nose…but it was…strange…..
"Did I drop into a nut house or what?" Randall questioned to himself in a low voice, looking at the other pictures. There was another one. Seemingly to have the same eeriness that the first had. This one…was….a woman…if you could call it a women. The figure reminded Randall of a human woman for sure…but something seemed off. Every piece of her clothing, like rags, seemed to be made out of different pieces of cloth expertly sewed together. This didn't both Randall. What did…was the sew marks on the women's limbs. Her arms, legs, even head seemed as if they were sewed together. Randall let a gulp draw down his throat, thinking how'd he be if he had had the same…"treatment" this woman had had. Her hair was long and brown, seemingly nothing wrong. Her eyes were so wide…and colorless…but they held a deep complexion within…a deep feeling within….
"(What kind of person….keeps stuff like….)". "AH!".
Randall jumped onto his back, causing pain to scatter in his mind. He didn't let it stop him as he scuttled backward, causing even more pain, underneath the nearest table, on the right side. He hit the wall, making him stop, then realize the pain. He held his mouth with his upper hands as his lower ones tried to put pressure on the pain. "Emmph!" he yelped through his hands. It took him minutes to recover, making him slug against the wall, wrapping his arms around himself, arms closed, teeth clenched. When a moment passed, and the pain began to numb, he looked up at the steps to the second floor.
Something sprang to life upstairs. It still was. It wasn't a person though, but someone was causing it. Randall could only hear the low, pounding tone, or some kind of instrument upstairs. He didn't know what it was….but the word "pipe" and "organ" would come to mind for anyone else.
Randall motioned his head out from hiding, his fronds lowered as he looked to see if anyone was coming. No one, just the noise of the instrument. It was deep. Anyone who was even a half-death might not hear it. Although Randall was judgmental about his hearing now, he could certainly hear the death-rattle-like piping going up on the second floor. The eerie surroundings and the music made Randall think he was in some kind of funeral…
"(Ehh…funeral? That…sounds familiar but…ehh…)". He shook his head, scolding himself for such thoughts. He looked back to the stairs, eyes tense. "I gotta get up to that floor there…someone HAS to be playing that….and maybe I can get outta this weird place…".
He got back onto his feet, trying to forget the pain, and started up the stairs….
(NS)
Randall took his fronds in one of his upper hands, pulling them back as he lifted his head, just enough for his eyes to peek at the second floor. Seemingly like the first one, there were stairs on the right side, leading up to the tower. There were several boxes, seemingly for storage. There were a few other things Randall didn't care to look at, but what caught him was what lied just ahead, beside the tall window of the second floor. There…was a pipe organ. It was huge, probably the biggest instrument one would imagine. The pipes were made of old, torn fake gold, there were probably nearly 12 of them.
"Huh?".
There was a very tall chair in front, nearly blocking any keys he could see. He couldn't tell if someone was moving…but common sense made him suggest that it HAD to be somebody. For a moment, Randall was judgmental about whether this was such a good idea or not. He could fight if it came to that, but he was still unsure. But then again, he figured a slim chance is still that, a chance.
"(Just slowly….if he…she…or whatever it is…does anything funny…I'll take care of it from there…)".
Coming to his conclusion, he started up to the second floor. He knew it would hurt, but he rose onto his normal four feet. That while of waiting paid off he guessed. Now on four feet, Randall started as cautiously as possible, trying to see if there was any other movement besides the air from the organ pipe. He started to think surprising this person may not be such a good idea….
He stopped where he was, half-way to the organ. He held his hands together, hoping this was not going to lead to confrontation, he had had his fill of that, and twisted his forked tongue.
"Uh…hey…".
The pipe organ stopped, instantly making Randall regret. He took a few steps back, rising his hands if defense was needed. When nothing happened after a few moments, Randall knew something was wrong.
"What? You immobile or som…". He went over to the side of the organ. "HUH!". No one was there. Randall had his eyes wide, mouth dropped, backing up near the window. "How…how….".
Randall stopped. A shadow…a BIG….shadow…was cast onto the organ that was not there before. Randall eyes went as wide as they could and his pupils shrank, mouth sealed. He let another gulp head down his throat before he slowly turned around to see…..
"AHH!". What he saw had to be the most surprising, and yet terrifying thing he had ever seen. So much, that he did not realize where he was going. Randall backed up with too much speed, his tail curled as his back hit the glass of the window….too hard.
(TSSSSHHHH!)
The glass broke, taking Randall with it. "Omph! Ow! Ah!". He twirled in a loop like one would falling down hill. He hit the arc above the door, sending him, somehow, falling back into the air high. Randall twisted around, finally able to see where he was going. He was falling, straight into the fountain….
(SSSSPPPLLLLAAAASSSHHH!)
He found himself starring at incredible green, even more so than his own eyes. He felt luck was on his side, as the impact seem to dull any pain from the fall, but still felt that he should leave as soon as possible through that gate. He swam as best he could to the top, his dripping scaled head poking out, his hands grabbing the rim of the fountain. But it was then…that he wish he had stayed in…
Randall screamed, but it was caught off by the green liquid rushing in his mouth. Clear, white things…were surrounding him. Twirling around the fountain in a sequence fashion, each one screaming like a banshee in the night. They were dead…they…they couldn't be real.
Randall pulled himself up, spitting the water that would have clogged his lungs out onto the pebbled ground, but it led to something else. The sound of something familiar, a snake. "AHH!". He fell back into the fountain as a black and white snake rose up It's head accompanied by ghastly black tentacles, it's eyes beady, and it's mouth even wider than Randall's was. When he was in the water, desperately trying to hold his breath, he heard voices…like…singing…chanting maybe. Then…he saw four figures, seemingly to appear above the water, turning around as if they were floating. Each one looked different in form, but the basic rule for each….was they looked like the blood-sucking creatures humans called "vampires". Randall didn't know what to do. He was only thankfully they flew off, giving him a chance to rise again, pulling his arm up over the edge of the fountain, his wet body trying to gasp for air. But before he could even get a breath in, something popped up from below.
"GAH!". Randall backed up this top, hitting his back against the centerpiece of the fountain, his elbows grabbing for support. The creature laughed a bit with enjoyment at the scare. Whatever it was, he had never seen such a thing before. It's body looked like scales, it's arms the same, ending with strange, wood-like fingers. It's head was against reality. It's lower half white with shark-like teeth, and it's lower half, complete with yellow eyes and three long, thick tentacle hairs, and teeth….seemed to float above it's other half. Beside it giggled two other creatures. A wolf of some sort dressed in a plaid shirt. And another seemed to be some kind of melting creature in a white tuxedo.
Randall let his eyes wonder as his heart pounded a mile a minute. These…these things were not like him. No…these…these were something else.
Laughing from above caused him to look up. Randall let a gasp escape his mouth as he saw three creatures of incredible ugliness. Witches. That's what they were. They giggled at the sight of his fear as if they enjoyed it. Their vision, as well as those that Randall did and did not see, turned to the house Randall had entered earlier. Doing the same, Randall looked up.
His eyes went as wide as they were able…near to the possibility of coming out. He couldn't believe that that thing…in the picture he had seen was a reality….it was…standing there at the broken window was…was…..
Randall's eyes fell, along with his body, his jaw hitting the rim of the fountain…his vision falling. He heard voices as he drifted into darkness….
Looks like Randall's got himself into a fix again. What horrible situation has he gotten himself into…and….will he get out? Till next chapter!