"Great. how am I suppose to battle the forces of darkness if I can't even catch some sleep?"
One dream featured her as a star on Broadway. She was dressed up in a massive pink frilly tutu. She had wires connected to her limbs like a marionette. Un-mother worked and spun her round and round for the audience like a little puppet. All the time Tohru's eyes were closed until the end when she opened her eyes. They were big and black just like the un-mothers.
In another she was back home With Kyo and Yuki. She really missed them now. They were doing a puzzle when one of Yuki's hands fell off.
"Oops! Clumsy me!" He had said
"That's ok Yuki! you were getting old anyway. guess we'll just have to replace you." Tohru then ripped him limb from limb and threw him into the trash. Instead of blood he was stuffed with cotton. His disembodied head just smiled at her in the trash and said, " Oh it's quite all right Tohru. It happens to the best of us."
By far the strangest of all was the one about the apple. Tohru lead it about the house on a leash and hummed a little tune as she walked. The apple had barked at her outside Shigure's study.
"Now now what's wrong Shigure doggy? Do you have to pee?" Tohru looked down at the apple, who was now Shigure on all fours.
"No I'm fine Tohru it's just that one of you eyes is falling out." Then a black button fell to the floor. It hit with a clack, then she had woken up.
That was at around 4:30. So she started to plan, and think. Why waste time right? Tohru had so many questions buzzing through her head so she started at the beginning. How had she gotten there? It was simple, Magic. The beast had told her herself that it was all her doing. So now Tohru only had to find a way to get home. How? She guessed it was through the closed door again, but it wouldn't open for her. She'd already tried once she woke up. The door was locked somehow, so main priority was finding the key to it. But that was another matter.
"Why I'm here, well that's clear. She want a daughter. OR at least that's what she says, but she did go through all the trouble of getting me. I don't think she'll kill me or anything any time soon." Soon.. what was going to happen to her soon? Was time going to run our for her if she didn't take the buttons onto her eyes? 'Could I be in a world with a different time zone? What if I age really fast here!' No that was too complex. 'But what if my soul is the only thing trapped here? Or am I body and flesh?' Tohru shook her head. It was all too confusing for her so she lay back down on the bed. 'but either way. I am in some weird world. She said it was an illusion created for me so.. maybe that's what this whole thing is?'
"I wonder if I'm the first she's ever taken." The sun started to rise.
The un-mother called Tohru down to breakfast at seven. She smiled happily at Tohru and placed a plate of food before her. The beast was wearing a frilly white lace apron and had her hair tied back.
Tohru looked down at the plate. It was a pomegranate. "Why would you give me a pomegranate for breakfast?"
"Because dear their healthy for you not eat up." Un-mom didn't move. She just stood there waiting for Tohru to eat.
"No. What if it's cursed like Persephone's? I'm not eating a pomegranate." Tohru yawned and pushed the fruit away from her. She knew that she was taking a great risk at pissing the Un-mother off, but it was just too early for her to care right now.
The beast frowned. "My dear why would I curse you? Didn't I explain how much trouble I went through to get you!" She picked up the food and threw it into the sink. "You have to eat something! It's not healthy."
"Why do you still look like my mother?" Stupid question, Tohru already knew the answer.
Un-mothers face went blank, emotionless. She sighed. "What, will you have for breakfast my dear?" She said it more like a command and not a question. Tohru's stomach growled, she hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday.
"I'll have a glass of milk." She couldn't remember ever hearing stories about cursed milk.
Un-mother waited.
Tohru rolled her eyes, " I told you I'm not hungry." That was a total lie. She didn't expect the beast to believe her either, after all her stomach had just growled.
The Un-mother snarled. "YOU are not supposed to be like this! YOU are supposed to be my perfect little girl. NOT like the OTHERS!" She was right in Tohru's face as she said this.
Tohru whimpered, "Others? what do you mean others?" 'there are more? are they hiding?'
The beast smirked, "So are you going to eat?"
Tohru shook her head no, "I don't trust you."
"FINE!" She screamed and dragged Tohru away from the table. Tohru kicked and screamed to be let go but it was no use. The beast dragged her out in to the hall and down to the closet. She opened the door and threw her in.
