Erica drove like a madman. She couldn't bring herself to care. She needed to go to her own mother's house.
Oh, just why hadn't she thought about this when Greg had, for the first time after his and his brother accident, mentioned the so-called Beast? Why had she pushed those memories into the back of her mind?
She jumped out of the car as soon as she arrived at her destination. Erica ran up the small path up to the front door, simultaneously fiddling with her keys. She knew she had the key for the front door here somewhere… There it was.
Her hands were shaking, and Erica honestly couldn't explain why. She turned the doorknob and entered the building. It was dark and dusty. A stranger would have thought that no one lived here but Erica knew her mother. The old woman was here somewhere, not that Erica was hoping to meet her. She just wanted to take the pictures.
"Hey Mom," she shouted into the silence. "I am just here to look at something, don't bother with leaving the bed. I'll be away within seconds!" Erica closed the door and walked up the stairs, towards to the room she grew up in.
Erica was aware that her mother had started to use her old bedroom as a storage room and she really hoped she would find those paintings. If she had to ask her mother… she shuddered.
The woman opened the door and was hit with the smell of dust and old paint. Yup, the right room, she thought. With a deep breath, Erica stepped inside.
Paintings over paintings were stacked inside the room and Erica wondered whether her mom always had that many or if there were new ones. She really hoped it was the former because her mothers' old paintings already were disturbing enough.
Greg knew he shouldn't have left the hospital while his dad was still asleep but… he had to! And he left a note so that his father knew that he was going home. The young boy had to find something out!
He arrived at the house around 40 minutes later and went directly for the garden. "Jason Funderberker!" he shouted, waiting for the frog to appear. His mom sadly hadn't allowed him to take Jason inside, so the frog had gotten a small little cabin in this back of the garden. Hand-build by Greg himself (and the boy was proud of it)!
Croaking the frog came into view and Greg couldn't stop himself from hugging the frog. Said frog croaked in protest.
"I am so sorry, Jason Funderberker!" Greg grinned. "But we have some detective work to do!" He sat the frog down in front of him and sat down on the floor, not caring for his pants. "Detective Funderberker," Greg stated, his face turned serious. "We have a new case."
The Frog looked at him with what could only be called an equally serious expression.
Greg continued presenting the case to the best he could. "My brother is in The Unknown and Mom and Dad want him back here in this world." He started to grin again. He was going to be a real detective and even got the chance to help his brother. He was proud of himself. "To find out how he went to the Unknown we are going to search Wirts room for evidence." He lifted the frog up again and ran towards the house, searching for the spare key.
He found it within seconds and took the frog inside. First, they stopped inside the kitchen and Greg filled all his pockets with sweets. "Detective Greg can think better when he eats bonbons." He stated matter-of-factly when he caught Jason Funderberker starring weirdly at him. "Do you want one as well?" He asked politely, but the frog declined.
"Aaaaand up to Writs room we goooo!" Greg started to sing to light up the mood. This was going well, he knew it. He was going to be the one finding out what was going on. He slipped into the room of his brother. There was nothing out of place here. "Hmmm…" Greg stated rubbing his chin. "Where should we look first? Any ideas detective?" He asked.
Jason Funderberker croaked.
"That is a brilliant idea!" Greg's eyes lit up. "Come on!" He ran forward and looked underneath his brothers' bed. Greg also kept a lot of things underneath his bed. If someone were to find him they would probably look there too. So…
That was surprisingly disappointing. Under Wirt's bed was nothing… It looked almost to clean. It was visible on Greg's face, that he had expected… something. He signed. "False alarm, detective." He stated and turned around.
"Where do you have that from?" Greg asked as he took the large cardboard box that Jason Funderberker was pushing forward to him. He placed it on the bed and jumped on it himself, followed by the frog. He opened it and was greeted by many notebooks.
"Poems…" he read. "Well it appears that we have found a secret-" Greg started but was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. "Wait here, Jason, I am going to be right back."
With that, he stood up, wondering who it possibly could be.
Erica stared at the picture in front of her. That was what she was searching for.
It terrified her. Oh, how much had she hoped that she just imagined the connection between the painting and her son but… a shudder went down her spine.
The picture was painted mainly with black and grey, just like every single picture in this room. The creature in the middle was painted in black, just like the trees around it. It looked vaguely human, yet it was twisted, with branches growing from his head. When Erica had been younger, she had called the creature the 'Tree Man', that much she remembered but…
The Eyes. Those glowing colorful… things, looking so out of place in the face of this monster. But they had also looked out of place in the face of her son.
Her hands were shaking. No! No! nO!
"Mind telling me why you returned for that drawing?" Erica turned around. Her mother stood behind her, looking down on her disapprovingly. "I believe that you have so story to tell. Or am I wrong, Erica?"
Erica swallowed. What did her mother know?