"Wait no!" The door was slammed and locked in Tohru's face and she was left all along to suffer in the closet.
"There you'll stay until you learn to behave."
"I HATE YOU!" Tohru screamed and pounded on the door, it was no use though. She sighed, how long would she be in here?
The closet wasn't tall enough for her to stand in, and it wasn't long enough for her to lie down, so she was forced to sit. An hour passed and Tohru was starting to get leg cramps.
"Whatever happened to those others she was talking about?." 'they probably all started to death in the closet.' Something started to glow on the wall. Then another something appeared, and another. Three glowing orbs. They started to take form and shapes became more distinct.
"What the hell.. ghosts?" Tohru pressed herself against the wall, to get as far away from the things as possible. The things moved to float above her head, and she could see more clearly now that they were children, a girl and two boys. She guessed that these were the others.
"Are you the others that the Un-mother was talking about?" she asked. They all nodded.
"We've been here for a very long time." they said solemnly, "The un-mother tricked us all into coming here just like you."
Tohru gasped. "So can you tell me about her? About this place? Anything! Like how do I get home, how many of you are there?"
The girl smiled, "I was the first one to come here, we three are the first. You see, the monster has always been luring us here, children. She has always wanted a beautiful human child. This is because she is a hideous being to unclean to have one of her own."
One of the boys started now, "When I came here she tried to make me a sister, but it didn't work, she fell apart and broke. The monster's heart is too dark to make anything good. She can't create life. We don't know how to kill her, or can we even remember our names.. Everything was such a long time ago."
A tear slid down Tohru's face, Was this to be her fate as well?
The last child spoke now, "That's the key to escape sadly. The more you remember, the more you can get away from here. You know the closet in your room? That's the way back for you. I'm sure you've already realized it. She keeps it locked so you have to find the key."
"So none of you can remember anything about your past before this place?" Tohru was having a hard time consuming all of this information. It was all too weird.
"Yes, " said the girl, " it's all gone to us, and soon it will be for you if you don't hurry and find the skeleton key. Every house has to have one, find that and you'll go home. Don't try to take the monsters, she keeps it with her always. If you can find the skeleton key then your good to go. Just make sure you remember."
"But why would there be a skeleton key in this house? Why would she make one?"
"Because," said the first boy, "This whole place is an illusion created from your memory. We all realized this after a long time of thinking. So there is a key."
"Oh.." Tohru sat and thought it over. "so if I escape will this whole place be destroyed? Could you all come with me?"
"We don't know. Maybe I guess. Our bodies are long gone by now. We all starved in this closet so our souls are trapped in here. There are others around the house, we've heard them."
Tohru shuddered. 'am I going to starve to death in here too?' "So it's not safe to eat the food? She disposes of you if your bad?"
The last boy nodded his head. "Yes I'm afraid so, so stop being so bad for her or you'll soon end up like us Tohru. and one more thing, it's very important for you to know."
"What is it?"
"A while ago the monster brought a boy your age here, but he jumped out the window and died. He was never caught, his soul I mean, so he may be able to help you if you can find him. He tried to help the last boy that came here, but failed and disappeared. He's very good at hiding." They all nodded in agreement.
"Ok then. I'll look for the boy and the key. What's his name?"
"We don't know. He never told us, we've always called him what we liked, Bill one day, Ted the other. It doesn't matter to him. Don't go into the attic Tohru either. That's were she keeps the boy. The bad boy that let her sew on the black eyes. We don't trust him. She keeps him locked up there night and day. He's always watching, waiting. He didn't like Bill."
Tohru gaped in shock. 'Some one had actually given in to the buttons?' "So the last boy that was here took the beasts side? That's disgusting.--" 'wait?' she thought of something very important. "Does he have powers like her now?"
"We don't know," they said. " Maybe he does may he doesn't. We don't go to visit him. We don't trust that boy." And with that the children disappeared.
"This is all so wacko." Tohru hung her head. The task at hand was going to be hard, she was never very good at scavenger hunts.
The door clicked, and Un-mother opened it. "So are you ready to be good now?" She had an unsure expression on her face.
Tohru nodded and crawled out. "I think I'm hungry now."
omg. this story...